▲ Head Coach Lee Min-sung of the under-23 men's football national team competing in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games gives instructions to players prior to a training session held at the Korea Football Center in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, on the 1st.
Team Lee Min-sung, aiming for a fourth consecutive Asian Games title, departed for Japan today (the 6th).
Led by Head Coach Lee Min-sung, the Asian Games national team departed through Incheon International Airport this morning for Shizuoka, Japan, where they will hold a pre-tournament training camp ahead of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Coach Lee, the coaching staff, 13 K League players including Lee Ki-hyuk (Gangwon), and 14 national team players including Lee Hyun-ju (Arouca), who arrived early from Europe on the 2nd, boarded the flight.
Team Lee Min-sung had been training at the Korea Football Center in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, after gathering on the 1st.
Defender Choi Seok-hyeon, who played an away match against Jeju with his club Ulsan HD on the 5th, will travel separately today due to transit logistics.
Overseas-based players will join Team Lee Min-sung in Japan.
Park Seung-soo (Newcastle) is scheduled to join today, Kim Ji-soo (Brentford) tomorrow, Yang Hyun-jun (Celtic), Kim Myung-jun (Genk), and Yang Min-hyuk (Westerlo) the day after tomorrow, and Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City) and Eom Ji-sung (Swansea City) on the 10th.
Lee Young-jun (Grasshopper), who was initially expected to join on the 14th, is in final schedule coordination with his club.
Team Lee Min-sung will train in Shizuoka until the 11th.
They will play a closed-door practice match against a local team on the final day before moving to Nagoya on the 12th.
Claiming its status as the powerhouse of Asian football, South Korea has won three consecutive titles in men's football at this tournament starting from the 2014 Incheon Asian Games up to the 2023 Hangzhou Games, never missing the championship.
In this tournament's men's football event, 15 countries will first compete in a group stage divided into four groups.
Groups A, B, and C consist of four countries each, while Group D, to which South Korea belongs, is composed of three countries.
The top two countries from each group will advance to the quarterfinals knockout stage to determine the champion.
South Korea will play its first group stage match against Qatar on the 15th.
They will then face Saudi Arabia for their second match on the 22nd.
"Asia's strongest" Japan, along with Uzbekistan which has heavily invested in nurturing this age group, are cited as rivals Team Lee Min-sung must watch out for.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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