Football - Team Republic of Korea

General
The Republic of Korea arrive in Hangzhou as the reigning Asian Games champions, having won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2018. They have won more gold medals [five] and total medals [11] than any other team at the Games.

The team won all their matches and did not concede a single goal throughout the tournament on home soil in 2014, defeating the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the final via a dramatic 121st-minute goal. Four years later they defended their title in similarly dramatic fashion. In Indonesia they recorded knockout stage victories over the Islamic Republic of Iran, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam to set up a gold medal match against Japan. The score was 0-0 after 90 minutes, but following a thrilling extra-time period, the Koreans ran out 2-1 victors.

In the 1970 and 1978 finals the Republic of Korea played out goalless draws against Burma and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, respectively, and shared gold with their opponents on both occasions. They won the title outright as hosts in 1986, when they defeated Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the final.

In 2020 they won the AFC U23 championship in Thailand, beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final after extra-time. At the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup they failed to reach the semifinals of the tournament for the first time after losing to Japan 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

The Republic of Korea won their first medal at the Olympic Games in 2012, claiming a 2-0 victory over Japan in the bronze medal match. They made consecutive quarterfinal appearances at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, losing to Honduras and Mexico, respectively.