Lee Seung-yeop of the Samsung Lions became the greatest home run hitter in South Korean baseball on Thursday.Lee belted his 352nd career home run against the SK Wyverns in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to overtake the retired All-Star Yang Joon-hyuk as the league's all-time leader.With runners on first and third with one out in the top third, Lee, batting cleanup, took SK starter Yoon Hee-sang over the left field for his seventh home run of the season. It broke the 1-1 deadlock between t

By qualifying for its eighth consecutive FIFA World Cup finals Tuesday, South Korea maintained its standing in an exclusive group of football powers. The country lost its final qualifying match to Iran 1-0 Tuesday but still gained a ticket to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil on goal difference. Only five other countries ― Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina and Spain ― have had more successive qualifications. Brazil is a distant leader with 20 straight qualifications from 1930 to 2014, followed

ULSAN (Yonhap News) ― Making the FIFA World Cup for the eighth consecutive time is surely a huge accomplishment for South Korea.The long-time Asian football power, however, backed into the 2014 tournament in Brazil. South Korea lost to Iran 1-0 here on Tuesday, but still maintained a slim edge in the goal difference tiebreaker over Uzbekistan to earn one of four automatic spots for Asia.South Korea made things more difficult for itself than it should have, and it only highlighted problems that n

Hong Myung-bo, a South Korean football legend who guided the country to the Olympic football bronze medal last year, was shortlisted for the vacant national head coaching job on Wednesday.A day after South Korea qualified for its eighth consecutive FIFA World Cup, the Korea Football Association announced that Hong and three others will be vying for the senior national team post, following Choi Kang-hee’s resignation.At a press conference, Huh Jung-moo, a vice chairman of the KFA, said the KFA’s

 South Korea lost to Iran 1-0 but still advanced to the FIFA World Cup finals for the eighth consecutive time Tuesday.   Despite the defeat at Munsu Football Stadium here in Ulsan, South Korea secured one of the four automatic Asian berths to football's global extravaganza in Brazil next year. South Korea finished second in Group A with 14 points, two points behind Iran.  Uzbekistan also ended with 14 points in Group A, thanks to its 5-1 win over Qatar on Tuesday, but finished behind South Korea

BERLIN (AFP) ― South Korea striker Son Heung-min turned down a host of Premier League clubs to stay in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, but could yet play in England, his agent revealed in an interview on Monday.The 20-year-old signed a five-year deal last Thursday to switch from Hamburg to Leverkusen, who have qualified for next season’s Champions League, but his agent Thies Bliemeister has said the South Korea star could have gone to England’s top flight. “Liverpool, Tottenham, Fulham, So

With a handful of footballers plying their trade overseas and more young players quickly developing, South Korea has a bright future in the sport, a senior official with a top Spanish club said Monday.Emilio Butragueno, the director of institutional relations for Real Madrid, is visiting Korea this week to promote Real Madrid’s work with youth players. The Real Madrid Foundation opened its youth academy in Korea earlier this year and currently has three coaches from the Real Madrid system.At a n

Park Chu-young’s brief stay at Celta Vigo of the Spanish Primera Liga ended on a low note after the South Korean player was fined for missing the club’s final league match, Spanish media reported Sunday.The 28-year-old striker was fined for not showing up at a crucial home game against RCD Espanyol, in which Celta Vigo narrowly escaped relegation by defeating its opponent 1-0.Park was not to play due to injuries but regulations required him to attend the game. Celta Vigo got Park for the 2012-13