Kim Moon-hwan

Kim Moon-hwan (; born 1 August 1995) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a right-back for K League 1 club Daejeon Hana Citizen and the South Korea national team.

Club career After attending Chung-Ang University for three years, Kim signed for K League 2 club Busan IPark on 3 January 2017. He played as a forward until his university days, whereas starting to play as a right-back at Busan. In his first professional season, the club reached the finals at both the promotion play-offs and the Korean FA Cup, but lost the two finals.

In 2018 and 2019, Kim was evaluated as the best right-back of the K League 2, being named in the league's Best XI. He became a K League 1 player in 2020 after helping Busan win the promotion play-offs.

After Busan finished bottom of the K League 1, Kim joined Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC on 11 January 2021. He played four matches as a substitute during LAFC's first eight matches due to an aftereffect of knee injury. On 24 June, he made his first MLS start in a 2–0 win over FC Dallas, where he was named the Man of the Match. He made 28 appearances including 20 starts for about a year at LAFC. He judged that playing for Jeonbuk was more likely to be selected for the South Korean squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. After winning the 2022 Korean FA Cup with Jeonbuk, he was called up to the national team for the World Cup.

International career Kim played for the South Korea under-23 team at both the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship and the 2018 Asian Games.

On 7 September 2018, Kim made his senior international debut as a substitute in a 2–0 win over Costa Rica.

At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Kim played all 360 minutes for South Korea until the round of 16.

He received a call-up by Myung-Bo Hong to join the South Korea 2026 FIFA World Cup squad.

Career statistics

International

Honours Busan IPark Korean FA Cup runner-up: 2017 K League 1 Best XI: 2025 EAFF Championship Best Defender: 2025 K League All-Star: 2026