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History
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Korean history books
mention a kicking game with a ball played by a famous general and
future king Kim Yoo-Shin during the Shilla Dynasty in the seventh
century, but modern football arrived in Korea in 1882 with British
sailors who taught the game to those living on the ports of Incheon
and Jemulpo.
22 years later, football was instituted as an official class at the
royal foreign language school, and the first public football match
was held at an army training yard in present-day Samseongyo in Seoul
between Hwangseong YMCA and Korea Sports Club.
The original national championship, known as the All-Joseon Football
Championship, debuted in 1921, and seven years later, the Joseon
Football Judge Association was formed to organize the game on a
national scale, changing names again (Joseon Football Association)
in 1933.
The Kyungsung (present-day Seoul)-Pyongyang Football Match Series
began in 1929. The tournament between the two largest cities under
Japanese colonialism was largely responsible for the increase in
popularity of football in the peninsular nation.
After Korea won independence in 1945, the Korea Football Association
replaced the JFA on 4 September 1948 and became an official member
of FIFA. The Korean FA later joined the Asian Football Confederation
when it was formed in 1954.
Korea participated in their first international competition in the
1948 Olympic Games in London, and the national team reached their
first FIFA World Cup™ finals shortly after in 1954. Two years
following their first dance on the world stage, Korea won
back-to-back titles in the first two Asian Cups in 1956 and 1960.
Their sweep of regional international competitions such as the
King’s Cup, the Asian Games, and the Merdeka Cups during the 1960s
earned them the label the “Tigers of Asia.”
Korea hosted their first international event in 1971, the Park’s Cup
Asia Football Championship, named for former South Korea President
Park Chung Hee and later dubbed the Korea Cup in 1995.
In 1983, Korea began their first professional football league, known
as the Super League, again raising interest in the sport across the
nation. The Super League began with five teams and has grown to 10,
drawing over two and a half million fans a year.
There can be no doubt that the domestic league positively impacted
the national team, as the Tigers of Asia advanced to four
consecutive FIFA World Cup finals from 1986 to 1998, and several top
Korea players joined some of the world’s most celebrated football
leagues, such as the German Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A.
But the heights of Korea’s footballing success came with the
announcement that they would co-host the 2002 FIFA World Cup
Korea/Japan. The partnership with Japan is a giant step forward in
their footballing history, and according to the nation’s leaders,
Korea is looking forward to showing the world the best the country
has to offer this summer.
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