WK League News

Twenty WK League players set to represent South Korea at the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games gathered at the Korea Football Park in Cheonan this week. Three players currently playing overseas are due to join the squad after Korea’s first group stage match.

Twelve teams will compete in the women’s football tournament at the Asian Games. The winners and runners-up from all three groups, as well as the two better performing third-placed teams, will progress to the knockout stage of the competition. South Korea has been drawn in Group F along with Myanmar, Bangladesh, and North Korea.

Manager Shin Sangwoo named his squad for the tournament back in July. All eight WK League clubs are represented in the squad, with 20 of the 23 players selected coming from the domestic league. They will be joined in Japan by Jeong Dabin (Stabæk Fotball, Norway), Choo Hyojoo, and Jung Minyoung (both Ottawa Rapids, Canada).

It will be an all-WK side that lines up against Myanmar on 14th September in South Korea’s first match of the tournament. Shin Sangwoo’s side will be hoping to maintain South Korea’s perfect record against the Southeast Asian nation — the Taegeuk Warriors have won in all seven of the two countries’ previous meetings.

The second group stage match, on 17th September, will be the first ever encounter between the women’s football teams of South Korea and Bangladesh. The Korean side shouldn’t have too much trouble against a team 88 places below them in the FIFA world rankings.

Their toughest challenge in the group stage comes in the third and final match, which sees them face their northern neighbours in a match that will most likely decide the rankings of the top two teams in the group. In 21 inter-Korean women’s football clashes, South Korea has only won once, while North Korea has won on sixteen occasions. Their most recent meeting, at the qualifying tournament for the Paris Olympics in 2023, ended as a 0-0 draw, just a few weeks after North Korea knocked South Korea out in the quarter-finals of that year’s Asian Games.

South Korea’s women have won the bronze medal at the Asian Games on three occasions, most recently in 2018, but are yet to reach the final. Speaking to press earlier this week, Shin Sangwoo stated that this year, the team aims to “change the colour of the medal”, and said that the group stage match against North Korea is not a hurdle to overcome, but rather an opportunity to build momentum on the way to reaching the final.

Korea Republic squad: 2026 Asian Games

Goalkeepers: Kim Kyunghee (Suwon FC); Kim Minjung (Incheon Hyundai); Ryu Jisoo (Sejong Sportstoto)

Defenders: Choo Hyojoo (Ottawa Rapid); Ko Yoojin, Jung Yoojin (Incheon Hyundai); Kim Hyeri, Han Da-in (Suwon FC); Noh Jinyoung, Jang Selgi (Gyeongju KHNP); Lee Minhwa (Hwacheon KSPO)

Midfielders: Jung Minyoung (Ottawa Rapid); Kang Taekyung, Kim Minji (Seoul City); Kang Chaerim (Gangjin Swans); Park Yena (Mungyeong Sangmu); Park Hyejeong (Incheon Hyundai); Ji Soyun, Yoon Soojung, Choe Yuri (Suwon FC); Hyun Seulgi (Gyeongju KHNP)

Forwards: Jeong Dabin (Stabaek Fotball); Son Hwayeon (Gangjin Swans)