Bangladesh women crushed 10-0 by North Korea in Asian Games opener

Bangladesh women’s football team suffered utter humiliation at the hands of North Korea, getting bulldozed 10-0 in their opening match in the Asian Games 2026 at the Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan on Monday.

Head coach Peter Butler’s decision to leave out experienced players like Ritu Porna Chakma, Monika Chakma and Shabnam Azim and give opportunities to younger players against North Korea, a three-time gold medalist in women’s football at the Asian Games, backfired completely as they ended the first half down by seven goals.

After Ritu and Monika were subbed on at the second half, the North Korean barrage of goals lost steam, but it didn’t come to a halt, as they added on three more to complete the rout.

This is Bangladesh's worst ever defeat in women's football, beating the previous record -- a 9-0 defeat to Thailand in 2013.

Bangladesh, ranked 107th in the world, were the clear underdogs against No.11 ranked North Korea, but the complete capitulation was unexpected.

The women in red and green had faced North Korea earlier this year as well, during their maiden AFC Women’s Asian Games campaign in Australia, suffering a 0-5 defeat.

Bangladesh team will get only two days to recover from this humiliation before facing South Korea in their second group stage match on Thursday.

They will play their final group stage match against Myanmar on September 21.