'World Cup quarterfinals and Asian Games 4 consecutive games' The keyword for 2026 in Korean football is 'challenge'

*This content was translated by AI.

From recapturing the top spot in Asia for the first time in six years, to advancing to the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time in history, and the first four consecutive Asian Games. The new year 2026 is the year of the "challenge" of Korean soccer.

The U-23 national team, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, will begin. He will play in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup finals in Saudi Arabia on January 6. The Korean U-23 national soccer team is trying to win the title for the first time in six years and for the first time in three tournaments since 2020.

South Korea first won the competition in Thailand back in 2020. The U-23 national team, led by head coach Kim Hak-beom at the time, won the title with six wins from the group stage to the tournament. It was the first AFC U-23 Asian Cup victory in Korean soccer history in four tournaments since the first tournament was held in 2013.

However, the 2022 Uzbekistan Games and the 2024 Qatar Games remained "history of humiliation." In the 2022 tournament, they were eliminated after losing 0-3 to the two-year-old Japanese team in the quarterfinals. At the 2024 Qatar Games, he bowed his head in the quarterfinals after losing to Indonesia, which was led by coach Shin Tae-yong at the time, after a penalty shootout. 2024 was a competition that also included qualifying for the Paris Olympics, and at that time, South Korea failed to make the Olympic finals for the first time in 40 years due to the elimination of the quarterfinals.

Lee Min-sung is taking on the challenge of retaking the top of Asia. South Korea will play against Iran (7th), Lebanon (10th) and Uzbekistan (13th) in order as they belong to Group C. The first and second places in each group will advance to the quarterfinals. It is not a competition held in the year of the Olympics, but it has nothing to do with Olympic qualifiers, but it is a competition that must be "defeated" to shake off the disappointment of being eliminated from the quarterfinals in the last two consecutive competitions.

In March, the women's soccer team, led by head coach Shin Sang-woo, will take over the baton. She will compete at the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup in Australia from 1 March. South Korea was in Group A with hosts Australia, Iran and the Philippines. The top two teams with good performance out of the first and second place in each group and the third place in the three groups will advance to the quarterfinals tournament.

During the 2022 India tournament, the previous tournament, Korean women's soccer reached the final for the first time and finished second. It was the best record ever, surpassing the third place at the 2003 competition. The women's national team, which has stepped down as coach Colin Bell and made a fresh start under coach Shin Sang-woo, will try to recreate the emotion of 2022 through the Women's Asian Cup this year.

In June, the "Earth Village Festival" World Cup will be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It has been three and a half years since the World Cup in Qatar in December 2022. South Korea, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, was in Group A with the winner of the UEFA Playoff (PO) Pass D, which includes host Mexico, South Africa, and Denmark, Czech Republic, Ireland, and North Macedonia.

Hong Myung-bo is preparing for the World Cup without receiving the most support ever. Criticism has been so strong since the appointment of Hong Myung-bo, and since then, various criticisms have continued in the national team's performance. The number of A-match spectators, which dropped sharply ahead of the World Cup, represents the fan sentiment toward Hong Myung-bo.

The only way Hong Myung-bo can reverse such criticism is by performance. Coach Hong Myung-bo has presented his goal of reaching the quarterfinals of the World Cup since his inauguration press conference. He challenged the quarterfinals of the away World Cup for the first time in history. From this tournament, it has expanded from the 32-nation and 16-nation tournament system to the 48-nation and 32-nation tournament system. The top eight teams in each group, ranked first and second, and ranked third in the 12 groups, will also play in the tournament. Even after advancing to the tournament, two wins must be won to reach the quarterfinals. Hong Myung-bo will play an away evaluation match in Europe in March, then announce the final entry for the World Cup in May and move to Mexico, the "final site."

In September, the Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games will be held in Japan. Unless there are major variables, coach Lee Min-sung, who led the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, will take the helm and participate in the competition. The reason why the AFC U-23 Asian Cup performance in January is important is that the national team of this tournament will take the lead in the Asian Games. Only the U-23 national team can participate in men's soccer at the Asian Games, and only up to three wild cards over the age of 24 can be selected.

There is only one goal of Korean soccer in the Asian Games: the gold medal. There are not many countries themselves that put meaning on men's soccer events at the Asian Games in the first place. Even Japan, the host country, will have a U-21 national team in preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics. However, Korea is the only exception. This is because if they win the gold medal, players can receive special military service. Most of the key players of the national team, including Son Heung-min (LAFC), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), have benefited from special military service through the Asian Games gold medal. If the Asian Games also win a gold medal, players will be able to shake off their military service concerns as quickly as possible and play abroad for a longer time or get an opportunity to advance overseas more easily.

Coach Lee Min-sung also said at the press conference for the inauguration of the U-23 national team, "I will do my best to help the players receive military service benefits. In a way, it is an important crossroads for the players, and I will do my best even if my body is broken for them," he said, directly expressing his will to exempt athletes from military service through the Asian Games gold medal. South Korea won the gold medal at the Asian Games for the first time in a row, from the 2014 Incheon Games, the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, and the 2023 Hangzhou Games. In the Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games, if you are at the top of the podium, you can increase your first three consecutive losses to four consecutive losses.

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*This content was translated by AI.