Eleven previous World Cups — the most by any Asian nation — including ten in a row (1986–2022); 2026 will be its 11th consecutive and 12th overall
The Champions League-winning playmaker (b. 2001) — Korea's craft and set-piece threat, and the man tasked with feeding Son. The one to set an alarm for.
Overtook Cha Bum-kun and Hong Myung-bo (both 136) to become the most-capped Korean of all time; still adding to the tally as captain
Bundesliga pioneer; his 58 still lead the charts, with active captain Son Heung-min two behind on 56
⚠ The most-used eleven in recent matches under Hong Myung-bo (June 2026) — a snapshot of recent form, never a forecast.
| PLAYER | POS | ERA | CAPS | GLS | FILE NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cha Bum-kun #11 | FW | 1972–1986 | 136 | 58 | Cha Boom. Asia's first European superstar and still the nation's top scorer — a Bundesliga thunderbolt before Korea was on the map. |
| Son Heung-min #7 | FW | 2010– | 144 | 56 | Captain, Premier League Golden Boot winner, and record cap-holder — the modern face of Korean football, chasing Cha's goals record. |
| Hong Myung-bo #20 | DF | 1990–2002 | 136 | 10 | The 2002 sweeper-captain and Bronze Ball winner — first Asian to play four straight World Cups, now back in the dugout for a fifth. |
| Park Ji-sung #7 | MF | 2000–2011 | 100 | 13 | Three-lungs Park. Manchester United's tireless engine and the first Asian to captain his country at a World Cup. |
| Hwang Sun-hong #18 | FW | 1988–2002 | 103 | 50 | The poacher of three World Cups whose opener launched the fairytale of 2002. Still third on the all-time goal list. |
| Lee Woon-jae #1 | GK | 1994–2010 | 133 | 0 | The Spider-Hands of 2002 — saved the decisive Spanish penalty that put Korea into a World Cup semi-final. |
| Ahn Jung-hwan #19 | FW | 1997–2010 | 71 | 17 | Scored the golden goal that knocked out Italy in 2002 — and got himself sacked by his Italian club for the crime of brilliance. |
| Yoo Sang-chul #6 | MF | 1994–2005 | 122 | 18 | The 'Asian Bulldozer' — a box-to-box force who scored in the run to fourth place in 2002. |
| Lee Young-pyo #12 | DF | 1999–2011 | 127 | 5 | Tottenham's overlapping left-back — quick, tidy and ever-present across three World Cups. |
| Ki Sung-yueng #16 | MF | 2008–2019 | 110 | 10 | The metronome of the 2010s — Korea's deep-lying conductor through Swansea and a long Premier League stay. |
Asia's most reliable World Cup traveller and the continent's high-water mark — the only Asian side ever to reach a semi-final, back in the unforgettable red summer of 2002. No trophy sits in the cabinet since 1960, but a record cap-holder captains them and the man who swept up in 2002 now picks the team. A side that turns up, every time, and occasionally rewrites the script.