Defender Seol Young-woo arrives at Incheon International Airport on June 30, after Korea were knocked out of the FIFA World Cup 2026.YONHAP
Korean defender Seol Young-woo is set to join Bundesliga side Augsburg, adding to a growing number of Korean defenders playing in European leagues.
Serbian media outlet Sportal reported on Mondaythat Seol — currently a fullback for Serbian club Red Star Belgrade — will move to Augsburg in Germany.
Seol joined Red Star after departing Ulsan HD in June 2024. He has since made 101 appearances across all competitions, scoring eight goals. He helped the club win both the Serbian league and Serbian Cup in each of the past two seasons.
His expected move would bring the number of Korean players competing in Europe's major leagues to three. Center back Kim Min-jae plays for Bundesliga powerhouse Bayern Munich, and fellow center back Kim Ji-soo plays for Brentford in the English Premier League.
More Korean defenders are playing elsewhere in Europe. Lee Han-beom plays for Belgian club Cercle Brugge, while Lee Tae-seok plays for Austria Wien. Cho Yu-min is also considered likely to make a move to Europe.
Including Cho, a total of six Korean national team-caliber defenders could be playing in European leagues during the 2026-27 season, the highest number ever.
Korea's presence in Europe's top football leagues has historically been led by forwards and midfielders. Cha Bum-kun played in the Bundesliga in the 1980s, followed by Park Ji-sung in the Premier League in the 2000s, while Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in have been plying their trade in Europe recently.
Defender Kim Min-jae on Bayern Munich's official siteFC BAYERN MÜNCHEN
Only a handful of prominent Korean defenders have previously played in Europe — Lee Young-pyo kitting up for Tottenham Hotspur and Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Jin-su in the Bundesliga. The growing number now heading to Europe marks a shift from that pattern.
The recent influx of Korean defenders comes as European clubs face a shortage of certain types of defenders. Korean players, in the meantime, have improved both technically and physically, according to Park Young-deok, a director at the football agency Unique Sports Group Korea.
"Europe has plenty of physically imposing defenders, but there is a shortage of defenders who are technically refined and have strong football intelligence, particularly fullbacks. It has led clubs to recruit more players from abroad," Park said.
"Even so, Korean players previously had limited opportunities because most European clubs wanted defenders who were at least 1.8 meters [5 feet, 11 inches] tall and could compete physically with European players," he added. "More Korean defenders now combine intelligence and technical ability with the necessary physical attributes, which opens up opportunities in Europe."
Apart from Lee Tae-seok, the Korean defenders mentioned are all at least 1.8 meters tall. Kim Min-jae stands at 1.89 meters, Seol at 1.8 meters, Kim Ji-soo at 1.92 meters, Lee Han-beom at 1.9 meters and Cho at 1.83 meters.
Left back Lee Tae-seok, center, runs in the match against South Africa in FIFA World Cup 2026 on June 24.YONHAP
Communication has also become less of an obstacle for Korean defenders seeking to play in Europe.
Unlike forwards and midfielders, who can create attacking opportunities through individual ability, defenders need to constantly coordinate and communicate with the backline. In the past, language barriers sometimes prevented Korean defenders from pursuing opportunities in Europe despite their ability.
Many of today's players speak English as well as local languages. Kim Min-jae and Lee Tae-seok, for example, communicate in English and German during matches and interviews.
"I have no problem communicating in English, but I learned German to get a step closer to the Austrian players whose native language is German," Lee Tae-seok said.
Korean defenders also have an advantage in their relatively low recruitment costs.
European clubs generally need to pay no more than around 3 million pounds ($4.1 million) in transfer fees to recruit a Korean player, according to football agents.
"Korean players are valued at around one-tenth the price of Brazilian players of comparable ability," director Park said. "That naturally makes Korean players attractive to European clubs."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
