Famous Venues - Memorable Stadiums In Korean Football History
-by Mark Trevena-
Champion Hill, London, United Kingdom
Venue for South Korea v Mexico, 1948 Olympic Games
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South Korea took its first steps into the international sporting arena at the 1948 London Olympics, and the South Korean football team lined up for its first full international match against Mexico in Dulwich, London. Korea had previously played only one international match, a 5-1 win away to Hong Kong in a warm-up match for the Olympic tournament. But on August 2nd they defeated the Mexicans 5-3 to progress to the quarter-finals. Their last eight match was at Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace, and Korea went down 12-0 to eventual gold medal winners Sweden and exited the tournament. |
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Hardturm Stadium, Zurich, Switzerland
Venue for South Korea v Hungary, 1954 World Cup
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This stadium, home of Swiss league side Grasshoppers Zurich, was the venue for Korea's first ever World Cup finals match in the 1954 tournament in Switzerland. The Korean team had arrived in Zurich only nine hours prior to kick-off after a 48 hour journey in a military cargo plane, and they were in no condition to take on Ferenc Puskas' Hungary. Puskas opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Korean goalkeeper Hong Duk-young went on to pick the ball out of the net another eight times during the match as coach Kim Yong-sik's side were totally destroyed. Les Charmilles, Geneva, was the venue for Korea's second match in that tournament and Turkey put seven past the luckless Koreans to send then off on the long journey back home. |
Hyochang Stadium, Seoul, South Korea
Venue for the 1960 Asian Cup Finals tournament
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After lifting the first Asian Cup trophy in 1956 the tournament was given to Korea as hosts in 1960 and Hyochang Stadium was the venue chosen to host all matches. Korea's 5-1 victory over South Vietnam in the opening game was the first full international Korea played at Hyochang Stadium and only the third game the national team had played on the peninsula, having played twice at Dongdaemun Stadium in 1956. |
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Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea
Venue for the opening of the inaugural K-League season, 1983
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The first full international match played at Dongdaemun Stadium was the visit of the Philippines during qualifying for the first Asian Cup tournament in 1956. South Korea triumped 3-0 and would eventually go on to win the tournament proper. Dongdaemun remained the venue of choice for the national team until the opening of the Jamsil Olympic stadium in 1984 when matches were shared mainly between the two stadiums. Myanmar were the last international visitors to the stadium in the final match for the 2000 Asian Cup qualifiers when Korea won 4-0 to book their ticket to Lebanon. The newly constructed Seoul World Cup stadium would go on to replace both Dongdaemun and Jamsil as the active national stadium. |
Dongdaemun was also the venue for the opening of the inaugural K-League season in May 1983. Hallelujah and Yukong Elephants fought out a 1-1 draw in the first professional league match at the stadium and then Daewoo and POSCO immediately followed that match with a draw by the same scoreline. The following day Hallelujah beat Kookmin Bank 3-0 and Yukong and POSCO drew 1-1 to mark the launch of the new league as it began its tour of various locations around the country. By 1987 the league teams had adopted specific home stadiums, and for several years there were three sides playing out of the Dongdaemun Stadium with Ilhwa Chunma, Yukong Elephants and LG Cheetahs all calling the stadium their home.
Estadio Olympico '68, Mexico City, Mexico
Venue for South Korea v Bulgaria, 1986 World Cup
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Korea had lost their opening match of the 1986 tournament to the eventual winners Argentina at the same stadium three days previously, and lined up against Bulgaria hoping to atone for the 3-1 loss. Bulgaria went ahead in the 11th minute through Plamen Getov, but half-time substitute Kim Jong-boo equalised after 71 minutes and when the final whistle blew, Korea celebrated picking up their first World Cup Finals point in front of the 45,000 strong crowd. The game against Argentina had seen Korea up against Diego Maradona and Jorge Valdano and though Park Chang-sun did pull a goal back midway though the second half Korea were already three goals down at that point and the strike was nothing more than a consolation. |
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Jamsil Olympic Stadium, Seoul, South Korea
Venue for South Korea v Brazil, a friendly match played in 1999
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Built for the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, the Olympic stadium was first used for a Korean national team match in September 1984 for the 12th edition of the Korea-Japan friendly series. Lee Kyung-nam scored for Korea in that match but they lost 2-1 to their rivals. The stadium hosted many other international nights, but the most famous of all came at the end of March 1999 when the Brazilians came to town. Kim Do-hoon's strike was the only goal of the game and gave Korea a memorable victory, inflicting Brazil's first defeat since their loss in the 1998 World Cup final. |
Busan Asiad Stadium, Busan, South Korea
Venue for South Korea v Poland, 2002 World Cup
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It took fifteen attempts but finally it came - Korea's first win in a World Cup finals tournament. Backed by 48,760 supporters in the huge stadium Korea went ahead through Hwang Sun-hong in the 26th minute and then Yoo Sang-chul doubled the advantage in the 53rd to give Korea their first win and put them top of their group stage. A draw with the USA in Daegu and a win over Portugal in Incheon put Korea through to the second round of the World Cup in a tournament that would take them all the way to the semi-finals and eventual defeat to Germany at the Seoul World Cup stadium. |
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