Hwang In-beom joins FC Porto from Feyenoord in 4.5 million euro transfer

Hwang In-beom, the midfield anchor of Korea's national football team, has left Dutch club Feyenoord for FC Porto. The Portuguese team announced on Tuesday that the 29-year-old signed a three-year contract with a one-year option for a transfer fee of 4.5 million euros ($5.1 million).

He arrived in Porto on Sunday, underwent a medical and held his official signing ceremony the same day. He will wear number 16.

Hwang is only the second Korean player to join Porto, following Suk Hyun-jun, who signed with the club in January 2016.

Porto's interest was reportedly sparked by Hwang's performance at the FIFA World Cup 2026, where he scored a goal and provided an assist with a Player of the Match performance in Korea's 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in the team's Group A opener.

Porto has won Portugal's top league 31 times and has claimed the UEFA Champions League twice, in the 1986-87 and 2003-04 seasons, along with two UEFA Europa League titles, in 2002-2003 and 2010-2011.

According to Portuguese media, Hwang's transfer fee could rise by an additional 500,000 euros, depending on performance.

Born in Daejeon in 1996, Hwang made his professional debut with Daejeon Hana Citizen in the K League in 2015. He emerged as a key midfielder for Korea's national team after helping the country win gold at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.

Like the other members of that side, Hwang earned an automatic military exemption with the medal. Since he was already on active military duty with the police football club Asan Mugunghwa, he was immediately discharged.

With exemption in hand, Hwang joined the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS at the start of 2019. The league, at the time, was seen as a dead-end, retirement-league option, not the place to launch a promising career. Hwang made the most of it, scoring his first goal a month after debuting and earning Team of the Week honors with three assists in a single game against LA Galaxy later in the season.

Hwang only lasted a year and a half in the MLS, making 40 appearances for the Whitecaps before being traded to Russian side Rubin Kazan in the middle of the 2020 season. Hwang appeared to find his feet in Russia, establishing himself as a regular starter and gaining a reputation as one of the best playmakers in the league.

Just as things were going well, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. After two months of uncertainty, FIFA announced that the contracts of any foreign players in Russia would be suspended until the end of June, allowing Hwang to return to Korea and join FC Seoul on a temporary deal.

In July of that year, Hwang signed with the Greek club Olympiacos, the winningest team in Greek football history, finally making a move to Europe. But despite having won the league 47 times, including for three straight seasons, Olympiacos finished the 2022-23 campaign in a disappointing third place. Over the course of the season, the club saw four different managers, 21 signings and 47 players used.

After a tumultuous season, Hwang spent the summer desperately trying to leave, while the club refused to sell. Then, out of the blue, Hwang was suddenly shipped off to Red Star Belgrade on a club and league record 5 million euro ($5.4 million) deal in September 2023.

In Serbia, he won the domestic league title and played in the UEFA Champions League, further proving his ability before joining Feyenoord in 2024.

The drama off the pitch finally died down for Hwang in the Dutch Eredivisie, and for the last two years he has continued to establish himself as a solid midfielder and national team stalwart. There has been repeated rumored interest from Premier League clubs, but Portuguese giants Porto were clearly the first over the line during this transfer window. 

BY PIH JU-YOUNG AND JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]