This is a LEGEA North Korea national team 2010 home jersey featuring the name and number of star striker and former captain Hong Yong-jo.

Hong Yong-jo was captain of the North Korea national team through their golden era, where he was one of their leading players as the team qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Yong-jo was crucial throughout their qualifying campaign and was one of the few North Korean footballers to be based outside the domestic league during this period. He began his club career with local powerhouse April 25 SC and moved to Serbia in early 2008, signing with FK Bežanija in the Serbian SuperLiga. Later that year, Yong-jo joined Russian club FC Rostov, helping them win promotion to the Russian Premier League in his first season with the club. He played another 2 seasons for Rostov, before returning to April 25 in 2011, eventually playing out the rest of his career with his hometown club. Yong-jo played a total of 51 international matches and scored 13 goals for North Korea from 2002-2011, placing him as the 9^th most capped player and the 5^th leading goalscorer in the history of the national team.

Despite North Korea’s reputation globally, their football team has been relatively strong for much of the past 50 years. At their first World Cup appearance in 1966, North Korea reached the Quarter-Finals, defeating Italy in the group stage and being the first Asian team in history to make it past the group stage. They have qualified for the Asian Cup five times, with their best result being a 4^th place finish in the 1980 edition. North Korea's 2nd and most recent appearance at the FIFA World Cup was in 2010, when they made it through after finishing above Asian giants Iran and Saudi Arabia in the qualification group. With a final pre-tournament FIFA ranking of 105th in the world, North Korea was the lowest-ranked team to qualify for the World Cup since the rankings began in 1993. Although they lost all 3 matches in the 2010 World Cup, they shocked the football world with a surprisingly competitive 2-1 loss against superpower Brazil in their opening match.

North Korea 2010 Home (H. YONG JO #10) Jersey/Shirt