The Hwaebul Cup (홰불, ''Torch'') is an annual

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

competition in men's domestic football in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. It is organised by the

DPR Korea Football Association The Democratic People's Republic of Korea Football Association (PRKFA, ) is the governing body of football in North Korea. The association was founded in 1945 and it joined FIFA in June 1958 and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Septe ...

, the governing body of football in North Korea. The competition is held for Youth Day, 28 August, one of North Korea's major holidays.

Competition format

Beginning in July or August, the competition proceeds in two stages. The first stage consists of the teams divided into two groups playing in a single round-robin basis, with the winner and second-place team of each group advancing to the

knockout stage A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

consisting of two semi-final matches and a final, which is played on 28 August of each year.

Venues

All matches are played at one stadium in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

, which varies year to year. In 2013 the matches were held at the

Kim Il-sung Stadium Kim Il Sung Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea. The stadium is used primarily for association football matches. History Kim Il Sung Stadium was originally built by the Japanese as the Gi ...

,North Korea 2013
/ref> in 2014 at Yanggakdo Stadium, in 2015 at

Rungrado 1st of May Stadium The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium occupying an area of on the island Rŭngrado, Pyongyang, North Korea. It opened on 1 May 1989, with its first major event being the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students. It ...

, in 2016 at Sŏsan Stadium, and in 2017 once again at Rungrado Stadium.

List of champions

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

April 25 Events Pre-1600 * 404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion. * 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against th ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: Sobaeksu *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: Ryomyong *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: Ryomyong *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: Rimyongsu *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

- Clinched 2025–26 AFC Challenge League Qualifying Play-off spot. But they can participate the competition only if they obtain the club licence from the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

References

The Chosun Jørn: Can Jørn Andersen Make Sense of North Korean Football?
{{National football Cups (AFC region) Football competitions in North Korea 2013 establishments in North Korea National association football cups