South Korea women's national football team

Korea Republic

Nickname(s)	Taegeuk Nangja (Taegeuk Ladies)
Association	Korea Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	EAFF (East Asia)
Head coach	Colin Bell
Captain	Cho So-hyun
Most caps	Cho So-hyun (127)[1]
Top scorer	Ji So-yun (61)
FIFA code	KOR
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	18 (10 December 2021)[2]
Highest	14 (December 2017, September 2018–March 2019)
Lowest	26 (August 2004)
First international
Japan 13–1 South Korea  (Seoul, South Korea; 6 September 1990)
Biggest win
South Korea 19–0 Northern Mariana Islands  (Tainan County, Taiwan; 26 August 2009)
Biggest defeat
Japan 13–1 South Korea  (Seoul, South Korea; 6 September 1990)
World Cup
Appearances	3 (first in 2003)
Best result	Round of 16 (2015)
Asian Cup
Appearances	12 (first in 1991)
Best result	Third place (2003)
Medal record Asian Games 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Team 2014 Incheon Team 2010 Guangzhou Team

The Korea Republic women's national football team (Korean: 대한민국 여자 축구 국가대표팀; Hanja: 大韓民國女子蹴球國家代表팀) represents South Korea in international women's football competitions. The team is referred to as the Korea Republic by the FIFA. Its first game was a match against Japan in 1990, which it lost 13–1. Since then, it has qualified for three FIFA World Cups, in 2003, 2015, and 2019 (their best result is round of 16 in 2015).

History[]

1949–2002: The beginning[]

Less than a year after the government of the Republic of Korea was established in 1948, the first official women's football matches were held in Seoul on 28 and 29 June 1949, as a part of the National Girls' and Women's Sport Games. While women's basketball and volleyball won public recognition through the Games, football was seen as being unsuitable for women and as being unattractive to the public; as a result, the girls' teams were disbanded soon after the event.^[3]

When women's football was officially adopted at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, the South Korean sports authorities decided to form a women's team with athletes from other sports and send the team to the Games.^[3] The result was defeat in all matches against Japan, North Korea, China and Chinese Taipei.^[4] Nevertheless, colleges and corporations started to launch women's football teams through the 1990s and the first annual national women's football event, the Queen's Cup, was held in 1993. With these changes, South Korea was able to finish in fourth place at the 1995 AFC Women's Championship in Malaysia.^[5]

When the 1999 Women's World Cup sparked interest worldwide, the South Korean ministry in charge of sports sponsored the foundation of new teams and tournaments for girls’ high school teams, university teams and company teams. To promote women's football, the Korea Women's Football Federation (KWFF) was established in March 2001, as an independent organization in association with the Korea Football Association (KFA).^[3]

2003–2013: First World Cup and a period of decline[]

South Korea finished in third place at the 2003 AFC Women's Championship and qualified for the World Cup for the first time. The Taegeuk Ladies were drawn in Group B with Norway, France and Brazil. Their first match played at the World Cup was a 3–0 loss to Brazil on 21 September 2003. They went on to lose 1–0 to France and 7–1 to Norway. Kim Jin-hee scored the first ever South Korean World Cup goal on 27 September 2003 against Norway.

Despite winning the inaugural EAFF E-1 Football Championship on home soil in 2005, South Korea failed to qualify for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Taegeuk Ladies won bronze at the 2010 Asian Games and at the 2010 EAFF Women's Football Championship, but once again failed to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

2014–present: Second World Cup[]

South Korea finished in fourth place at the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup and qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, where they made it out of the group stage for the first time. They were drawn in Group E with Brazil, Spain and Costa Rica. South Korea lost 2–0 to Brazil on 9 June 2015, but a 2–2 draw with Costa Rica on 13 June and a 2–1 victory against Spain on 17 June were enough to progress for the first time ever at a World Cup. They went on to lose 3–0 to France in the round of 16 on 21 June 2015.

2019 World Cup: Third World Cup[]

Coming off a somewhat successful showing at the previous one, South Korea qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and were put in Group A with France, Norway and Nigeria. However, they could not repeat their prior success in 2015 and lost all three games and exited the tournament in the group stage, only scoring one goal in their entire run and even an own goal.

Team image[]

Nicknames[]

The South Korea women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Taegeuk Nangja (Taegeuk Ladies)".

Kits and crest[]

The women's team usually use exactly the same kit as its men counterpart, along with the combinations available. However, there were many combinations that the men's team never used.

This section needs expansion. You can help by . (November 2020)

Kit used in 2003 AFC Women's Championship match vs North Korea.

Kit used in 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup match vs Brazil.

Rivalries[]

Japan[]

The South Korea and Japan national football teams are sporting rivals.

FIFA World Rankings[]

As of 21 January 2022, after the match against  Vietnam.

  Best Ranking    Best Mover    Worst Ranking    Worst Mover  

South Korea's FIFA world rankings
	Rank	Year	Games Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Best		Worst
							Rank	Move	Rank	Move
	18 (10 December 2021)[2]	2022	0	0	0	0	18		18
	18	2021	8	3	3	2	18	0	19	1

Results and fixtures[]

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

  Win   Draw   Lose   Void or postponed   Fixture

2021[]

2022[]

• Official South Korea Fixtures (in English)
• Official South Korea Results (in English)
• South Korea Fixtures and Results – Soccerway.com

All-time results[]

• The following table shows South Korea women's all-time international record, correct as of 1 Jan 2021.

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA
Total	213	91	34	85	473	255

• Source: Worldfootball.net

Coaching staff[]

Current coaching staff[]

As of 16 September 2021^[6]

Position	Name	Start date
Head Coach	Colin Bell	18 October 2019
Coach	Matt Ross
Coach	Hwang In-sun
GK Coach	Chung Yoo-suk
Fitness Coach	Park Sung-jun

Manager history[]

This section needs expansion. You can help by . (November 2020)

Name	Period	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Winning %	Notes
Colin Bell	2019–	0	0	0	0	00.0%

As of 21 January 2022, after the match against  Vietnam.

Players[]

Current squad[]

The following 23 players were named to the squad for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup.^[7]

Caps and goals correct as of 30 November 2021 against  New Zealand.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Kang Ga-ae (강가애)	(1990-12-10) 10 December 1990 (age 31)	14	0	Sejong Sportstoto
	1GK	Kim Jung-mi (김정미)	(1984-10-16) 16 October 1984 (age 37)	120	0	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
	1GK	Yoon Young-geul (윤영글)	(1987-10-28) 28 October 1987 (age 34)	22	0	Gyeongju KHNP
	2DF	Kim Hye-ri (김혜리)	(1990-06-25) 25 June 1990 (age 31)	93	1	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
	2DF	Shim Seo-yeon (심서연)	(1989-04-15) 15 April 1989 (age 32)	64	2	Sejong Sportstoto
	2DF	Lee Young-ju (이영주)	(1992-04-22) 22 April 1992 (age 29)	44	2	Madrid CFF
	2DF	Lim Seon-joo (임선주)	(1990-11-27) 27 November 1990 (age 31)	86	6	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
	2DF	Jang Selgi (장슬기)	(1994-05-31) 31 May 1994 (age 27)	73	12	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
	2DF	(추효주)	(2000-07-29) 29 July 2000 (age 21)	11	3	Suwon UDC
	2DF	Hong Hye-ji (홍혜지)	(1996-08-25) 25 August 1996 (age 25)	32	1	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
	3MF	(김성미)	(1997-04-02) 2 April 1997 (age 24)	2	0	Sejong Sportstoto
	3MF	Park Ye-eun (박예은)	(1996-10-17) 17 October 1996 (age 25)	10	3	Gyeongju KHNP
	3MF	Yeo Min-ji (여민지)	(1993-04-27) 27 April 1993 (age 28)	49	15	Gyeongju KHNP
	3MF	Lee Geum-min (이금민)	(1994-04-07) 7 April 1994 (age 27)	64	18	Brighton & Hove Albion
	3MF	Lee Min-a (이민아)	(1991-11-08) 8 November 1991 (age 30)	65	15	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
	3MF	Lee Jeong-min (이정민)	(2000-11-11) 11 November 2000 (age 21)	1	0	Boeun Sangmu
	3MF	(조미진)	(2001-04-04) 4 April 2001 (age 20)	1	0	Sejong Korea University
	3MF	Cho So-hyun (조소현)	(1988-06-24) 24 June 1988 (age 33)	126	20	Tottenham Hotspur
	3MF	Ji So-Yun (지소연) (captain)	(1991-02-21) 21 February 1991 (age 30)	125	61	Chelsea
	4FW	Moon Mi-ra (문미라)	(1992-02-28) 28 February 1992 (age 29)	29	16	Suwon UDC
	4FW	(서지연)	(1995-05-20) 20 May 1995 (age 26)	2	0	Gyeongju KHNP
	4FW	Son Hwa-yeon (손화연)	(1997-03-15) 15 March 1997 (age 24)	30	7	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
	4FW	Choe Yu-ri (최유리)	(1994-09-16) 16 September 1994 (age 27)	34	5	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels

Recent call-ups[]

The following players have been called up to the South Korea squad in the past 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	(전하늘)	(1992-07-06) 6 July 1992 (age 29)	0	0	Suwon UDC
GK	(오은아)	(1994-01-17) 17 January 1994 (age 28)	0	0	Seoul
DF	Kim Hye-ri (김혜리)	(1990-06-25) 25 June 1990 (age 31)	87	1	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
DF	Lee Eun-mi (이은미)	(1988-08-18) 18 August 1988 (age 33)	89	14	Suwon UDC
DF	Kim Hye-yeong (김혜영)	(1995-02-26) 26 February 1995 (age 26)	7	1	Gyeongju KHNP
DF	(어희진)	(1991-03-21) 21 March 1991 (age 30)	4	0	Gumi Sportstoto
MF	Lee So-dam (이소담)	(1994-10-12) 12 October 1994 (age 27)	55	6	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
MF	Jang Chang (장창)	(1996-06-21) 21 June 1996 (age 25)	18	0	Seoul
MF	(박예은)	(1996-10-17) 17 October 1996 (age 25)	3	2	Gyeongju KHNP
MF	Jung Seol-bin (정설빈)	(1990-01-06) 6 January 1990 (age 32)	77	21	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
MF	(전은하)	(1993-01-28) 28 January 1993 (age 28)	9	0	Gyeongju KHNP
FW	(강지우)	(2000-05-09) 9 May 2000 (age 21)	1		Korea University-Sejong Campus
FW	Son Hwa-yeon (손화연)	(1997-03-15) 15 March 1997 (age 24)	21	7	Changnyeong
FW	(김상은)	(1991-12-31) 31 December 1991 (age 30)	8	3	Gumi Sportstoto

Previous squads[]

FIFA Women's World Cup

• 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
• 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
• 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup squad

Records[]

• Active players in bold, statistics as of 9 February 2020.^[1]

Honours[]

Regional[]

• EAFF E-1 Football Championship

Champions: 2005

Runners-up: 2015, 2019

• Cyprus Women's Cup

Runners-up: 2017

Competitive record[]

  Champions    Runners-up    Third place    Fourth place  

FIFA Women's World Cup[]

FIFA Women's World Cup record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1991	Did not qualify
1995
1999
2003	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	11	−10
2007	Did not qualify
2011
2015	Round of 16	4	1	1	2	4	8	−4
2019	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7
2023	To be determined
Total	3/9	10	1	1	8	6	27	−21

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

FIFA Women's World Cup history
Year	Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Stadium
2003	Group stage	21 September	Brazil	L 0–3	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.
		24 September	France	L 0–1
		27 September	Norway	L 1–7	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough
2015
	Group stage	9 June	Brazil	L 0–2	Olympic Stadium, Montreal
		13 June	Costa Rica	D 2–2
		17 June	Spain	W 2–1	Lansdowne Stadium, Ottawa
	Round of 16	21 June	France	L 0–3	Olympic Stadium, Montreal
2019	Group stage	7 June	France	L 0–4	Parc des Princes, Paris
		12 June	Nigeria	L 0–2	Stade des Alpes, Grenoble
		17 June	Norway	L 1–2	Stade Auguste-Delaune, Reims

Olympic Games[]

Summer Olympics record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1996	Did not qualify
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024	To be determined
Total	0/7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

AFC Women's Asian Cup[]

AFC Women's Asian Cup record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1975	Did not participate
1977
1979
1981
1983
1986
1989
1991	Group stage	3	0	0	3	0	22	−22
1993		3	1	0	2	4	9	−5
1995	Fourth place	5	2	1	2	11	5	+6
1997	Group stage	2	1	0	1	11	1	+10
1999		4	3	0	1	30	5	+25
2001	Fourth place	6	4	0	2	16	10	+6
2003	Third place	6	4	1	1	22	5	+17
2006	Group stage	4	2	0	2	14	6	+8
2008		3	2	0	1	5	3	+2
2010		3	1	1	1	6	3	+3
2014	Fourth place	5	2	1	2	18	4	+14
2018	5th place	4	2	2	0	9	0	+9
2022	Qualified	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	12/19	48	24	6	18	146	73	+73

Asian Games[]

Asian Games record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD
1990	5th place	5	1	0	4	2	30	−28
1994	Fourth place	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9
1998	Group stage	3	1	1	1	8	4	+4
2002	Fourth place	5	2	0	3	6	8	−2
2006	Fourth place	5	2	0	3	7	10	−3
2010	Third place	5	3	1	1	14	4	+10
2014	Third place	6	5	0	1	33	2	+31
2018	Third place	6	5	0	1	32	3	+29
2022	TBD	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	TBD	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	8/8	38	19	2	16	102	71	+31

EAFF E-1 Football Championship[]

EAFF E-1 Football Championship record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
2005	Champions	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3
2008	Fourth place	6	3	0	3	15	9	+6
2010	Third place	7	5	0	2	47	4	+43
2013	Third place	3	1	0	2	4	5	–1
2015	Runners-up	6	5	0	1	29	3	+26
2017	Fourth place	6	3	0	3	43	7	+36
2019	Runners-up	3	1	1	1	3	1	+2
	TBD	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	7/7	34	20	2	12	144	29	+115

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Algarve Cup[]

The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and longest-running women's international football events and has been nicknamed the "Mini FIFA Women's World Cup".^[8]

Algarve Cup record
Year	Result	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA	GD
2018	7th place	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1
Total	1/27	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1

Cyprus Women's Cup[]

Cyprus Women's Cup record
Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2011	6th place	4	2	1	1	6	5	+1
2012	5th place	4	2	2	0	5	3	+2
2013	10th place	4	2	1	1	5	1	+4
2014	Third place	4	1	3	0	7	3	+4
2015	11th place	4	0	1	3	3	6	−3
2017	Runners-up	4	2	1	1	4	1	+3
Total	6/13	24	9	9	6	30	19	+11

Peace Queen Cup[]

Peace Queen Cup record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2006	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	2	6	−4
2008	Fourth place	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1
2010	Champions	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1
Total	3/3	9	3	2	4	9	11	–2

See also[]

• Sport in South Korea
  • Football in South Korea
    • Women's football in South Korea
• Korea Football Association (KFA)

South Korea national teams

Women's

• National under-20 football team
• National Under-17 football team
• National futsal team

Men's

• National football team
  • South Korea national football team results
• National football B team
  • Unofficial match results
• National under-23 football team
  • South Korea national under-23 football team results
• National under-20 football team
• National under-17 football team
• National futsal team
• National beach soccer team

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South Korea women's national football team.

• Official website at KFA.or.kr (in English)
• South Korea profile at FIFA.com

Preceded by Inaugural Champion

EAFF Women's Football Championship 2005 (First title)

Succeeded by 2008 Japan