South Korea’s loss is Japan’s gain in the battle for Premier League relevance in Asia

South Korea as a footballing nation has not had the greatest year thus far. A highly rated South Korean team with a lot of expectations flew to the World Cup with the hope of making a deep run in the competition, only to crash, bang, and wallop in spectacular fashion and get eliminated in the group stage.

If that’s not all, the Korea Football Association is under investigation by the Korean police over allegations pertaining to bribery and misappropriation of funds. To add salt to their wounds, the 2026/27 Premier League season is the first season of the English top flight since 2005/06 that will start without any sort of Korean representation in the league.

It is a sad fall from grace for the Land of the Morning Calm, which for the longest time was the belle of the ball in Asian football. Park Ji-sung arrived in 2005, and Son Heung-min took the mantle from him in 2015, but apart from these two legends of Korean football, there are other stars who have built themselves a reputation over the years as cult figures for the clubs they’ve represented.

The likes of Ki Sung-yueng, Lee Chung-yong, and Lee Young-pyo have all made a considerable impact in the Premiership and seen reasonable success as well. And while, as always, there have been players who could not buy a good performance even if their lives depended on it, the relationship between the Premier League and South Korea has always been a good one.

However, ever since Son departed to the States, there just hasn’t been enough Korean flavour in the league, and the ones who played in the division recently had neither the pull of Park or Son nor the skill and quality to regularly make it to the first teams of the clubs they played for.

Hwang Hee-chan was the only one left, but even he went to the Championship after Wolves suffered relegation last season. And while there are three Korean players on the books of Premier League clubs, they are not expected to feature for them; it looks to be a matter of time before Yang Min-hyeok (Spurs), Kim Ji-soo (Brentford), and Park Seung-soo (Newcastle) are either loaned out or moved on for good.

However, as is always the case in the football world, one’s loss is another’s gain. And just like that, South Korea’s downfall in the league has aligned with the rapid rise of Japan and its increasing representation in the league.

There has been a stark change in the mindset of Japanese players, who earlier preferred to move to Germany to ply their trade. But seeing the success of their compatriots, as well as the steady increase in the number of Japanese players who have played in England, that mindset has begun to change.

Last season, Kaoru Mitoma, arguably Japan’s best player in the Premier League, was hugely successful with Brighton. Daichi Kamada won the Conference League with Crystal Palace, Ao Tanaka was hugely influential in steering Leeds United to safety, while Wataru Endo is christened as a Liverpool cult hero with his exploits for the Merseyside club.

Even more players are expected to join the fold now. Takehiro Tomiyasu, formerly of Arsenal, is set to join Kamada at Palace. Hull City have gone ahead and signed Hidemasa Morita, while Daizen Maeda holds the distinction of being Ipswich Town’s first-ever Japanese player following his move from Celtic.

Japan’s recent rise is also becoming a blueprint for other Asian nations, including South Korea, with Park Ji-sung mentioning recently that his country needs to take a leaf out of Japan’s playbook to start bridging the gap between the two countries.

Another factor that explains the gulf is the contrasting levels of fan interest in the league. While Japan has a fan base of dedicated Premier League watchers, the same cannot be said of the South Korean audience, many of whom follow the league largely because of their affinity for the players, with interest in the league just a passing thought.

In this battle for Premier League relevance in the Far East, South Korea’s loss is Japan’s gain, and it looks like it will stay that way for a good while.