History
Since the 1950s, South Korea has emerged as a major football power in Asia, winning several prestigious Asian football championships, including the first two Asian Cup tournaments. The South Korean national team has also played in six consecutive World Cup finals from 1986, making a total of seven World Cup finals in all. In 1954 World Cup, they played 2 games with Hungary and Turkey. They lost to Hungary 0-9 and 0-7 to Turkey. It’s been suggested that the players failed to adapt to the cool playing conditions.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly with Japan, was a sign of the rapid progress made in South Korean football. Led by Dutch coach Guus Hiddink and assistant coach Pim Verbeek, South Korea defeated Italy and Spain to become the first Asian national team to reach the World Cup semi-finals.
On June 8, 2005, South Korea qualified for their seventh World Cup by beating Kuwait 4-0 in Kuwait City.
The enthusiasm of the red-clad supporters, known as the "Red Devils", also made a big impression on viewers world-wide. After the team success, football had an explosion of popularity in the country, where the game had traditionally been less popular than other games, such as baseball, formerly the most popular spectator sport in the country.
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, South Korea achieved their first World Cup victory outside of Asia by beating Togo 2-1 in Frankfurt on June 13. Against France, the team managed a late equalizer from Park Ji-Sung to end up with a 1-1 tie and this put them tied with Switzerland on top of their group. However, they were knocked out of the tournament after a 2-0 loss against Switzerland, while France advanced with a 2-0 win against Togo
source:wikipedia
