• Game will be first from abroad to be shown live in Pyongyang • Sides last met at quarter-final stage of 1966 World Cup

North Koreans will get a rare opportunity to join the rest of the world in watching a live football match on television today, when their team take on Portugal in the World Cup.

The state broadcaster, Korean Central Television, is expected for the first time in this tournament to show a crucial Group B game as it happens, according to two sources in Pyongyang.

The live screening is likely to generate excitement in North Korea, where football is the most popular sport but most games are shown only after a delay of several hours or days.

The country's opening match against Brazil was reportedly not broadcast in full until 17 hours after it finished in South Africa, and many people already knew the score via newspaper and radio reports.

This year's World Cup draw – shown live across most of the world late last year – was not broadcast in North Korea until weeks later.

Authorities in Pyongyang have not disclosed their reasons for the earlier delays, but it is likely to be a combination of time differences (the Brazil game was played in the middle of the night in North Korea), technical issues (there is only one channel outside the capital), and censorship (North Korea's media is arguably more tightly controlled than any other in the world).

Foreign residents in North Korea said the news of the broadcast spread like wildfire. "This is significant," said Simon Cockerell of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which has organised several trips to the isolated nation.

"I have seen a lot of games in North Korea and they never show them live. I doubt there has been a letter-writing campaign, but they do seem receptive to the public desire to see live football."

Last week, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union – a regional agent for Fifa – announced it would provide free coverage of the tournament so that North Korea's 23 million citizens can get a taste of life outside their homeland. The agreement was reportedly finalised only hours before the start of the tournament, which has given the local broadcaster little time to prepare.

At the last World Cup, broadcasts were shared by the South Korean rights holder, but relations between the two sides of the peninsula have soured since the sinking of a South Korean ship with the loss of 46 lives earlier this year. Earlier this month, South Korea said it would not provide coverage of the tournament.

The political implications of the live broadcast are hard to gauge. A heavy loss would be a blow to a pride-conscious nation, but the strong performance against Brazil and the realism of many fans about their team's chances may have emboldened the authorities.

"People here know that Portugal are a strong side and it would be no shame to lose against them," said a Pyongyang resident. But, of course, the hope of the newest live World Cup audience will be for another of the upsets that have become the distinguishing feature of this tournament.

There is a precedent of sorts. In 1966 – the last time North Korea qualified for the World Cup finals – fans were able to follow the action live on the radio as their country's players pulled off arguably the greatest upset in World Cup history by beating the favourites, Italy, 1-0.