Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough, 19 July 1966.
Why they were there
North Korea qualified almost by default. African and most Asian nations withdrew from qualification in protest at the number of places FIFA had allocated them. North Korea played Australia over two legs and won both.
Their participation was politically awkward for the host country, which did not recognise the state. The compromise was that no anthems would be played at their matches except in the final.
Middlesbrough
The group was played at Ayresome Park, a ground in a working town in the north east that was not used to visitors. The crowd, with nobody local to support, took to the smallest and least regarded team in the tournament.
Attendances rose through the group. By the Italy match the ground was close to full.
The match
Italy had won the World Cup in 1934 and 1938 and were expected to win the group. They lost a player to injury with no substitutes permitted, and in the forty second minute Pak Doo Ik struck from the edge of the area.
It finished one nil. Italy flew home and were met at the airport with thrown tomatoes.
Goodison
The quarter-final was against Portugal at Goodison Park. About three thousand people travelled from Middlesbrough.
North Korea led three nil inside twenty five minutes. Eusebio then scored four, and Portugal won five three.
After
The team returned home and largely disappeared from public view. Accounts of what happened to them vary and most cannot be checked.
In 2002 a British documentary traced several of the surviving players, who were brought back to Middlesbrough. The reception at Ayresome Park's old site is the part of the film people remember.