Former Korea Republic internationals Kim Hokon (69), Jo Yeong-Jeung (66) and Park Sung-Hwa (65), who played for the Taegeuk Warriors between the 1970s and the 1980s, have made the latest list of the FIFA Century Club - an elite group of players who have made appearances in one hundred or more A-matches approved by the world football’s governing body. 

FIFA updated its website on 30 June, publishing the latest edition of the Century Club list including the trio: Kim (117 matches), Jo (102 matches) and Park (101 matches). Furthermore, the record of Cha Bum-Kun, who had already been a member of the club with 119 caps, has also been updated with 11 more appearances to stand at 130 matches.

These updates were made by FIFA according to the new data that the KFA had submitted recently. The KFA had been researching the international matches up until the 1980s that had no records at all or very scant information. As a result, the research revealed that Kim, Jo, Park, Huh Jung-Moo and Cho Kwang-Rae had played more than 100 matches, whilst Cha had made more appearances than the record initially approved.

The KFA submitted the records to FIFA in early June, and based on the newly found information, FIFA added the aforementioned trio to the Century Club and updated Cha’s appearance record. Unfortunately, however, Huh and Cho could not make the list of the Century Club this time around.

According to the KFA’s research, Huh has appeared in 103 matches and Cho has made 100 appearances - including some of Korea Republic’s preliminary matches for the Olympic Football Tournament. But FIFA has confirmed that the preliminary matches for the Olympic Games cannot be approved as the A-matches, whilst the matches in the Olympic finals proper are only regarded as the A-matches until London 1948.

In fact, Huh and Cho have played for Korea Republic in the Olympic qualifiers 12 times and 6 times respectively. Kim, Jo and Park also took part in the Olympic qualifiers in the past, but they still meet the requirements to join the Century Club even if those records were ruled out.

With the latest update, Korea Republic now boast 13 members in the FIFA Century Club, which accounts for joint fourth place along with Spain and Estonia in the men’s rankings - previously ninth with ten members. United States and Saudi Arabia are the joint leaders on the table with 17 members, whilst Korea Republic are in second place in Asia after the Saudis. Japan and Korea DPR currently have eight and one respectively.

Korea Republic internationals in the FIFA Century Club (13 members, as of 30 June 2020)

Hong Myung-Bo - 136

Lee Woon-Jae - 131

Cha Bum-Kun - 130

Lee Young-Pyo - 127

Yoo Sang-Chul - 120

*Kim Hokon - 117

Ki Sung-Yueng - 110

Kim Tae-Young - 104

Lee Dong-Gook - 104

*Jo Yeong-Jeung - 102

Hwang Sun-Hong - 102

*Park Sung-Hwa - 101

Park Ji-Sung - 100

(* Players updated recently)

Translation = Hounche Chung