'Aiming for the Olympic Finals' Kim Eun-jung's Squad, First Roster Confirmed... 'Star Award' Winners Jung Ma-ho and Son Seung-min Selected [Official Announcement]

*This content was translated by AI.

The men's Olympic football national team, targeting qualification for the 2028 LA Olympics, takes its first step at Korea Football Park.

The Korea Football Association announced on the 25th that the Olympic representative team (U-21) led by head coach Kim Eun-jung will conduct domestic training camp from June 1 to 9 at Cheonan Korea Football Park. This training camp was organized to utilize the FIFA A-match period to assess key players and establish the tactical foundation of the national team.

Ahead of this camp, head coach Kim Eun-jung finalized a roster of 26 players. In terms of age, 17 players were born in 2005 and 9 in 2006. Notably, 13 core players who led the age-group team to the Round of 16 at the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Chile last year joined the squad, drawing attention.

Among overseas-based players, only central defender Kang Min-woo (KRC Genk) made the roster, and on the university level, only Lee Tak-ho (Chung-Ang University) received the call-up from Kim Eun-jung's squad.

In particular, Jung Ma-ho (Kim Cheon (SVP)) and Son Seung-min (DaeguFC), who have been in the spotlight since their high school days, won the Star Award at the Future Star Awards hosted by this newspaper in 2023. They are top prospects recognized by the selection committee, which included head coach Ha Seok-ju, commentator Han Jun-hee, KFA Director Noh Su-jin, and FC Seoul scout Jung Jae-yoon.

Only 12 teams, including host nation the United States, will participate in the 2028 LA Olympics men's football finals. Among them, only two qualification spots are allocated to Asia, with the finals qualifiers determined through the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, which serves as the preliminary round.

Currently, relevant institutional investors including the AFC, FIFA, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are in close coordination regarding the timing of the U-23 Asian Cup. While preliminary tournaments are typically held in the same year as the Olympics, there is a growing possibility that the tournament could be held more than a year early depending on the coordination results. Given the judgment that the time available to build the team may be tight if the preliminary schedule is advanced, the association plans to maximize the use of future A-match periods to hold an early camp and maximize team strength.

Meanwhile, news was also shared regarding roster changes and the call-up of the Asian Games representative team (U-23) led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong. Defender Bae Hyun-seo (Gyeongnam FC) was dropped due to injury and replaced by Jang Seok-hwan (Suwon Samsung). The Asian Games team, excluding 6 players from K League 2 clubs who still have weekend schedules from the total 24-player roster, had 18 players enter Korea Football Park early to begin pre-training.

GK: Park Sang-young (DaeguFC), Lee Kyung-jun (Suwon Samsung), Lee Sang-hyun (Incheon United)

DF: Kang Min-woo (KRC Genk), Ko Jong-hyun, Lee Geon-hee (both Suwon Samsung), Kwon Ki-min (Jeju SK), Kim Seo-jin (Kim Cheon (SVP)), Kim Ho-jin (Pohang Steelers), Choi Seung-gu (Incheon United), Ham Sun-woo (Hwaseong FC), Hwang Seok-gi (Seongnam FC), Lee Tak-ho (Chung-Ang University)

MF: Kim Jun-ha, Choi Byung-wook (both Jeju SK), Kim Hyun-min, Park Hye-seong (both Busan IPark), Sung Shin (Bucheon FC 1995), Son Seung-min (DaeguFC), Baek Min-gyu (Incheon United), Baek In-woo (Ulsan HD), Jung Ma-ho (Kim Cheon (SVP)), Jin Tae-ho (Jeonbuk Hyundai), Hwang Seo-woong (Pohang Steelers)

FW: Kim Gyeol (Gimpo FC), Baek Ga-on (Busan IPark)

※Bold: 2023 StarNews Star Award winners.

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*This content was translated by AI.