Ji-soo Kim Becomes Asian Games Champion With South Korea

Ji-soo Kim will return to Brentford as an Asian Games champion after South Korea beat Japan 1-0 in Saturday's final.

Kim started at centre-back at Toyota Stadium, his fifth start in five matches during the tournament, as Eom Ji-sung's second-half goal gave South Korea another gold medal and extended their remarkable hold on the men's competition.

Japan had been beaten by the same opposition in each of the previous two Asian Games finals. South Korea's latest victory made it four successive titles, stretching a run which began on home soil at Incheon in 2014 and continued through Jakarta-Palembang and Hangzhou.

Kim played a sizeable role in adding Aichi-Nagoya to that list.

His tournament began with a long pass from defence which released Eom for the opening goal in a 4-1 victory over Qatar. Kim started again as South Korea beat Saudi Arabia to finish top of their group, but his contribution was not limited to defending.

The Brentford centre-back scored in the 4-0 quarter-final win over Vietnam, reacting inside the penalty area after Shin Min-ha's effort was deflected into his path. He remained in the side for a much tighter semi-final against China, playing the full game as South Korea recovered from a goal down to win 2-1.

By the time the final arrived, Kim was one of the players Lee Min-sung had used throughout.

South Korea only needed one goal against Japan. Eom scored it after 61 minutes and Kim helped protect the lead from there, adding a clean sheet in the final to a tournament which had already brought him his first Asian Games goal.

The medal also carries significance beyond the competition itself. South Korean men are normally required to complete mandatory military service, but athletes who win Asian Games gold qualify for an exemption from the standard period of service. The rule has long added another layer of importance to the tournament for South Korean footballers, and victory over Japan means Kim is among the players who could now benefit from it.

Kim already had experience of going deep into an international tournament before arriving in Japan. He was part of the South Korea side which reached the semi-finals of the Under-20 World Cup in 2023, shortly before Brentford signed him from Seongnam.

He initially joined the B team and was promoted to the first-team squad ahead of the 2024/25 season. A Premier League debut followed against Brighton and Hove Albion that December, before Kim spent last season on loan with Kaiserslautern in Germany.

This season, he finds himself back in Brentford’s first-team squad.

The Asian Games took Kim away from the opening weeks of the domestic campaign, but he leaves Japan having played regularly rather than simply collecting a medal as part of the squad. Five starts brought a goal, involvement in another and a place in the defence which kept Japan out in the final.

Kim now heads back to West London with his first major international title.