Foreign visitors to North Korea are allowed to attend sports matches alongside their minders. But football in this secretive republic has little in common with the passion and glamour of the Europe's major leagues.
The game was a sell-out, though you would never have guessed it.
As we entered the 50,000-seater Kim Il-Sung Stadium below the watchful eye of the Eternal President and Great Leader, not forgetting his son, the Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il, there was no-one to be seen.
There were no queues, no turnstiles and certainly no hotdog stands or programme sellers.
But once inside it was a different matter. Every seat was taken and row upon row of men sat silently, wearing identical dark suits and red ties, everyone sporting a tiny enamel badge on their left breast.
No, not of Pyongyang FC, but of the Great Leader himself.
The artificial pitch looked immaculate under the spring morning sun. Kick off was at half past nine.
Maybe it was the early start but there were no chants and no flags or scarves in sight, just a quiet murmur around the darkened rows of seats.
Many of the fans were soldiers in green uniforms and broad-brimmed hats.
I do not know if they were under orders to attend but some were quietly reading paperbacks and showed no interest in the game.
The opposition, the crack army outfit Amrokgang, looked stronger in the first half but it was a scrappy match.
Pyongyang fought back and won a penalty though you would be hard pressed to know that from the reaction of the crowd. There was none.
My travelling buddies decided to inject some old-style terrace atmosphere of our own and we chanted: "One nil to the referee, one nil to the referee."
The dozen or so Westerners who had joined us in the VIP box - at 30 euros a seat, hard currency only please - laughed at us.
One or two even joined in as we grew bolder: "Pyongyang ooh, ooh! Pyongyang ooh, ooh!"
But the locals just stared at us. In a land where it appears you must ask permission to speak, this show of individuality, of spontaneity, was not seen as rude, or aggressive. They just stared blankly at us.
