When looking at all the Asian teams which consistently take part in the on the world stage, the team which tends to stand out the most often is the Korean team.
When you look at all of the Asian football teams, you can see that the team from South Korea is the most consistently successful. This has been shown in the abilities they have displayed in the World Cups, Europe, as well as the Premier League.
However, there is a chance that while you might be aware of South Korea’s success, you might not actually know that much about their players.
Because of this, we have put this list together, so you can see some of the best Korean players which we think are worth highlighting!
Our Picks For The Best Korean Soccer Players
While this list will of course not include every notable Korean soccer player, it will include some of those who we think every soccer enthusiast should know about.
So, while there are plenty of players who also deserve mention, this list just includes some who we think are worth highlighting.
Lee Woon-Jae
When it comes to the most well-known Korean soccer players, Lee Woon Jae is seen to be perhaps the best goalkeeper Korea has ever seen. He was able to compete in 4 separate World Cups, including 1994, 2002, 2006, and 2010.
His stand out performance is usually agreed to be 2002, where he was able to maintain clean sheets when playing against Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
He is also the holder of 4 K-League titles, as well as 6 cups, on top of the 2001-02 AFC Champions League alongside Suwon Bluewings. The player was also named the MVP of the league back in 2008.
Son Heung-min
Another one of the greatest Korean soccer players of all time is Song Heung Min who is now globally known. He currently plays as a forward for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
Heung Min is incredibly decorated being a Premier League Player of the Month, as well as the AFC Asian International Player of the Year.
He has also played for plenty of different teams like Hamburger SV II, Hamburger SV, Tottenham, and Bayer Leverkusen.
Hong Myung-bo
Myung Bo is seen to be one of the top Asian soccer players who played sweeper, and on top of this, he was the very first Asian soccer player who was able to appear in 4 World Cups which all took place consecutively.
On top of this, Myung Bo is the first Asian player who got a bronze ball with the World Cup. From this you can see how many firsts Myung Bo achieved and how impressive and well known this makes him as a player.
He is also the most capped player within the history of Korean players with 136 caps to his name. He is also the first Korean player to have been included with the FIFA 100 which is a selection of the top 125 best living players currently.
Lee Young-Pyo
Young Pyo is another player who is well known for his time in the Tottenham Hotspurs, and this is where he went on to win the League Cup, and also where he managed to make over 100 appearances.
This player also managed to win 2 league titles, these being with PSV and the KNVB Cup. On top of the Young Pyo also made 127 appearances for the national side which led to him being the third most capped player in the history of Korean players.
It is also worth noting the brief stint he had with Borussia Dortmund back in 2008.
Cho Kwang-Rae
When it comes to discussion surrounding the most respected and well regarded Korean midfielders, a name which keeps coming up is Cho Kwang Rae. Because of this he was given the nickname of Computer lInker back when he was playing.
Just between the years of 1976 to 1986, Kwang Rae made an impressive 100 appearances in over 100 international competitions and in this time scored 15 goals.
Most of this player’s club career was spent in Yonsei University, Army FC, Pohang Steelworks, and Daewoo Royals.
Choi Soon-ho
Choi Soon was an amazing player back when he was active, but he now fulfils the role as the manager for the South Korean team. Even so, he is still recognized as one of the best strikers in the history of the South Korean team.
He is also notable for being the youngest top scorer within the history of the AFC Cup when he was just 18 years old. He was also responsible for leading his team to victory in the 1980 AFC Youth award.
Park Ji Sung
This is another one of the most well known Korean footballers in history and he is known for having perhaps the most success in any club compared to any other Korean player.
He is also well respected for his 7 year run within Manchester United when being led by Alex Ferguson.
Ji Sung is well known for having scored within 3 World Cups consecutively, and as well as this is the recipient of 4 Premier League titles, as well as the Champions League, and 3 League cups too.
This makes him one of if not the most decorated Asian soccer players in history.
Cha Bum-Kun
When it comes to interesting South Korean soccer players who are worth mentioning, we should not overlook Cha Bum Kun. Back in 1972 he was the youngest Korean player to ever make his debut which made him immediately noticeable.
Throughout his career he was able to score 121 caps, as well as scoring 55 goals. This meant he was one of the top scorers when looking at the national side. He then went on to become established as one of the best strikers within Europe as well.
This is when he moved to Bundesliga IFFHS. He was then named to be the best Asian soccer player that was active within the 20th Century
Soccer is the most popular sport played and watched in the world, yet it is one rarely talked about in the United States. Why is this?
Hi, my name is Adrian Turner and I am a self-proclaimed soccer head.
Since I was young, I have always been fascinated by soccer, and any of the games I could find on the TV channels. There weren’t many games broadcast, so thankfully I could find more on the internet as I grew up.
I turned all of my friends onto soccer and we’d play into the evenings after school.
