▲ Head Coach Kim Jung-soo of the U-19 Men's Football National Team
The South Korea under-19 (U-19) men's football national team, led by head coach Kim Jung-soo, is preparing for the 2027 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-20 Asian Cup by participating in two overseas friendly tournaments.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced on October 29 that the U-19 national team will compete consecutively in the Panda Cup in China and the SBS Cup in Japan.
The Panda Cup will be held from November 11 to 17 in Chengdu, China, featuring the U-19 national teams of South Korea, host country China, Vietnam, and Tajikistan.
The tournament, taking place at the Shuangliu Sports Centre stadium, will determine its standings through a single-round robin format.
Ahead of the tournament, the national team will hold pre-training sessions from November 3 to 7 at the Korea Football Park in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, with players agreed upon by their respective clubs.
A total of 26 players have been selected for the Panda Cup.
The squad includes 20 players from K League clubs, such as Mo Gyeong-bin (Suwon Samsung), Kim Hyun-oh (Gyeongnam FC), and Kang Dong-hwi (Jeju SK), along with 2 collegiate players.
Four Europe-based players also made the list: Lee Gyeong-hyun (FC Copenhagen, Denmark), Bae Seung-gyun (FC Dordrecht, Netherlands), Kim Min-chan (VfL Kamen, Germany), and Lee Choong-hyun (Magdeburg, Germany).
Following this, the national team will compete in the SBS Cup International Youth Football Tournament held in Shizuoka, Japan, from December 17 to 20.
South Korea will face the national teams of Japan and Costa Rica, as well as a select team from Shizuoka Prefecture.
Since the SBS Cup is held as an U-18 tournament, South Korea plans to form its roster primarily with players born in 2008, who are one year younger than the current national team, with the specific participants to be announced later.
South Korea secured its spot in the finals after finishing first in its group at the AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers held in Kyrgyzstan in August of this year.
The finals of the 2027 AFC U-20 Asian Cup will kick off on March 24 of next year in Hangzhou, China.
The top four teams will advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan next year.
(Photo courtesy of Korea Football Association, Yonhap News)
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