Some might assume the form of Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae will decide whether South Korea go far at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but manager Hong Myung-bo will hope not to rely so heavily on them.
On paper, South Korea have a lot of good players. In reality, they arrive at the 2026 World Cup with more questions than answers.
They went unbeaten in qualifying, but criticism still arrived due to a perception that they drew too often. The third round of AFC World Cup qualifying included them being held at home by Jordan (1-1), Oman (1-1) and Palestine (0-0).
This will be South Korea’s 12th World Cup, the most of any Asian nation. It will also be their 11th consecutive appearance at the finals – only Brazil (23), Germany (19), Argentina (14) and Spain (13) are on a longer run of consecutive participations.
Hong Myung-bo – in his second spell as South Korea boss – has plenty of World Cup experience, both as a player and manager. In fact, he played for his country the last time the tournament was held in the United States in 1994, where he scored twice, also featuring at the 1990, 1998 and 2002 editions, totalling 16 World Cup appearances.
He was also assistant to Dick Advocaat in 2006, and then led South Korea as manager in 2014, though it didn’t go brilliantly: they drew with Russia before losing to both Algeria and Belgium to exit at the group stage in Brazil.
He’s back for another go, though the fans aren’t 100% sure exactly how he’ll go about it. Hong stuck with a back four during almost the entirety of World Cup qualifying, but has since favoured a back three in preparation for the tournament. The assumption is he will continue to do so, especially as he has named six players in his squad who can play at centre-back.
The manager did, however, recently suggest that he merely wanted to keep his options open, as his experience of World Cups has taught him that flexibility is key.
“In the World Cups I’ve experienced, relying on a single tactic was difficult,” he told reporters. “That’s why we consistently practised the back-three system despite the short time. There’s about a six-day rest period after the first match [vs Czechia], during which we can analyse the [next] opponent and respond with a different formation [if needed].”
Despite those draws, they were largely impressive in AFC World Cup qualifying; only Japan (51) scored more goals than South Korea (40), while of teams to play more than six games, only the Samurai Blue (3) and Australia (7) conceded fewer goals than them (8). They also allowed the second fewest shots (92) and second fewest xG (6.6), both behind Japan (66 and 4.4).
That is AFC qualifying, though, where South Korea are expected to excel. The World Cup itself will be a big step up in quality, and Hong will be hoping his star players can rise to the occasion when the tournament begins.
There is no South Korean player whose star shines brighter than Oh Hyeon-gyu, who scored six goals in 13 Süper Lig games for Besiktas after joining from Genk in January, and Cho Gue-sung, who managed just three goals in 26 Danish top-flight games for Midtjylland after missing the entire 2024-25 campaign through injury. He scored four times in just nine games for South Korea in World Cup qualifying, though.
Things are arguably even more intriguing in defence.
Plenty will rest on the mighty shoulders of Jens Castrop, who is set to make history. The Borussia Mönchengladbach man will be the first foreign-born player of dual heritage to represent South Korea at a World Cup. Castrop – who has a German father and South Korean mother – swapped his international allegiance from Germany in August 2025, and received his first call-up soon after.
For fans of the English Football League, there will be some familiar names representing South Korea this summer. Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves). There is also Celtic winger
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