The Ulsan Hyundai (Ulsan) U-18 Hyundai High School (Hyundai Go) made their mark on the international stage by winning the 2023 Shanghai Future Star Cup.
The Hyundai team defeated Cerezo Osaka 1-0 to take the top spot at the 2023 Shanghai Future Star Cup on March 3 (KST). The Shanghai Future Star Cup, which features youth teams from top clubs around the world in a head-to-head tournament with a coaching conference for coaches, was held for the second time after the 2022 season.
This year, seven clubs – Hyundai Go, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur from England, Porto from Portugal, Inspire Academy from Qatar, Cerezo Osaka from Japan, Shanghai from China, and PVF Soccer Academy from Vietnam – gathered to organize the competition and discuss the development of youth football.
In addition to the tournament, representatives and managers of the seven participating teams gathered together to present and discuss youth soccer development, training methods, and club strategies. Ulsan saw this as a great opportunity to help their players grow and sent players from their U-18 team, which is mainly composed of high school freshmen, to Shanghai.
Hyundai finished first in their group with a 2-1 win in their first match against PVF Academy, a 2-0 win in their second match against Espire Academy, and a 3-1 win in their final group match against Manchester City. Ulsan striker Park Kang-hyun scored a total of four goals in the group stage. 카지노
Hyundai then faced Porto in the semifinals, which they won with a thrilling 1-0 victory to advance to the final, where they faced Cerezo Osaka. It was Hyundai who opened the scoring in a tightly contested match. Park Kang-hyun opened the scoring for Cerezo with a thunderous mid-range shot. Hyundai held onto the 1-0 lead until the final whistle, and Park was named the tournament MVP and the tournament’s top scorer (5 goals). Hyundai Go head coach Hyun Young-min was named Best Coach and goalkeeper Kim Se-hyung was named Best Goalkeeper.
Coach Hyun said, “I thought the tournament was worth more than the trophy, so participating in it meant a lot to me, but I’m happy and proud that the players and coaching staff worked together to perform so well against prestigious clubs overseas. We will continue to train and play hard so that we can continue this atmosphere in Korea,” said Hyun, expressing his thoughts on the tournament and his plans for the future.