Yoon Young-geul

Yoon Young-geul (; born 28 October 1987) is a South Korean former footballer and coach who mostly played as a goalkeeper. With the South Korea national team, she participated at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Youth career Yoon began playing football in the sixth grade of elementary school after a friend she met through taekwondo classes introduced her to a local football coach. She progressed through the girls' football academies at Osan Middle School, Osan Girls' I.C.T. High School, and Yeoju University.

Club career

Early years: Seoul City WFC Yoon was selected by Seoul City WFC at the women's works football new player draft in 2007, initially playing as a defender and midfielder. When the WK League was launched in 2009, Yoon only made two league appearances for Seoul due to a knee injury which forced her to rest for most of the season. In 2010, she played all minutes of all of Seoul City's WK League matches as goalkeeper, but after the season ended, at her request she returned to playing as a midfielder. This time, she found herself enjoying the role, and continued playing as goalkeeper for the rest of her career. She considered retiring from football but was encouraged to continue playing and competing for a place in the national team by goalkeeping coach Kim Poong-joo. As the oldest member of the squad, Yoon was a key player as KHNP qualified for the 2018 WK League championship final in only the second year since the club's foundation. With Yoon as goalkeeper, Gyeongju qualified for the league playoff for four consecutive years, playing against her former club Suwon on all four occasions.

Move to Europe In 2022, she became the first female Korean goalkeeper to play in Europe when she signed with Danish side AGF Fodbold. Dissatisfied with the limited number of opportunities to play, Yoon requested early termination of her contract with AGF after just a few months there, and the club agreed to release her. The following year, she joined Swedish side BK Häcken on a six-month contract. Yoon retired from her playing career in late 2023, without having played in a competitive fixture for Häcken.

International career Yoon first played for South Korea at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship as a defender. Yoon was the country's first-choice goalkeeper at the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup, 2018 Asian Games, and 2019 EAFF E-1 Championship, but missed out on the 2019 World Cup due to an injury. She finally achieved her dream of playing at a World Cup in 2023, appearing in South Korea's first group stage match in what would be her final appearance for the national team. During her career she made 29 A match appearances for South Korea, conceding 15 goals.