Middlesbrough's North Korea World Cup heritage brought to life through Tifo Football collaboration

How North Korea and Middlesbrough Became Unlikely Football Friends

MIDDLESBROUGH’s place in global football history has been brought to life by one of the world’s leading football channels following a collaboration between Heritage Unlocked’s Dr Tosh Warwick and Tifo Football.

Drawing upon historic collections from Middlesbrough Libraries and Teesside Archives, The Athletic’s Tifo Football link-up has transformed academic research on the 1966 World Cup’s role in nurturing international sporting connections between Middlesbrough and North Korea - originally published in The North Korean Review last year - into an animated, illustrated online feature. ‘How North Korea and Middlesbrough Became Unlikely Football Friends’ shares the story of the Asian minnows shock defeat of Italy at Ayresome Park in 1966 and the town’s sporting connections with North Korea that have endured into the twenty-first century through cultural exchanges and visits.

A still from Tifo Football's feature on the 1966 World Cup, Middlesbrough and North Korea (Credit - Tifo Football)

The video has attracted over 80,000 viewers within two days of its launch and has received positive reactions from across the globe, including from filmmakers Dan Gordon and Nick Bonner who produced the award-winning The Game of Their Lives documentary in 2002 that led to an unprecedented return visit to the UK by the North Korean stars in the same year.

The Tifo Football partnership is the latest in a number of collaborations by Heritage Unlocked’s Dr Tosh Warwick sharing his research on football history with new audiences to bring wider real-world impact. To date, the research has shaped new co-created Virtual Classroom resources with the MFC Foundation, led to collection showcase events at Middlesbrough Libraries, Middlesbrough Town Hall and Teesside Archives, and forms part of a forthcoming history exhibition curated in partnership with Middlesbrough Football Club.

North Korea v Italy clash at Ayresome Park depicted by Tifo Football (Credit - Tifo Football)

Dr Tosh Warwick said: “The collaboration with Tifo Football has brought the story of North Korea’s footballing connections to Middlesbrough to new worldwide audiences in an engaging, illustrated way and increased awareness and understanding of this unique part of sporting history.

It is hoped that by taking research beyond academia that this can continue to have broader, real-world impact through exchanging knowledge and creating new community and education resources with organisations such as archives, libraries, museums, Middlesbrough FC and MFC Foundation.”

Joe Devine, Executive Producer of UK video for The Athletic and Tifo Football added: “We've found that Tifo offers a new way of telling old stories, in a way that can be both entertaining for viewers, but remains informative and engaging”.

‘How North Korea and Middlesbrough Became Unlikely Football Friends’ can be viewed on Tifo Football’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/h5M7Xf3HwAs.

The North Koreans at the Riverside in 2002 (Credit - Tifo Football)