South Korea's 2026 World Cup squad is officially confirmed, named by head coach Myung-Bo Hong on May 16, 2026. The 26-player roster brings together three goalkeepers, six defenders, seven midfielders and ten forwards. South Korea is drawn into Group A, where it faces Mexico, South Africa and Czech Republic. The most-played player in the last 12 months of national-team football is Min-Jae Kim, with 1,043 minutes across 13 caps, the squad's most in-form option heading into the tournament. Close behind is Kang-In Lee on 829 minutes, another of the side's most-used players over the same period. Over the past twelve months the team has posted 9 wins, 1 draws and 6 losses, scoring 22 goals and conceding 16. Our ranking orders the squad purely by national-team minutes, not club minutes, and every name links to a player profile with the full minutes and recent-form breakdown.
Matches & results
Group standings
Group A
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Mexico |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 9 |
| 2 |  South Africa |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 4 |
| 3 |  South Korea |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |
| 4 |  Czech Republic |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 1 |
26-man squad
| # | Player | Position | Club | NT minutes (12mo) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Min-Jae Kim | Defender | Bayern München | 1,043 |
| 2 | Kang-In Lee | Forward | Paris Saint Germain | 829 |
| 3 | Young-Woo Seol | Midfielder | FK Crvena Zvezda | 781 |
| 4 | Han-Beom Lee | Defender | FC Midtjylland | 743 |
| 5 | Heung-Min Son | Forward | Los Angeles FC | 735 |
| 6 | Seung-Gyu Kim | Goalkeeper | FC Tokyo | 679 |
| 7 | Jin-Gyu Kim | Midfielder | Jeonbuk Motors | 627 |
| 8 | Seung-Ho Paik | Midfielder | Birmingham | 594 |
| 9 | Tae-Seok Lee | Midfielder | Austria Vienna | 581 |
| 10 | Jae-Sung Lee | Forward | FSV Mainz 05 | 491 |
| 11 | Hyeon-Gyu Oh | Forward | Beşiktaş | 475 |
| 12 | In-Beom Hwang | Midfielder | Feyenoord | 469 |
| 13 | Moon-Hwan Kim | Midfielder | Daejeon Citizen | 434 |
| 14 | Hee-Chan Hwang | Forward | Wolves | 391 |
| 15 | Hyeon-Woo Jo | Goalkeeper | Ulsan Hyundai FC | 370 |
| 16 | Jens Castrop | Midfielder | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 312 |
| 17 | Dong-Gyeong Lee | Forward | Ulsan Hyundai FC | 285 |
| 18 | Jun-Ho Bae | Forward | Stoke City | 246 |
| 19 | Gue-Sung Cho | Forward | FC Midtjylland | 203 |
| 20 | Ji-Sung Eom | Forward | Swansea | 178 |
| 21 | Bum-Keun Song | Goalkeeper | Jeonbuk Motors | 135 |
| 22 | Hyun-Jun Yang | Forward | Celtic | 118 |
| 23 | Kim Tae-hyon | Defender | 0 | |
| 24 | Park Jin-seob | Defender | 0 | |
| 25 | Lee Ki-hyuk | Defender | 0 | |
| 26 | Cho Yu-min | Defender | 0 |
Methodology
Players are ranked by minutes played for the national team over the last 365 days. Ties are broken by appearances. The top 16 are labeled Locked, ranks 17–22 Likely, ranks 23–30 Bubble — a starting frame, not a verdict.
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