South Korea has emerged as a major football power in Asia since the 1980s, having participated in ten consecutive and eleven overall FIFA World Cup tournaments, the most for any Asian country.

The same year, the South Korean national team made its international debut and won 5–3 against Mexico at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

South Korea lost their only two games by heavy margins: 9–0 against Hungary (the joint-heaviest defeat in World Cup history) and 7–0 against Turkey.

[11] They hosted the next edition in 1960 and successfully retained the title, beating South Vietnam, Israel, and Republic of China in the process.

[16] At the 1968 Summer Olympics qualification, South Korea was eliminated by goal difference, despite being tied with Japan, the group winners, on points.

[16] Yangzee was eventually dissolved in March 1970 without ever having played against North Korea, but players achieved a good result by winning the 1970 Asian Games.

After one of the greatest forwards of German Bundesliga at that time, Cha Bum-kun,[22][23] joined the existing winning team, the South Korean squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup was evaluated as the golden generation in their country.

Afterwards, South Korean newscasts and journalists criticised the referee David Socha, claiming that his judgements about situations of the game were poor including the decision to award a penalty to Italy.

South Korea consecutively won four early qualifiers against Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, and quickly solidified their position as first place of the group.

The only South Korean player to be praised from the match was the goalkeeper Kim Byung-ji,[29] who conceded five of the Netherlands' 17 shots on target.

On 18 December 2000, the KFA named Dutch coach Guus Hiddink as the manager of the team for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted in South Korea.

[32] At the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup, they lost 5–0 against France, the eventual champions, and failed to advance to the semi-finals although defeating Australia and Mexico.

Park Ji-sung scored in a 1–0 victory, allowing the South Korean team to qualify for the second round for the first time in their history.

The South Korean team was awarded an early penalty but Ahn Jung-hwan's effort was saved by Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Francesco Totti was controversially sent off for an alleged dive and Ahn redeemed his missed penalty by scoring the winner with a headed golden goal, allowing them to advance to the quarter-final.

[46] In the fourth round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, they recorded four wins and four draws without a loss against North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, they won their first game against Greece 2–0, with goals from Lee Jung-soo and Park Ji-sung.

South Korea equalized in the second half after Lee Chung-yong scored his second goal of the tournament but conceded to Suárez again in the 80th minute.

Kim Pan-gon, the KFA official in charge of finding a new manager, contracted Paulo Bento and his coaching team to set long-term goals after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

His style received negative assessments from a significant number of KFA's executives, and he came under fire from the South Korean media.

Bento severed relations with the technical committee and managed the national team with only his coaching staff after Kim Pan-gon resigned from the association.

[51][52][53] Before the tournament, Son Heung-min, the Premier League Golden Boot winner and one of South Korea's key players, injured his eye socket and wasn't in optimal condition.

[54] At the World Cup, South Korea contested a goalless draw with Uruguay, and encountered a crisis after losing 3–2 to Ghana in the second match.

Their defense failed to block all three of Ghana's shots on target, although their striker Cho Gue-sung scored two goals with headers.

However, South Korea defeated Portugal 2–1 with Kim Young-gwon and Hwang Hee-chan's goals, advancing to the knockout stage as group runners-up.

[57] Despite a 4–1 defeat to Brazil in the round of 16, the four-year challenge with Bento was finally appreciated by journalists and set a good direction for South Korean football.

Champions0 Runners-up0 Third place0 Tournament played on home soil The following table shows South Korea's head-to-head record, correct as of 19 November 2024.