Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors have now gone where no South Korean football team has gone before: they became the champions of the K League 1 for a record fifth straight season Sunday. Jeonbuk clinched their historic title with a 2-0 victory over Jeju United at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, some 240 kilometers south of Seoul, finishing with the league-best 76 points. Ulsan Hyundai FC, the only other team with a chance to win the title in the top league Sunday, blanked Daegu FC 2-0 but still fini

Lionel Messi, the legendary 34-year-old soccer player of Paris Saint-Germain, won his seventh Ballon d’Or on Monday. Presented by the news magazine France Football every year, the Ballon d’Or is given to the best soccer player of the year. Since the Ballon d’Or Awards did not take place last year due to the pandemic, Messi has won the trophy a second time consecutively. Messi won the Ballon d’Or for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and now 2021, becoming the soccer pl

A long drought is over for Son Heung-min. The South Korean star for Tottenham Hotspur netted his fifth goal of the Premier League season against Brentford at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Thursday (local time), helping the club to a 2-0 victory. Son was also involved in a first-half own goal by Brentford midfielder Sergi Canos. Son's 65th-minute marker was his first goal in the Premier League since Oct. 17 against Newcastle United. He now has five goals in 13 league matches. Across a

  Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors moved to the brink of a historic fifth straight title in the top South Korean football league on Sunday.    Hong Jeong-ho and Moon Seon-min scored a goal apiece to lead Jeonbuk past Daegu FC 2-0 in the clubs' penultimate match of the 2021 K League 1 season on Sunday at DGB Daegu Bank Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.    Jeonbuk improved to 73 points, two points ahead of their closest competitor, Ulsan Hyundai FC, with one

  Former South Korea international Choi Yong-soo will make his Gangwon FC coaching debut against his former team, FC Seoul, in the K League 1 on Sunday, but there's much more riding for Choi than just trying to get his first win over familiar faces. When Choi was hired on Nov. 16, he was immediately tasked with trying to rescue Gangwon FC from being relegated to the second-tier K League 2 next year. With two matches left this season, Gangwon FC are in 11th place, second from the bottom, w

South Korea have defeated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iraq in succession in their World Cup qualifying campaign, using identical starting lineups. But how they achieved those results couldn't have been more different, as the Taeguk Warriors proved that they can win matches in a variety of ways. Three different players scored in South Korea's 3-0 victory over Iraq at Thani bin Jassim Stadium in Doha on Tuesday (local time). It was South Korea's fourth win in six contests in Group A durin

He is still very much active, but Son Heung-min's latest goal for South Korea made it feel like his career had come full circle. Son scored his 30th international goal in a 3-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Iraq at Thani bin Jassim Stadium in Doha on Tuesday (local time). Son is now tied for sixth with three others on the all-time South Korean goal scoring list, and leads all active national team players. Son now has 96 caps, four from joining the Century Club, and his legacy as one of the

Captain Son Heung-min scored his 30th international goal while young midfielder Jeong Woo-yeong netted his first, as South Korea beat Iraq 3-0 in their World Cup qualifying match in Doha on Tuesday. Midfielder Lee Jae-sung opened the scoring in the first half for the clean sheet victory at Thani bin Jassim Stadium, helping South Korea extend their undefeated streak to six matches in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. With 14 points from four victories and two draws,

South Korean football club Gangwon FC announced Tuesday they've hired former national team striker Choi Yong-soo as new head coach. Choi, 48, is taking over a team in danger of relegation from the top-flight K League 1. With two matches remaining this season, Gangwon FC are in 11th place, second from last, with 39 points, only three ahead of Gwangju FC. The last-place club in the K League 1 will be automatically relegated to the K League 2 for next year. The 11th-place team will face a K Leagu

Fresh off a wildly entertaining performance, South Korea will seek to give their fans even more to cheer about in their next World Cup qualifying match against Iraq. The second meeting between the two teams in Group A of the final Asian qualifying round will kick off at Thani bin Jassim Stadium in Doha at 6 p.m. Tuesday local time, or midnight in Seoul. Iraq are playing their home matches at neutral venues for security reasons. Following a 1-0 win over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last Thur

The South Korean men's national football opened training camp Monday ahead of two World Cup qualifying matches this month. Players reported to the National Football Center (NFC) in Paju, just north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, for a three-day camp before they host the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday. South Korea will then face Iraq on Nov. 16 in Qatar as a neutral venue. Head coach Paulo Bento named his 25-man roster last Monday, and three Europe-based players who just completed their

Son Heung-min has scored in his new head coach's Tottenham Hotspur debut, helping the English club to a continental win in the process. Son opened the scoring for Spurs in the 15th minute of their 3-2 victory over Vitesse in a Group G match of the UEFA Europa Conference League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Thursday (local time). This was Tottenham's first game since the arrival of their new Italian boss Antonio Conte on Tuesday. Conte, who won the Italian league title with Inter Mi

When Paulo Bento, head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, scouts strikers, he doesn't just look at their goal totals. After making a surprising choice at the forward position Monday ahead of two World Cup qualifiers this month, Bento said a player's adaptability and tactical fit are just as important as goals. That's how he explained his call-up of Kim Gun-hee, a 26-year-old striker for Suwon Samsung Bluewings in the K League 1. Kim has scored six goals in 20 matches for

South Korea lost to the United States 6-0 in the last of their two women's football friendly matches on American soil, unable to put up much of a fight against the top-ranked opponent. Five players had a goal apiece for the US in their resounding victory at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Tuesday (local time), with South Korean midfielder getting an own goal late in the first half. South Korea fell to four draws and 11 losses all time against the US. South Korea, ranked 18th, held the

Having recently failed in their bid to win three major titles this year, South Korean football club Ulsan Hyundai FC will try to stay in the hunt for two trophies this week. Ulsan, currently in second place in the top-flight K League 1, will host the K League 2 club Jeonnam Dragons in the semifinals of the Korean FA Cup on Wednesday. The kickoff at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, some 415 kilometers southeast of Seoul, is 7 p.m. The other semifinal contest, between Gangwon FC and Daegu FC, wi