*This content was translated by AI.
Ji So-yeon (35, Suwon FC Women) and Jang Seul-ki (32, Gyeongju KHNP) of the Korean women's national soccer team have been selected as all-stars at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Asian Cup.
Ji So-yeon and Jang Seul-ki were named side by side in the Women's Asian Cup Dream Best 11 selected by AFC through fan voting on the 1st (Korea Standard Time). Ji So-yeon, a women's soccer legend in name and reality, scored 74 goals in 171 A matches alone, while Jang Seul-ki also scored 16 points in 109 matches.
Ji So-yeon was selected as the center midfielder of the 3-4-3 format. The AFC said, "Ji So-yeon has been at the heart of the Korean national team for nearly 20 years. "He is the biggest winner of the Korea Football Association's Women's Player of the Year Award and the record for most goals scored and played in all time," he said. "The dramatic winning goal against Australia in the quarterfinals of the 2002 tournament remains one of the best moments of the tournament."
As for Jang Seul-ki, who has been a defender, AFC said, "He is a versatile defender who has led the team from the back in major adult competitions since he started the AFC U-19 Women's Championship MVP Award (MVP) in 2013," adding, "He has played more than 100 A matches and has been selected as MVP several times." He added, "He showed fighting spirit and true aggression when he was runner-up at the 2002 AFC Women's Asian Cup."
In addition, Sam Kerr (Australia), Mana Iwabuchi (Japan), Sun Wen (China), Emily Van Egmond (Australia), Ji So-yeon, Sawa Homare (Japan), Wang Shuang (China), Eli Carpenter (Australia), Saki Kumagai (Japan), Jang Seul-ki (Japan), and Ayumi Gaihori (Japan) were selected as goalkeepers. By nationality, Japan had four, Australia had three, and South Korea and China had two each.
Meanwhile, the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup will open in Australia on the 1st of next month and be held at five stadiums in three cities. South Korea, led by head coach Shin Sang-woo, belonged to Group A with Iran and the Philippines, as well as host Australia. The tournament, which will involve a total of 12 teams, will be divided into three groups of four teams, and the top two teams with good performance among the first, second and third places in each group will determine the winning team through the quarterfinals tournament.
The semifinals of the tournament will qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup finals, and the two teams that will win by facing the quarterfinals again will also play in the Women's World Cup. The eliminated teams will play in the intercontinental playoffs to determine whether they will advance to the World Cup. South Korea's FIFA ranking is 21st, ranking fifth in Asia after Japan (8th), North Korea (9th), Australia (15th) and China (17th).
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*This content was translated by AI.
