| Other names | Socceroos vs Taegeuk Warriors |
|---|---|
| Location | Asia (AFC) |
| Teams |  Australia South Korea |
| First meeting | 14 November 1967 South Vietnam Independence Cup South Korea 2–3 Australia |
| Latest meeting | 2 February 2024 AFC Asian Cup Australia 1–2 South Korea |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 29 |
| Top scorer | Ray Baartz (3) |
| All-time series | Australia: 9 South Korea: 9 Draw: 11 |
.svg)  Australia South Korea | |
TheAustralia–South Korea football rivalry is asports rivalry that exists between the nationalassociation football teams of bothAustralia andSouth Korea. The rivalry is one of the most followed competitive rivalries in Asian football.[1]
South Korea first faced Australia in 1967 during a tour toSouth Vietnam playing a game in the1967 South Vietnam Independence Cup. In this encounter, Australia beat South Korea 3–2 before eventually winning the friendly tournament.[2] It was this friendly competition that the nickname of the Australian side, "Socceroos", was born.[3]
Just two years later they met in thefirst round of qualification for the1970 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 the1974 World Cup qualifiers in late 1973 and on this occasion, the winner would progress to the1974 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 byBranko 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 theaway 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.[4][5]
In 1977 they were to meet again in afive team group for qualification to the1978 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 thePresident'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 the2001 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 the2011 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.[6]
They were to be drawn again in the same group when Australia hosted the2015 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.[7] However, Australia won a dramaticfinal 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 timeSon 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.[8]
Australia and South Korea are two of only five Asian national teams to have reached the knockout stage of theFIFA World Cup. Likewise, they are also two countries to have won theAFC 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, in1997 FIFA Confederations Cup; while Australia and South Korea's youth teams were also finalists inFIFA U-17 World Cup andFIFA U-20 World Cup.
The following fixtures are considered 'A' Internationals byFootball 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 | Australia | 3–2 |  South Korea B | Phil O'Connor 10'Dave Mitchell 31'George Christopoulos 61' | Oh Suk-tae 59' Park Chang-sun 83' |  Singapore |
| 15 December 1983 | 1983 Merlion Cup | Australia | 3–1 | South Korea B | John Kosmina 17' Phil O'Connor 58'Jimmy Cant 74' | Lee Hyun-chul 37' | Singapore |
| Venue | Australia wins | South Korea wins | Draws | Australia goals | South Korea goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At Australia home | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 |
| At South Korea home | 3 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 16 |
| At neutral venue | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Total | 9 | 9 | 11 | 29 | 30 |
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ray Baartz | 3 |
| 2 | Paul Agostino | 2 |
| Hwang Ui-jo | ||
| John Kosmina | ||
| Lee Dong-gook | ||
| Massimo Luongo | ||
| Seo Jung-won | ||
| Seol Ki-hyeon | ||
| Son Heung-min |
