Europe, U.S.-based players to join S. Korea for Olympic men’s football qualifiers

Five players plying their trade overseas will join the South Korean men’s team for the upcoming Asian Olympic qualifiers, the sport’s national federation announced Friday.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) unveiled the 23-man squad set to compete at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup, which kicks off April 15 in Qatar.

The 16-nation competition doubles as the AFC qualifying tournament for this year’s Paris Olympics. The top three teams will punch their tickets to France, and the fourth-best team will play in a playoff match against a team from Africa.

Coached by Hwang Sun-hong, South Korea will feature Stoke City midfielder Bae Jun-ho, Celtic midfielder Yang Hyun-jun, Brentford defender Kim Ji-soo, Minnesota United midfielder Jeong Sang-bin, and Dusseldorf midfielder Kim Min-woo.

Since the AFC tournament isn’t on the official FIFA international match calendar, foreign clubs weren’t under any obligation to release their South Korean players. Hwang himself had said earlier in the week that he was bracing for a possibility these players wouldn’t be available for the Olympic qualifiers and he might need a Plan B.

Bae and Kim were also part of the South Korean squad that reached the semifinals at the FIFA U-20 World Cup last year. Kim and Yang were part of the senior national team at the AFC Asian Cup that went on from January to February this year.

Other notable players are Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors goalkeeper Kim Jeong-hoon, Daegu FC defender Hwang Jae-won and Bucheon FC 1995 forward An Jae-jun. The trio were on the South Korean under-24 team that captured the Asian Games gold medal in Hangzhou, China, last fall.

Many of the players helped South Korea win the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship, which concluded Tuesday in Saudi Arabia. The host country invited South Korea to the annual tournament, and South Korea beat Australia 4-3 on penalties in the final.

The U-23 age limit for the Olympic men’s football competition was set in 1992, and South Korea have played at every Olympics since. Their only medal so far is the bronze at the 2012 tournament in London.

The KFA said 18 players based in South Korea’s K League will have training camp in Icheon, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul, from Monday to Wednesday next week. The team will depart for Dubai next Friday to set up training camp there, and then fly to Qatar on April 10.

It has not been determined exactly when foreign-based players will join the national team, the KFA said.