“The number 23 may seem to some as Michael Jordan’s uniform number, but to me, living 23 years in a square of green grass comes first. I started playing soccer at the age of 23 and have been running for 23 years.”

Women’s national soccer team goalkeeper Yoon Young-geul (35) announced her retirement after 23 years of playing. 

Yoon Young-geul, who played an active role as a goalkeeper in the 2023 FIFA Australia-New Zealand Women’s World Cup, said on his social media on the 6th, “I’m trying to put an end to my soccer player’s life.” , The life of a soccer player was a chapter in my life. Now, I am going to put an end with the last sentence of that chapter,” said 

Yoon Young-geul. Numerous injuries, tears I swallowed alone, constantly building my body during the off-season and season, and harshly driving me from the position of a pro, preparing for each game,” he said. “Sometimes with good results, sometimes with ridiculous results. It was the life of a soccer player who experienced both joy and discouragement due to an unexpected mistake.”

In addition, Yoon Young-geul said, “It was really shocking at the time when I turned from a field player to a goalkeeper, but I thought that I had to go for the sake of the team, and I believed that this path was my path, and I continued to improve myself and ran until now.” It was a soccer player’s life that I always prepared for, with more training and a restrained life, so that I could handle the weight and not be lazy.”

Yoon Young-geul joined Seoul City Hall in 2008, before the launch of the WK League. However, he changed his position from field player to goalkeeper in 2009 due to injury. It was at the recommendation of director Seo Jeong-ho at the time. 

However, Yoon Young-geul returned as a field player after a year and transferred to the Suwon City Facilities Management Corporation in 2012. However, as the goalkeepers of his team left one after another, he accepted the goalkeeper offer again. 

After transferring to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a new team in Gyeongju in 2017, Yoon Young-geul served as a defender and occasionally as a field player. Yoon Young-geul, who was worried about retirement, solidified her position as a goalkeeper under the guidance of goalkeeper coach Kim Poong-ju at the time, transferred to Aarhus (Denmark) GF Women, and was named as the goalkeeper who advanced to the European stage, the best in women’s soccer history. Since then she has also played for Heken FF.

Experienced under-20 (U-20) national team member Yun Young-geul was named in the final roster for the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada after turning goalkeeper and was named to her senior national team. Yoon Young-geul, who showed her presence at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup held in Jordan in 2018, contributed to her being included in the roster for the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games and winning a bronze medal. 

Yoon Young-geul, who was unable to make the final list due to a knee injury ahead of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, gave her all as she was included in the final entry for the Australia-New Zealand competition. However, in his first group stage match against Colombia, where he was trailing 0-1, he made a crucial mistake and left regret. 

Yoon Young-geul said, “If you look only at the results, of course you will regret it. In the professional position where you have to show results, especially in the important position of the World Cup as a national team member, I ended my 23-year career as a soccer player with disappointing results.” “But I really did my best to prepare, and I have trained myself so far without shame, so I can honestly say that it was not the life of a soccer player with regrets, but the life of a soccer player who worked hard.” 

In addition, Yoon Young-geul said, “I was grateful to be able to play with the Taegeuk mark as a player representing Korea on the big stage of the World Cup.” I’m trying to put the final point in my soccer player’s life,” he said. “I’ve lived my life as a soccer player without being ashamed of anyone, so I think this period is not regret, but gratitude. However, in the next chapter of my life, I will do my best to live.”

The following is the full text of Yoon Young-geul’s social media posts. 

Hello, this is Yoon Young-geul.
The number 23 may seem like Michael Jordan’s jersey number to some, but to me, living in a square of green grass for 23 years is the first thing that comes to my mind. I liked to run and play, so I started playing soccer at the age of 13 and have been running for 23 years.안전놀이터

During that time, many of you know that I have never walked a path that always revolves around pink, but numerous injuries, tears I swallowed alone, constantly building my body during off-season and season, and pushing me harshly in the position of a pro. It was the life of a soccer player who prepared and played game after game as he went, but experienced joy and discouragement, sometimes with good results and sometimes with absurd mistakes. It was really shocking when I turned from a field player to a goalkeeper, but I thought that I had to go for the sake of the team and that this was my path, and I continued to improve myself and run until now. It was a position where even a single mistake was not tolerated, so the weight was even more heavy, but in order to handle the weight, I had more training and a restrained life to keep myself from becoming lazy, and it was a soccer player’s life that I always prepared for.

We decided to change the word ‘regret’ to ‘best’.

If you only look at the results, you can of course regret it.
In the position of a professional who has to show results, especially in the important position of the World Cup as a national team member, he showed disappointing results, ending his 23-year career as a soccer player. However, I really did my best to prepare, and I have trained myself so far without shame, so I can honestly say that it was not the life of a soccer player with regrets, but the life of a soccer player who worked hard.

I was a happy player because I wasn’t all that unhappy. I think I was a very happy player because I had good leaders, fellow soccer players, and people who believed in me and supported me during the

journey of a soccer player who had to live while competing for the starting position every time .
I can say with confidence that I was a happy soccer player because there were people who walked with me even during injuries, when I couldn’t play as a main player, and even when I couldn’t show a good game. I didn’t let the result prove me, but I learned that there were good meetings here and there in my life as a soccer player when I did my best in my life as a good person before being a soccer player. . So, I was a happy soccer player.

I am trying to put an end to my football career.

If a lifetime of life is like a book, the life of a soccer player was a chapter in my life. Now I’m going to put a period with the last sentence of the chapter.
I was grateful to be able to play with the Taegeuk mark as a player representing Korea on the big stage of the World Cup, but even if I had to leave the last game of my soccer career due to my unfortunate performance, I will continue my soccer career with gratitude, not regret, with the sweat I have shed so far. I’m trying to put the last period of . During my life as a soccer player, I have lived without being ashamed of anyone, so this period seems to be gratitude, not regret. The chapter of a soccer player’s life comes to an end like this, but
in the next chapter of my life, too, I try to live my best.

Coach Lee Doo -cheol
, Coach Yoo Ho-cheon, Coach Ha Jae-cheol, Coach Poong-ju Kim, Coach Lee Mi-yeon, Coach In-sun Hwang, Coach
Jeong-ho Seo, Coach Ko Moon-hee, Coach Jae-seok Lee, Coach Yoo-seok Jung, Coach Sang-deuk Kwak, Coach
Kyu-hong Park, and Myung-il Oh Deputy head coach, and teacher Songsook, Mina, Aekyung, Seonghee, Nakyung, Eunhye, Seolah, Minhee, Geunhye, Nahyeon, Joohyun, Joohyun, Minchae, Jihoe,

who gave a lot of help and support , Teacher Suhyeon, teacher Jian, teacher Sangkwon, teacher Seongmin, teacher Hyeonkyu, teacher Eunjeong, teacher Yoonjeong, teacher Yongjun, teacher Yesong, unnie Yeongju, Jihoo, unni Eunhee, teacher Changseok… Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to my family, Dongdaemun flying squirrel, Jiyul unni, and Sungkyu oppa, my most precious relationship. We will come and see you as soon as the time is right. Thank you, thank you.