South Korean national soccer team / World Championships

Republic of Korea
대한민국
大韓民國
Daehan Minguk

World Cup record goalscorer:	Ahn Jung-hwan , Park Ji-sung Son Heung-min (3 each)
World Cup record players:	Hong Myung-bo (16)
Rank :	28
Organizer:	2002 (together with Japan)
Balance sheet
34 World Cup games 6 wins 9 draws 19 defeats 34:70 goals
statistics
First World Cup game South Korea 0: 9 Hungary Zurich ( CHE ); June 17, 1954
Biggest World Cup victories South Korea 2-0 Poland Busan ( KOR ); June 4, 2002 South Korea 2-0 Greece Port Elizabeth ( ZAF ); June 12, 2010 South Korea 2-0 Germany Kazan ( RUS ); June 27, 2018
Biggest World Cup defeat South Korea 0: 9 Hungary Zurich ( CHE ); June 17, 1954
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	10 ( first : 1954 )
Best results	Fourth place, 2002
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(Status: June 27, 2018 World Cup )

The article contains a detailed description of the South Korean national soccer team at world championships . Of all Asian teams, South Korea took part in soccer world championships the most. South Korea has been a regular at the World Cup finals since 1986. In the all-time table of the World Cup finals, South Korea, the best Asian team, is in 28th place.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				First international match only in 1948; Korea is still part of Japan
1934	Italy	not participated				First international match only in 1948; Korea is still part of Japan
1938	France	not participated				First international match only in 1948; Korea is still part of Japan
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	Preliminary round	Hungary , Turkey	16.	Kim Young-sik	Eliminated after two defeats (9-0 against Hungary and 7-0 against Turkey). The 0: 9 was until 1982, when Hungary also won 10: 1 against El Salvador, the biggest defeat at a World Cup
1958	Sweden	Registration refused by FIFA
1962	Chile	not qualified				In the qualifying play-offs Europe / East Asia to Yugoslavia failed.
1966	England	withdrawn				South Korea and all 15 registered African teams withdrew from the qualification, as FIFA only granted the teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania one place in the finals.
1970	Mexico	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Australia , which could not qualify either.
1974	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification in the playoffs in Australia failed.
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In qualifying on Iran have failed.
1982	Spain	not qualified				In the qualification in the first round to Kuwait failed.
1986	Mexico	Preliminary round	Argentina , Bulgaria , Italy	20th	Kim Jung-nam	Eliminated as last group.
1990	Italy	Preliminary round	Belgium , Spain , Uruguay	22nd	Lee Hoe-taik	Eliminated without a point as last group.
1994	United States	Preliminary round	Spain , Bolivia , Germany	20th	Kim Ho	In third place after two draws against Spain and Bolivia, as well as a defeat against Germany.
1998	France	Preliminary round	Mexico , Netherlands , Belgium	30th	Cha Bum-kun	Eliminated as last group.
2002	South Korea / Japan	Game for third place	Turkey	Fourth	Guus Hiddink	In the game for third place, Hakan Şükür scored the fastest goal in World Cup history against South Korea when he scored 1-0 after 11 seconds.
2006	Germany	Preliminary round	Togo , France , Switzerland	17th	Dick Advocaat	Retired as third party
2010	South Africa	Round of 16	Uruguay	15th	Huh Jung-moo	After a win against Greece, a defeat against Argentina and a draw against Nigeria, South Korea were eliminated in the round of 16 against Uruguay.
2014	Brazil	Preliminary round	Russia , Algeria , Belgium	27.	Hong Myung-bo	Eliminated as last group.
2018	Russia	Preliminary round	Sweden Mexico Germany	19th	Shin Tae-yong	Retired as third in the group before defending champions Germany.
2022	Qatar

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships)

• No participation: 6 × (29%; 1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1958 and 1966)
• Unqualified: 5 × (24%; 1962, 1970, 1974, 1978 and 1982)

• Athletic qualification: 9 times (43% or 64% of the attempts)
• Participation without qualification as a host: once (5%; 2002)
  • Preliminary round: 8 × (38%; 1954, 1968, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018)
  • Round of 16: 1 × (5%; 2010)
  • Match for 3rd place: 1 × (5%; 2002)
    • 4th place: 1 × (5%; 2002)

World Cup tournaments

World Championships 1930 to 1950

Before World War II, Korea was a part of Japan. Japan did not participate in any of the three pre-war soccer world championships. Since 1948 there has been an independent South Korean football association , which has also been a member of FIFA since then, and in the same year South Korea played its first international match. However , South Korea did not take part in qualifying for the 1950 World Cup.

World Championship 1954

Before the start of qualification , the Taiwanese Football Association and the People's Republic of China withdrew their reports because of political tensions. The remaining teams from South Korea and Japan then competed against each other on Japanese soil twice. South Korea won the first game after 0-1 deficit with 5-1, the second game ended 2-2. South Korea had thus qualified for the World Cup finals in Switzerland. There South Korea lost against Hungary with 0: 9 and against Turkey with 0: 7 and thus eliminated in the preliminary round. South Korea said goodbye to the World Cup for 32 years.

World Championship 1958

South Korea's registration to qualify for the World Cup in Sweden came too late and was not accepted by FIFA.

World Championship 1962

In qualifying for the World Cup in Chile , South Korea beat Japan 2-1 and 2-0 and qualified for the intercontinental playoff against Yugoslavia. The playoff games were lost 1: 5 and 1: 3, so Yugoslavia had qualified for the World Cup finals in Chile at the expense of South Korea.

World Championship 1966

Before qualifying for the World Cup in England began , South Korea withdrew its report. Only North Korea and Australia competed for qualification, North Korea qualified for the World Cup finals.

World Championship 1970

In qualifying for the World Cup in Mexico , South Korea only finished second in a group of three behind Australia and ahead of Japan, and was eliminated. Group winners Australia then lost the decisive playoff games for the World Cup finals against Israel.

1974 World Cup

In the decisive final game to determine the Asia-Oceania representative of the 1974 World Cup in the Federal Republic of Germany, South Korea lost 0: 1 in neutral Hong Kong to Australia after the regular playoff games 0: 0 (Sydney, Australia) and 2: 2 ( Seoul, South Korea) ended.

World Championship 1978

In the first qualifying round , South Korea was able to prevail against Israel and Japan and qualified for the final qualifying round of the Asia-Oceania zone. There, however, South Korea only finished second behind Iran, the only representatives from Asia and Oceania at the World Cup finals in Argentina .

World Championship 1982

In the first qualifying round with Kuwait, Malaysia and Thailand, South Korea was only second behind Kuwait and was eliminated. Kuwait was group winners in the final qualifying round of the Asia-Oceania zone and qualified for the World Cup finals in Spain.

1986 World Championship

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico , South Korea beat Malaysia and Nepal in the first round. In the East Asian semi-finals, they beat Indonesia 2-0 and 4-1. The East Asian final was also won 2-1 and 1-0 against Japan. South Korea was thus qualified as a representative of East Asia for the World Cup finals in Mexico . There they were eliminated in the preliminary round as bottom group in group A. In the 1: 3 game against eventual world champions Argentina, Park Chang-sun scored the first World Cup goal for South Korea. And against Bulgaria they won the first point at a World Cup with a 1-1 draw. In the 2: 3 against defending champions Italy even scored two goals and Italy could only win through an own goal by Choi Kwang-rae .

World Cup 1990

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Italy , South Korea was able to prevail against Malaysia, Singapore and Nepal in the first group stage. In the final group stage, South Korea qualified as group winners for the World Cup finals. The United Arab Emirates also qualified as second in the group . The remaining four teams Qatar , China, Saudi Arabia and North Korea were eliminated. At the final tournament in Italy, all three games in Group E were lost.

World Championship 1994

In qualifying for the World Cup in the USA , South Korea prevailed as group winners against Bahrain, Lebanon, Hong Kong and India. In the final group with Saudi Arabia, Japan , Iraq, Iran and North Korea, South Korea was able to qualify for the World Cup finals together with group winners Saudi Arabia as runners-up (see also the soccer match Japan - Iraq 1993 ). In the finals tournament, they only managed to win points against Bolivia (0-0), which is also the only point win for Bolivia at a World Cup finals tournament. The group matches against Spain and Germany were lost. As a result, South Korea missed the last sixteen as one of the two worst thirds in the group.

World Championship 1998

In qualifying for the second World Cup in France , they won the group in the first round against Thailand and Hong Kong. In the second round, the group also won ahead of Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. South Korea was thus qualified for the final tournament in France. Also in the 1998 World Cup tournament, South Korea was eliminated in the preliminary round. The group matches against the Netherlands and Mexico were lost. Only against Belgium was a draw.

World Championship 2002

For the first World Cup in Asia , South Korea and Japan were automatically qualified as co-hosts. In the preliminary round, South Korea was group winner ahead of the USA, Portugal and Poland. The first World Cup victory was achieved in the first group game against Poland. South Korea beat Italy in the round of 16 and Spain in the quarter-finals, but then lost the semi-finals to Germany. The game for third place against Turkey was also lost.

World Championship 2006

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Germany , South Korea was directly qualified for the first main round by bye. There, South Korea prevailed as group winners in Group 7 of the Asia zone against Lebanon, Vietnam and Maldives. In the second group stage, they faced Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kuwait, but had to let Saudi Arabia go first, South Korea's second place was enough to qualify for the World Cup finals in Germany. In World Cup group G they won against Togo and they drew against France, but they lost the final group game against Switzerland and were eliminated as third party.

World Championship 2010

South Korean players before the game against Uruguay

Also in qualifying for the first World Cup in Africa , South Korea was directly qualified for the first main round by bye. In Group 3 of the Asia zone, South Korea met North Korea, Jordan and Turkmenistan. South Korea and North Korea made it into the next round. There, South Korea was able to qualify as group winners for the World Cup in South Africa. North Korea, who also qualified, came in second, with other group opponents: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. In the first World Cup final match, South Korea managed to beat Greece, but lost to Argentina, but a draw in the final group match against Nigeria was enough to make it into the round of 16. This was lost with 1: 2 against Uruguay.

World Championship 2014

South Korean fans at the 2014 World Cup

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Brazil , South Korea made it to the third round as a seeded team. In Group B, together with Lebanon, they made it into the fourth round, while Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were eliminated. There, South Korea was able to qualify as second in the group behind Iran for the World Cup final tournament in Brazil, other group opponents were Uzbekistan, Qatar and Lebanon. At the World Cup tournament in Brazil, South Korea only finished fourth in Group H.

World Championship 2018

In qualifying for the World Cup in Russia , South Korea, which has been coached by Uli Stielike since September 2014 , entered the second round as a seeded team. In Group G, the team met Kuwait , Lebanon , Myanmar and Laos . South Korea was the only team to win all games, but the second game against Kuwait did not take place because the Kuwaitis were suspended. As group winners, the team met Iran , Uzbekistan , the People's Republic of China , Qatar and Syria in the third round . With four wins as well as three draws and three defeats, the second place was taken and thus the direct qualification for the final round was achieved. The decisive factor here was a goalless draw on the last day of the match in Uzbekistan; if they had lost, the Uzbeks would have finished second. Because of the draw, they even missed third place, which would have allowed them to play more playoffs.

In the finals, South Korea lost the first game against Sweden 1-0 and lost 2-1 to Mexico in the second game. Despite two defeats there was still a theoretical chance of reaching the round of 16. However, this would have required a victory against world champions Germany and a victory for Mexico in the parallel game against Sweden, whereby either South Korea or Mexico would have to win by two or more goals difference.

In the last game against defending champions Germany they were under constant pressure, as the Germans needed a win by two goals to make it safely to the round of 16, but South Korea defended cleverly. In stoppage time, the South Koreans scored two goals and thus their first victory against a defending champion, but still did not reach the round of 16 because Sweden beat Mexico 3-0. In the all-time ranking, South Korea fell two places.

player

Ranking of the South Korean World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Hong Myung-bo - 16 in 4 tournaments

02. Park Ji-sung - 14 in 3 tournaments

03. Lee Young-pyo - 12 in 3 tournaments

04. Kim Nam-il and Lee Woon-jae - 11 in 3 tournaments

05. Ahn Jung-hwan , Hwang Sun-hong , Kim Tae-young , Lee Chun-soo and Yoo Sang-chul - 10 in 2 and 3 (Hwang) tournaments respectively

Ranking of the South Korean World Cup players with the most World Cup goals

01. Ahn Jung-hwan, Park Ji-sung and Son Heung-min - 3 goals each

04. Hong Myung-bo, Hwang Sun-hong, Lee Chung-yong , Lee Jung-soo and Yoo Sang-chul - 2 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1954: Min Byung-dae (1st game), Park Kyu-chang (2nd game)
• 1986: Park Chang-sun
• 1990: Chung Yong-hwan (1st game), Choi Soon-ho (2nd and 3rd game)
• 1994: Choi In-young (1st to 3rd game up to half-time)
• 1988: Yoo Sang-chul
• 2002: Hong Myung-bo (substituted three times)
• 2006: Lee Woon-jae
• 2010: Park Ji-sung
• 2014: Koo Ja-cheol
• 2018: Ki Sung-yong (1st and 2nd game), Son Heung-min (3rd game)

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1954 (2)	0
1986 (3)	1 (in Germany)	Cha Bum-kun (3)
1990 (3)	0
1994 (3)	2 (1 in Germany, 1 in Japan)	Kim Joo-sung (3); Noh Jung-yoon (2)
1998 (3)	5 (1 in France, 3 in Japan, 1 in the Netherlands)	Seo Jung-won (3); Ha Seok-ju (2), Hong Myung-bo (3), Kim Do-hoon (2); Noh Jung-yoon (1)
2002 (7)	7 (1 in Belgium, 1 in Italy, 5 in Japan)	Seol Ki-hyeon (7); Ahn Jung-hwan (7); Choi Yong-soo (1), Hwang Sun-hong (5), Park Ji-sung (7), Yoo Sang-chul (7), Yoon Jong-hwan (0)
2006 (3)	7 (1 in Germany, 3 in England, 2 in Japan, 1 in Turkey)	Ahn Jung-hwan (3); Lee Young-pyo (3), Park Ji-sung (3), Seol Ki-hyeon (2); Cho Jae-jin (3), Kim Jin-kyu (3); Lee Eul-yong (2)
2010 (4)	9 (1 in China, 1 in Germany, 2 in England, 1 in France, 2 in Japan, 1 in Russia, 1 in Saudi Arabia, 1 in Scotland)	Ahn Jung-hwan (0); Cha Du-ri (3); Park Ji-sung (4), Lee Chung-yong (4); Park Chu-young (4); Kim Bo-kyung (0), Lee Jung-soo (4); Kim Nam-il (3); Lee Young-pyo (4); Ki Sung-yong (4)
2014 (3)	17 (3 in China, 5 in Germany, 5 in England, 3 in Japan, 1 in Saudi Arabia)	Ha Dae-sung (0), Kim Young-gwon (2), Park Jong-woo (0); Hong Jeong-ho (3), Ji Dong-won (2), Koo Ja-cheol (3), Park Joo-ho (0), Son Heung-min (3); Ki Sung-yong (3), Kim Bo-kyung (2), Lee Chung-yong (3), Park Chu-young (2), Yun Suk-young (3); Han Kook-young (3), Hwang Seok-ho (1), Kim Chang-soo (0); Kwak Tae-hwi (0)
2018 (3)	10 (1 in China, 1 in Germany, 2 in England, 1 in Italy, 4 in Japan, 1 in Austria)	Kim Young-gwon (3); Koo Ja-cheol (2); Ki Sung-yong (2), Son Heung-min (3); Lee Seung-woo (2); Jang Hyun-soo (2), Jung Woo-young (3), Kim Jin-hyeon , Kim Seung-gyu ; Hwang Hee-chan (3)

Players banned from World Championships

• 1990: Yoon Deok-yeo received the red card in the last group game against Uruguay , but this had no further effect as South Korea were eliminated.
• 1994: Choi Young-il received the second yellow card in the last group game against Germany , but this had no effect as South Korea was eliminated.
• 1998: Ha Seok-ju received the red card in the game against Mexico and was suspended from the game against the Netherlands. Lee Min-sung received the second yellow card in the last group match against Belgium , but this had no effect as South Korea were eliminated.
• 2006: Lee Chun-soo received the second yellow card in the last group game , but this had no effect as South Korea were eliminated.
• 2018: Jung Woo-young received the second yellow card in the last group game , but this had no effect as South Korea was eliminated.

Games

South Korea has played 34 World Cup games so far. Of these, six were won, 19 lost and 9 ended in a draw. Two games had to be extended because a winner had to be determined. South Korea won one with a golden goal , one on penalties . South Korea have had seven home games so far but never met a host. South Korea has met the defending champions twice (1994 and 2018 / Germany) and once against the eventual world champion (1986 / Argentina). South Korea met newcomers twice: in 1954 when they were newcomers themselves, in Turkey and in 2006 in Togo. The most frequent opponents are Belgium, Germany and Spain with three games each.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	06/17/1954	0: 9	Hungary	*	Zurich ( CHE )	Preliminary round
2	06/20/1954	0: 7	Turkey	*	Geneva ( CHE )	Preliminary round	one of the three highest victories of Turkey (also 7-0 each against Syria and San Marino )
3	06/02/1986	1: 3	Argentina	*	Puebla ( MEX )	Preliminary round	First World Cup goal
4th	06/06/1986	1: 1	Bulgaria	*	Puebla ( MEX )	Preliminary round	First point win
5	06/10/1986	2: 3	Italy	*	Mexico City ( MEX )	Preliminary round
6th	06/12/1990	0: 2	Belgium	*	Verona ( ITA )	Preliminary round
7th	06/17/1990	1: 3	Spain	*	Udine ( ITA )	Preliminary round
8th	06/21/1990	0: 1	Uruguay	*	Udine ( ITA )	Preliminary round
9	06/17/1994	2: 2	Spain	*	Dallas ( USA )	Preliminary round
10	06/23/1994	0-0	Bolivia	*	Foxborough ( USA )	Preliminary round
11	06/27/1994	2: 3	Germany	*	Dallas ( USA )	Preliminary round	worst of all 6 thirds in the group
12	06/13/1998	1: 3	Mexico	*	Lyon ( FRA )	Preliminary round
13	06/20/1998	0: 5	Netherlands	*	Marseille ( FRA )	Preliminary round	First international match against the Netherlands
14th	06/25/1998	1: 1	Belgium	*	Paris ( FRA )	Preliminary round
15th	06/04/2002	2-0	Poland	H	Busan	Preliminary round
16	06/10/2002	1: 1	United States	H	Daegu	Preliminary round
17th	06/14/2002	1-0	Portugal	H	Incheon	Preliminary round	First international match against Portugal
18th	06/18/2002	2: 1 by default ( GG )	Italy	H	Daejeon	Round of 16	First win against Italy
19th	06/22/2002	0: 0 n.v. (5: 3 in good condition )	Spain	H	Gwangju	Quarter finals
20th	06/25/2002	0: 1	Germany	H	Seoul	Semifinals
21st	06/29/2002	2: 3	Turkey	H	Daegu	3rd place match
22nd	06/13/2006	2: 1	Togo	*	Frankfurt am Main ( DEU )	Preliminary round
23	06/18/2006	1: 1	France	*	Leipzig ( DEU )	Preliminary round
24	06/23/2006	0: 2	Switzerland	*	Hanover ( DEU )	Preliminary round
25th	06/12/2010	2-0	Greece	*	Port Elizabeth ( ZAF )	Preliminary round
26th	06/17/2010	1: 4	Argentina	*	Johannesburg ( ZAF )	Preliminary round
27	06/22/2010	2: 2	Nigeria	*	Durban ( ZAF )	Preliminary round
28	06/26/2010	1: 2	Uruguay	*	Port Elizabeth ( ZAF )	Round of 16
29	06/17/2014	1: 1	Russia	*	Cuiabá ( BRA )	Preliminary round
30th	06/22/2014	2: 4	Algeria	*	Porto Alegre ( BRA )	Preliminary round
31	06/26/2014	0: 1	Belgium	*	Sao Paulo ( BRA )	Preliminary round
32	06/18/2018	0: 1	Sweden	*	Nizhny Novgorod ( RUS )	Group game
33	June 23, 2018	1: 2	Mexico	*	Rostov-on-Don ( RUS )	Group game
34	06/27/2018	2-0	Germany	*	Kazan ( RUS )	Group game

The South Korean team achieved their highest victories in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Germany : Preliminary round 2018 - 2-0 (also a 3-1 in a friendly game)
•  Greece : preliminary round 2010 - 2-0 (also a 2-0 in a friendly match)
•  Italy : Round of 16 2002 - 2-1 aet (only win against Italy)
•  Poland : Preliminary round 2002 - 2-0 (only win against Poland)
•  Portugal : Preliminary round 2002 - 1-0 (only game against Portugal)

The South Korean team suffered their biggest defeats at World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Algeria : Preliminary round 2014 - 2-4 (only loss to Algeria)
•  Argentina : preliminary round 2010 - 1: 4
•  Belgium : preliminary round 1990 - 0-2
•  Germany : preliminary round 1994 - 2: 3 and semi-finals 2002 - 0: 1 (only defeats against Germany)
•  Italy : preliminary round 1986 - 2: 3 (only loss to Italy)
•  Netherlands : preliminary round 1998 - 0-5
•  Switzerland : Preliminary round 2010 - 2-0 (only defeat against Switzerland)
•  Turkey : preliminary round 1954 - 7-0
•  Hungary : preliminary round 1954 - 9-0

Negative records

• Worst team at the 1954 World Cup. Two defeats 0:16 goals.
• Biggest defeat in the first World Cup game: 0: 9 against Hungary in 1954
• In the all-time table , South Korea had the worst goal difference of all 77 listed teams in absolute numbers since the 2: 4 defeat against Algeria at the 2014 World Cup: 31:67 goals = minus 36. Mexico had previously held this negative record, and this has been uninterrupted since then first ever World Cup game, the opening game of the 1930 World Cup, when Mexico lost 4-1 to France. Since June 27, 2018, both had a goal difference of -36 again, but that changed to -38 in Mexico.
• In contrast, Indonesia (1938 as the Dutch East Indies) holds the relative negative record with minus 6, due to a single World Cup game, a 6-0 defeat against Hungary. In the meantime (from 1954 to 1986) South Korea also had this negative record with 0:16 goals in 2 games, an average of minus 8.

See also

South Korean Women's National Football Team / World Championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - South Korea on fifa.com

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Won one game on penalties .
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2014 (PDF; 200 kB).
3. ↑ fifa.com: History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year) (PDF; 325 kB), p. 12
4. ↑ ^{a b} Incl. a player who plays for a Welsh club but plays in the English Premier League .