The Australia–South Korea football rivalry is a sports rivalry that exists between the national association football teams of both Australia and South Korea. The rivalry is one of the most followed competitive rivalries in Asian football.

Historical origin South Korea first faced Australia in 1967 during a tour to South Vietnam playing a game in the 1967 South Vietnam Independence Cup. In this encounter, Australia beat South Korea 3–2 before eventually winning the friendly tournament. It was this friendly competition that the nickname of the Australian side, "Socceroos", was born.

Just two years later they met in the first round of qualification for the 1970 FIFA World Cup in a group that included Japan. All the games were played in South Korea and Australia topped the group progressing to the next round before losing to Israel.

The two teams were to meet again in the final round of the 1974 World Cup qualifiers in late 1973 and on this occasion, the winner would progress to the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The teams first met in Sydney on 28 October 1973 and played out a nil-all draw. The second leg was in Seoul on 10 November 1973. South Korea scored early in the 15th minute and then again in the 27th minute. However, Australia were to quickly reply with a goal by Branko Buljevic just two minutes later. Shortly after half time, Ray Baartz equalised. The score remained two-all at full time. As this was prior to the introduction of the away goals rule a third match was hastily arranged and, just three days later they met in Hong Kong. Jimmy Mackay scored the only goal of the match resulting in Australia qualifying for their first World Cup Finals.

In 1977 they were to meet again in a five team group for qualification to the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Australia won one and drew one, although neither were to proceed.

When South Korea won a penalty shoot-out on 21 June 1987 in the President's Cup it was the first time that the Koreans had defeated Australia although it wasn't until 6 September 1990 in a friendly in Seoul that South Korea had won during regulation time. It was the 14th meeting between the two countries.

During the 1990s they played a number of friendly matches and then met in the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup which was hosted in Korea. South Korea won the match 1–0 which gave them their first competitive victory over Australia although South Korea would not qualify to the knockout stage whereas Australia would. After Australia entered the Asian Football Confederation in 2006 the two teams had to wait until the 2011 AFC Asian Cup before they met again in a competitive fixture. On this occasion the match finished 1–1 in the group stage in Qatar.

They were to be drawn again in the same group when Australia hosted the 2015 AFC Asian Cup with Korea inflicting Australia's only defeat in the tournament, 1–0 in Brisbane, which was also South Korea's first ever win against Australia in Australia. However, Australia won a dramatic final in extra time in Sydney in front of a crowd of 76,385. Massimo Luongo scored just prior to half time. In second half injury time Son Heung-min equalised for the Koreans taking the match into extra time. James Troisi then scored the winner for Australia to claim their first Asian Cup.

Australia and South Korea are two of only five Asian national teams to have reached the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup. Likewise, they are also two countries to have won the AFC Asian Cup. Both Australia and South Korea are also successful in other major competitions: Australia was one of only three AFC teams to have reached the final of a senior FIFA competition, in 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup; while Australia and South Korea's youth teams were also finalists in FIFA U-17 World Cup and FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Matches

# Date Competition Home team Score Away team Home scorers Away scorers Venue 1 14 November 1967 1967 South Vietnam Independence Cup 3–2 Billy Vojtek Attila Abonyi Johnny Warren See Young-keun Huh Yoon-jung Cong Hoa Stadium, Saigon 2 14 October 1969 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification 1–2 Lee Yi-woo Johnny Watkiss Tommy McColl Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 3 20 October 1969 1–1 Park So-il Ray Baartz Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 4 22 October 1972 International friendly 1–1 Lee Cha-man Max Tolson Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 5 24 October 1972 International friendly 0–2Ray Baartz Jim Armstrong Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 6 28 October 1973 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification 0–0 Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney 7 11 November 1973 2–2 Kim Jae-han Ko Jae-wook Branko Buljevic Ray Baartz Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 8 13 November 1973 1–0 Jimmy Mackay Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong 9 28 August 1977 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification 2–1 John Kosmina Cha Bum-kun Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney 10 23 October 1977 0–0 Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 11 21 June 1987 1987 Korea Cup 1–1 Kim Pan-keun Graham Arnold Seoul Olympic Stadium, Seoul 12 6 September 1990 International friendly 1–0 Byun Byung-joo Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 13 9 September 1990 International friendly 1–0 Seo Jung-won Kudok Stadium, Busan 14 14 June 1991 1991 Korea Cup 0–0 Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 15 24 September 1993 International friendly 1–1 Seo Jung-won Damian Mori Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 16 26 September 1993 International friendly 1–0 Lee Ki-bum Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul 17 22 January 1997 International friendly 2–1 Matthew Bingley Alistair Edwards Ha Seok-ju Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 18 11 February 1998 International friendly 1–0 Ernie Tapai Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney 19 7 October 2000 2000 LG Cup 4–2 Sim Jae-won Noh Jung-yoon Seol Ki-hyeon Lee Dong-gook Paul Agostino National Stadium, Dubai 20 6 June 2001 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup 1–0 Hwang Sun-hong Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon 21 5 September 2009 International friendly 3–1 Park Chu-young Lee Jung-soo Seol Ki-hyeon Patrick Kisnorbo Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul 22 14 January 2011 2011 AFC Asian Cup 1–1 Mile Jedinak Koo Ja-cheol Al Gharafa Stadium, Doha 23 14 November 2012 International friendly 1–2 Lee Dong-gook Nikita Rukavytsya Robert Cornthwaite Hwaseong Stadium, Hwaseong 24 20 July 2013 2013 EAFF Championship 0–0 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul 25 17 January 20152015 AFC Asian Cup 0–1 Lee Jeong-hyeop Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 26 31 January 2015 2–1 Massimo Luongo James Troisi Son Heung-min Stadium Australia, Sydney 27 17 November 2018 International friendly 1–1 Massimo Luongo Hwang Ui-jo Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 28 7 June 2019 International friendly 1–0 Hwang Ui-jo Busan Asiad Main Stadium, Busan 29 2 February 2024 2023 AFC Asian Cup 1–2 Craig Goodwin Hwang Hee-chan Son Heung-min Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah

The following fixtures are considered 'A' Internationals by Football Australia only and are included in Australia's official statistics with regard to matches played, caps, records etc. Date Competition Home team Score Away team Home scorers Away scorers Venue 17 October 1982 1982 Merlion Cup 3–2 South Korea B Phil O'Connor Dave Mitchell George Christopoulos Oh Suk-tae Park Chang-sun Singapore 15 December 1983 1983 Merlion Cup 3–1 South Korea B John Kosmina Phil O'Connor Jimmy Cant Lee Hyun-chul Singapore

Statistics Head-to-head record

VenueAustralia winsSouth Korea winsDrawsAustralia goalsSouth Korea goalsAt Australia home41285At South Korea home3681316At neutral venue22189Total99112930

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Goals1 Ray Baartz 32 Paul Agostino2 Hwang Ui-jo John Kosmina Lee Dong-gook Massimo Luongo Seo Jung-won Seol Ki-hyeon Son Heung-min

See also Australia men's national soccer team all-time record South Korea national football team records and statistics Australia–South Korea relations

References

External links What is the Socceroos' greatest football rivalry? World Football Elo Ratings: Australia World Football Elo Ratings: South Korea