The origins of football in the Western world are very well documented, from the primitive forms of what we now know as the beautiful game played in ancient Rome, to the medieval times when the English government passed laws banning participation in such sports, through to the 19th century when order was brought to the game, rules were standardized and the modern sport, primarily shaped in England, was exported around the world.

Korean historians trace the arrival of this modern game back to 1882, when sailors from the British carrier 'Flying Fish' arrived at Jemulpo, now Incheon, and taught the game to interested locals. Records show, however, that different variations of the game had been played on the peninsula hundreds of years ago. One such recorded incident occurred during the Silla Dynasty era (57 BC – AD 935), where Kim Choon-choo, who would later become the Dynasty's 29th King from AD 654-661, and Kim Yoo-shin, a famous Korean military general, were reported to have played some sort of stuffed-ball kicking game called "chukguk". Chinese Tang Dynasty records show at least one reference to the people of the Goguryeo Dynasty (37 BC – AD 668) being good at chukguk.

However, thanks to the intervention of those British sailors at the tail end of the 19th Century, the modern sport started to grow in popularity. The game entered the school system and started to be taught systematically to students all over the peninsula. The first publicly organized football match took place in the early 20th Century, when Hwangseong YMCA and Korea Sports Club played two matches at an Army training area in Seoul.

Politics and world events, however, took their toll on Korea. In 1905 Korea became a protectorate of Japan, and in 1910 Japan annexed Korea by military force. Football in Korea continued to develop as before, provided brief respite from the pressures of Japanese colonialism and afforded a channel for Koreans to release any built-up frustration onto the sports field. The first football goalposts were erected in 1914 at the Paichai High School playing fields in Seoul with the school's founder, an American missionary, realising that the sport was a good way for young Koreans to develop strength and endurance. As was the custom around the world, Korea's first goalposts were initially painted white, however as white was the national colour of Korea the Japanese police incorrectly assumed the choice of colour was linked to nationalist symbolism. The police demanded the goalposts be removed, so the school authorities came up with a novel solution by instead painting Korea's first goalposts black.