*This content was translated by AI.
Eom Si-joon (30, Gyeonggi LBFS), the South Korean national futsal team who played in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) futsal Asian Cup, pointed out the poor reality of futsal in South Korea. Compared to other countries that make massive investments, South Korea's futsal still has a long way to go.
On the 3rd, Um Si-jun said on his social media (SNS), "I had a happy dream for a while. "I dreamed of advancing to the quarterfinals beyond my first victory in the Asian Cup since the establishment of the Korean professional futsal," he said. "But the wall of reality was really high. "It's a competition where I felt a lot of time, money investment, and how much they love the sport of futsal."
Um Si-joon then pointed out the reality of Korean futsal, saying, "Only six players, including myself, are currently playing with annual salary among the 14 players of the Korean national team." "Of the remaining eight players, four play with only a victory allowance," he said. The other four players are even playing the Futsal Pro League for money. Unfortunately, this is the reality of our futsal in Korea," he pointed out.
"I thought South Korea's futsal has developed a lot, but other countries' futsal has developed more," he explained. "We have a lot of homework to do, but for the first time ever, the interest in broadcasting the three broadcasting companies and futsal has increased more than before, so we will run through a tunnel with no end in sight with hope." I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who supported me," he vowed.
Earlier, the Korean Futsal national team, led by head coach Paulo Fernandez (Portugal), played in the 2026 AFC Futsal Asian Cup in Indonesia, but was eliminated from the group stage with all three losses after losing 2-3 to Iraq and Kyrgyzstan after losing 0-5. As a result, South Korea's futsal has been mired in a winless swamp for 19 years since the 2007 Japanese competition. His record in the eight tournaments that he recently competed in is three draws and 21 losses.
South Korea's futsal is also on the periphery, ranking 57th overall in the FIFA futsal ranking and 15th in Asia. Iran (5th), Thailand (11th), Japan (13th), Vietnam (20th) and Uzbekistan (22nd) are the top five in the futsal rankings in Asia, and Indonesia, South Korea's 6th-ranked team in this tournament, is 24th, which is the 6th-ranked team in Asia.
The tournament, which includes 16 Asian teams, will feature Iran, Uzbekistan, Thailand and Iraq, Japan and Afghanistan, Indonesia and Vietnam, respectively, in the quarterfinals tournament to determine the winner. Iran won the previous tournament, the 2024 tournament. Iran has the most wins in the tournament with 13 wins in history, followed by Japan with four wins. Only two teams, Iran and Japan, have won the Futsal Asian Cup since the first tournament in 1999.
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*This content was translated by AI.
