INCHEON -- Jurgen Klinsmann, new head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, wasted little time stating his goal for the team: winning. "Our goal is to win the Asian Cup next year," the German football legend told reporters at Incheon International Airport early Wednesday, arriving in the country that announced his appointment at the end of February. "When you have a team and a ...

Jurgen Klinsmann, a German World Cup hero synonymous with the country’s success in the 1990s, has been named the new head coach of the South Korean men’s national soccer team. The Korea Football Association said Monday Klinsmann has agreed to a deal that will take him through the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Klinsmann, 58, will make his South Korea coachi...

CHANGWON -- For years in the top South Korean football league, Incheon United barely avoided getting relegated to the second division, collecting just enough points near the end of the season to stay alive. That changed in 2022, when they finished in fourth place and punched their first ticket to the Asian Football Confederation Champions League, the top club competition on the continent. Head ...

A panel of 206 judges have selected the world’s top-100 male soccer players of 2022. Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup glory for the first time since 1986, was voted the No. 1 player of 2022, with Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe coming in at second place and Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema at third, according to British newspaper The Guardian. South Korea’s So...

ULSAN -- Preparing for her third FIFA Women's World Cup, South Korean star Ji So-yun couldn't help but notice parallels with the men's national team at their World Cup in Qatar last year. Starting in July in Australia, South Korea will play in Group H at the Women's World Cup against Colombia, Morocco and Germany: a South American team, an African side and a heavily favored European team, respec...

South Korean international defender Park Ji-su has signed with the Portuguese club Portimonense. The club unveiled Park as one of their five new signings on Thursday. Park, 28, is the second South Korean on the team, alongside the 19-year-old winger Kim Yong-hak. Park made his club debut with Incheon United in the K League 1 in 2013 and also had a stint with the Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrand...

The reigning Scottish club football champions Celtic have signed South Korea international Oh Hyeon-gyu. Celtic, who won the Scottish Premiership title last season and are also leading the competition this campaign, announced their acquisition of the 21-year-old Wednesday evening. Celtic said Oh's five-year deal is subject to international clearance. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the t...

It was a bitter ending of an otherwise successful run for South Korean football coach Park Hang-seo, as his Vietnamese team bowed out to Thailand with a regional title on the line Monday night. Thailand successfully defended their ASEAN Football Federation Championship title with a 1-0 victory over Vietnam in the second leg of the final, prevailing on a 3-2 aggregate. Thai captain Theerathon Bun...

Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min has found the back of the net for the first time in nine Premier League matches. Son scored off his left foot in the 72nd minute of Spurs' 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in London on Wednesday. Son now has four goals in 16 matches in the league this season. He had scored in only one other match this season, with a hat trick a...

Suwon Samsung Bluewings announced Monday their veteran midfielder Yeom Ki-hun will be back for one more season as a player-coach. Yeom, 39, had told the K League 1 club after the 2022 season that he wanted to retire. Head coach Lee Byung-geun, however, convinced him to return for another go, and Yeom agreed to a new one-year deal as a player-coach. Yeom made his K League debut with Jeonbuk Hyun...

The Beijing Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar bookended the action-packed sporting year of 2022 for South Korea. And there will be no shortage of international events for the country in the new year, with the World Baseball Classic getting the ball rolling in March. It will be followed by the FIFA Women's World Cup in July, with Australia and New Zealand as co-hosts. The 19th Asian ...

Playing without his protective mask for the first time since suffering facial injuries in November, Son Heung-min still couldn't guide Tottenham Hotspur past Aston Villa at home on New Year's Day. Son tossed aside his black facial mask midway through the first half of a Premier League match against Aston Villa at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday (local time). He appeared visibly fru...

Pele, the Brazilian soccer legend who died of cancer Wednesday at age 82, is widely regarded as one of the best players in sports history. His numerous accolades include being the only player to win three World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and being the most prolific goal-scorer in Brazil’s history by netting 77 goals, a record he shares with Neymar. In 1999, the International Olympic Committee ...

Pele, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Thursday. He was 82. The standard-bearer of “the beautiful game” had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021. The medical center where he had been hospitalized for the last month said he died of multiple organ failure as a result of the cance...

Pele will be famous for 15 centuries. The Brazilian soccer star said Andy Warhol told him that. It was a twist on something else the American artist is widely credited with saying, that “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Warhol made the soccer star’s portrait in 1977, and Pele took great pride in turning his sports fame into decades of global affection and renown. Fo...