South Korea women's national football team

1949–2002: Beginnings

Less than a year after the government of the Republic of Korea was established in 1948, the first official women's football matches were held in Seoul on 28 and 29 June 1949, as a part of the National Girls' and Women's Sport Games. While women's basketball and volleyball won public recognition through the Games, football was seen as being unsuitable for women and as being unattractive to the public; as a result, the girls' teams were disbanded soon after the event.^[2]

When women's football was officially adopted at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, the Korean sports authorities decided to form a women's team with athletes from other sports and send the team to the Games.^[2] The result was defeat in all matches against Japan, North Korea, China and Chinese Taipei.^[3] Nevertheless, colleges and corporations started to launch women's football teams through the 1990s and the first annual national women's football event, the Queen's Cup, was held in 1993. With these changes, South Korea was able to finish in fourth place at the 1995 AFC Women's Championship in Malaysia.^[4]

When the 1999 Women's World Cup sparked interest worldwide, the Korean ministry in charge of sports sponsored the foundation of new teams and tournaments for girls’ high school teams, university teams and company teams. To promote women’s football, the Korea Women's Football Federation (KWFF) was established in March 2001, as an independent organization in association with the Korea Football Association (KFA).^[2]

2003–2013: First World Cup and a period of decline

South Korea finished in third place at the 2003 AFC Women's Championship and qualified for the World Cup for the first time. The Taegeuk Ladies were drawn in Group B with Norway, France and Brazil. Their first match played at the World Cup was a 3–0 loss to Brazil on 21 September 2003. They went on to lose 1–0 to France and 7–1 to Norway. Kim Jin-hee scored the first ever South Korean World Cup goal on 27 September 2003 against Norway.

Despite winning the inaugural EAFF E-1 Football Championship on home soil in 2005, South Korea failed to qualify for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Taegeuk Ladies won bronze at the 2010 Asian Games and at the 2010 EAFF Women's Football Championship, but once again failed to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

2014–present: Second World Cup

South Korea finished in fourth place at the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup and qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, where they made it out of the group stage for the first time. They were drawn in Group E with Brazil, Spain and Costa Rica. South Korea lost 2–0 to Brazil on 9 June 2015, but a 2–2 draw with Costa Rica on 13 June and a 2–1 victory against Spain on 17 June were enough to progress. They went on to lose 3–0 to France in the round of 16 on 21 June 2015.

World Cup

World Cup record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1991	Did not qualify
1995
1999
2003	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	11	−10
2007	Did not qualify
2011
2015	Quater-finals	4	1	1	2	4	8	−4
2019	Qualified	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	3/8	7	1	1	5	5	19	−14

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Asian Cup

AFC Women's Asian Cup record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1975	Did not participate
1977
1979
1981
1983
1986
1989
1991	Group stage	3	0	0	3	0	22	–22
1993		3	1	0	2	4	9	–5
1995	Fourth place	5	2	1	2	11	5	+6
1997	Group stage	2	1	0	1	11	1	+10
1999		4	3	0	1	30	5	+25
2001	Fourth place	6	4	0	2	16	10	+6
2003	Third place	6	4	1	1	22	5	+17
2006	Group stage	4	2	0	2	14	6	+8
2008		3	2	0	1	5	3	+2
2010		3	1	1	1	6	3	+3
2014	Fourth place	5	2	1	2	18	4	+14
2018	5th place	4	2	2	0	9	0	+9
Total	12/19	48	24	6	18	146	73	+73

Olympics

Olympic Games record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1996	Did not quality
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020	To be determined
Total	0/7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Asian Games

Asian Games record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD
1990	5th place	5	1	0	4	2	30	−28
1994	Fourth place	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9
1998	Group stage	3	1	1	1	8	4	+4
2002	Fourth place	5	2	0	3	6	8	−2
2006	Fourth place	5	2	0	3	7	10	−3
2010	Third place	5	3	1	1	14	4	+10
2014	Third place	6	5	0	1	33	2	+31
2018	Third place	6	5	0	1	32	3	+29
Total	8/8	38	19	2	16	102	71	+31

EAFF Women's Football Championship

EAFF Women's Football Championship record
Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
2005	Champions	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3
2008	Fourth place	6	3	0	3	15	9	+6
2010	Third place	7	5	0	2	47	4	+43
2013	Third place	3	1	0	2	4	5	–1
2015	Runners-up	6	5	0	1	29	3	+26
2017	Fourth place	6	3	0	3	43	7	+36
Total	6/6	31	18	1	11	141	28	+113

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Peace Queen Cup

Hosts / Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2006	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	2	6	–4
2008	Fourth place	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1
2010	Champions	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1
Total	3/3	9	3	2	4	9	11	–2

Current squad

Squad for the 2018 Asian Games.^[5][6]

Caps and goals correct as of: 30 July 2018.

Head coach: Yoon Deok-yeo

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Yoon Young-geul	(1987-10-28) 28 October 1987	9	0	Gyeongju KHNP
2	2DF	Jang Sel-gi	(1994-05-31) 31 May 1994	42	9	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
3	2DF	Shin Dam-yeong	(1993-10-20) 20 October 1993	28	1	Suwon FMC
4	2DF	Shim Seo-yeon	(1989-04-15) 15 April 1989	54	0	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
5	2DF	Hong Hye-ji	(1996-08-25) 25 August 1996	11	1	Changnyeong
6	2DF	Lim Seon-joo	(1990-11-27) 27 November 1990	65	4	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
7	3MF	Lee Min-a	(1991-11-08) 8 November 1991	45	11	INAC Kobe Leonessa
8	3MF	Cho So-hyun	(1988-06-24) 24 June 1988	112	20	Avaldsnes IL
9	4FW	Jeon Ga-eul	(1988-09-14) 14 September 1988	91	35	Hwacheon KSPO
10	4FW	Ji So-yun	(1991-02-21) 21 February 1991	103	45	Chelsea
11	4FW	Lee Geum-min	(1994-04-07) 7 April 1994	37	12	Gyeongju KHNP
12	3MF	Lee So-dam	(1994-10-12) 12 October 1994	45	4	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
13	4FW	Han Chae-rin	(1996-09-02) 2 September 1996	11	3	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
14	4FW	Choe Yu-ri	(1994-09-16) 16 September 1994	23	4	Gumi Sportstoto
15	3MF	Jang Chang	(1996-06-21) 21 June 1996	7	0	Korea University
16	4FW	Son Hwa-yeon	(1997-03-15) 15 March 1997	8	2	Changnyeong
17	4FW	Lee Hyun-young	(1991-02-16) 16 February 1991	14	5	Suwon FMC
18	1GK	Jung Bo-ram	(1991-07-22) 22 July 1991	2	0	Hwacheon KSPO
19	2DF	Lee Eun-mi	(1988-08-18) 18 August 1988	79	13	Suwon FMC
20	2DF	Kim Hye-ri	(1990-06-25) 25 June 1990	73	1	Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels

Records