Top U21 K League 1 Players

Who are the best performing players under 21 in the Korean top division?

Photo by Maninder Sidhu on Unsplash

We return with a special on K1 U21 players, expect one on K2 too soon, with a deep dive into who’s been playing and performing in the top division of Korea but are under the age of 21. Last year unearthed the talent of Yang Min-hyuk, currently at Tottenham Hotspurs, while we can say for certain no one has been taking the league by storm as he did, but who’s been the top performer this season and who are getting the minutes to develop more are pertinent questions to answer still.

Minutes Played

Three of the top five in most minutes played are centre backs. With the likes of Kim Min-jae and Lee Han-beom developed in the K League, it’s a good position to blood players young—especially if the reward is producing current and future Korean national team defenders like Kim and Lee.

Top of the list is another Lee—Hyeon-yong of Suwon FC—who has emerged as the team’s starting U22 player, necessary to get more substitutions in the K1. Rising up like Kim Min-jae from the semi-professional K3, he made his debut in April 2024. The 6-foot-2 centre back has been used flexibly this season across a back three, and at both left and right-sided centre back in a back four. Lee was responsible for delivering the team’s first win of the season after a poor start, scoring his first professional goal and winner in a 3–2 win against Gimcheon Sangmu.

The other centre backs playing lots of minutes are Han Hyun-soo at Pohang Steelers and Shin Min-ha, who has particularly caught the eye this season and was an important player in Korea’s qualification for this September’s U20 World Cup in Chile.