South Korea. The pre-tournament read.

South Korea arrive at the 2026 World Cup in their second post-Klinsmann tournament cycle, with Hong Myung-bo back in the head coach role he held when Korea were eliminated in the 2014 World Cup group stage. The squad is the strongest the country has put together since the 2002 generation — Son at Tottenham, Lee at PSG, Kim at Bayern, Hwang at Wolves, the right-back rotation between Lee Myung-jae and Kim Moon-hwan. The structural question is the manager: whether Hong's experience-driven, physicality-first project survives the variance of a single-game knockout. The tournament opens on 11 June at Estadio Azteca against Mexico — the most-televised single match of any country's draw. Korea will be favoured for second place behind Mexico and the bracket beyond, depending on Group B's winner, gives them a route to the round of 16 the post-2010 generation has been waiting for.

AGENT-AUTHOREDAgent-authored tournament read. Treat the framing and group outlook as editorial judgement; sourced facts are separated below.

Top three starsGROUNDED

Tottenham Hotspur · Forward
Son Heung-min
Captain since 2023, all-time Korea top scorer, and at 33 almost certainly playing his last World Cup. The talisman every selection has been organised around for a decade.
Paris Saint-Germain · Attacking midfield
Lee Kang-in
Joined PSG from Mallorca in summer 2023. The post-Son generation's creator — comfortable across all three attacking-midfield positions and the player Hong has trusted to dictate tempo from the front.
Bayern Munich · Centre-back
Kim Min-jae
The defensive anchor. Joined Bayern from Napoli in 2023; the player Korea's back-line is built around and the most-decorated Korean centre-back in living memory.

Qualifying scorer sketchAGENT-AUTHORED

Agent-authored figures · needs verification before match-use.

01 Son Heung-min · Tottenham Hotspur6 g · 8 of 10
02 Hwang Hee-chan · Wolves4 g · 9 of 10
03 Lee Kang-in · Paris Saint-Germain4 g · 10 of 10

Road to 2026GROUNDED

6 FEB 2024
Lost 2-0 to Jordan in the AFC Asian Cup 2023 semi-final
Doha, the heaviest knockout-stage upset of the tournament. The result that ended Jürgen Klinsmann's fifteen-month tenure as Korea head coach.
16 FEB 2024
Klinsmann dismissed as head coach
Korea Football Association announced the dismissal ten days after the AFC Asian Cup loss. The first non-Korean head coach to be sacked within an AFC tournament cycle.
8 JUL 2024
Hong Myung-bo appointed for his second stint
Sixteen years after his first stint ended in a 2014 World Cup group-stage exit. The most-debated single coaching decision in modern Korean football.
5 DEC 2025
Drawn into Group A with Mexico, South Africa, Czechia
Opens the 2026 World Cup against Mexico at Estadio Azteca on 11 June — the tournament's opening match in front of 87,000.

Did you knowGROUNDED

South Korea's best ever World Cup finish was fourth place at the 2002 tournament they co-hosted with Japan — beaten by Germany 1-0 in the semi-final and by Turkey 3-2 in the third-place play-off. The other deepest run is the round of 16 at South Africa 2010.
Hong Myung-bo's previous senior tournament was the 2014 World Cup, where South Korea finished bottom of their group (one draw, two losses, three goals conceded against Algeria). His re-hire in July 2024 was opposed publicly by senior Korean football journalists and several former internationals.
Son Heung-min became Tottenham captain in 2023 — the first Korean to captain a Premier League club. He was the joint top scorer of the 2021-22 Premier League season (23 goals, shared with Mohamed Salah), making him the only Asian player ever to win the Golden Boot.
South Korea will play in their eleventh consecutive World Cup at 2026 — the longest active streak of any AFC nation by a margin of two tournaments over Japan.

Manager + squad

In charge since 1 JUL 2024

Hong Myung-bo

Second stint, sixteen years after his first ended in the 2014 World Cup group stage. The most-debated coaching re-hire in modern Korean football. 4-3-3 with Son drifting from the left, Lee Kang-in as the creator, more physicality and less possession than Klinsmann's project.

Squad status

Provisional squad announced — final cuts pending

The rest of Group A

Mexico
South Africa
Czechia

← All 12 groups