Jeon Ga-eul (, or ; born 14 September 1988) is a South Korean

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for Sejong Sportstoto in the

WK League The WK League (Hangul: WK리그) is a semi-professional women's football league, run by the Korea Football Association (KFA) and the Korea Women's Football Federation (KWFF), which represents the sport's highest level in South Korea. The regular ...

. She was the first South Korean to play in the US

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

, and the Australian W-League. She has won numerous domestic league titles, individual MVP titles and international competitions, being the leading scorer in the national team side that won the Women's gold medal in football at the

2009 Summer Universiade The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Provin ...

. Jeon scored notable braces against Germany in the group stages, and against Japan in the Final. She also scored six goals in one match against South Africa. Overall, she made over 100 appearances for the South Korean national team.

Club career

Western New York Flash

On 1 January 2016, the

club

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American soccer club based in Elma, New York that competed in the United Women's Soccer league. They have won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-League in 2010, Women's Profess ...

announced the signing of Jeon for the 2016 season, making her the first player from South Korea to play in the league. She was released by the Flash on 13 June 2016.

Melbourne Victory

On 25 October 2017, Jeon signed with

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

, becoming the first South Korean player to join the W-League. On 3 November 2017, she made her debut in a 1–0 loss to Melbourne City. On 9 December 2017, she scored her first goal in a 4–0 win over

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

. She finished the 2017–18 season with one goal in ten appearances.

Hwacheon KSPO

In February 2018, Jeon signed with Hwacheon KSPO. On 23 April 2018, she scored on her debut in a 3–0 home victory against Boeun Sangmu.

Bristol City

Jeon Ga-eul was announced as a new signing by

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

of the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

on 18 January 2020. Jeon made her Bristol City debut on 26 January 2020 in their

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

fourth round victory against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

. Due to fixture cancellations caused by bad weather, Jeon's

debut came on 12 February 2020 away at league leaders Manchester City. She received praise in the sporting press for her performance with sports website

Vavel Vavel (stylized VAVEL) is a sports news website. It has 16 editions; Spain, United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Italy, France, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and an edition represe ...

saying, "The 31-year-old played in the number 10 role in Manchester and looked like a real leader with her vast experience at international level and in the W-League shining through. The Robins' number 14 worked her socks off at both ends of the field and was encouraging her teammates every time the ball went out of play."

Reading

Having been released by Bristol at the end of the 2019–20 season, Jeon returned to the WSL by signing for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

at the start of the 2020–21 season. She made her Reading debut on 4 October 2020, coming on as an 80th minute substitute in their 1–0 away win at

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

. She made her starting XI debut on 7 October 2020 in Reading's 4–0 home win over Charlton in the

FA Women's League Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pri ...

. A long-term injury sustained later that month meant she made just four appearances for Reading during the 2020–21 season. After playing only two games in the first half of the 2021–22 season, Jeon left Reading in December 2021.

International career

Jeon was a member of the under-17 team that finished fourth at the 2005 AFC U-17 Women's Championship, where she scored four goals in five appearances. On 12 August 2007, she made her senior debut in a 2–1 victory against

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, before returning to the under-19 team to play at the

2007 AFC U-19 Women's Championship The Asian Football Confederations AFC U-19 Women's Championship 2007 was the 4th instance of the AFC U-19 Women's Championship. It was held from October 5 to 16, 2007 at Chongqing in China. Qualification Qualified teams * : Defending champi ...

, where South Korea finished fourth. In 2008, she was called up to represent South Korea at the 2008 EAFF Women's Football Championship, at the

2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup was played in Vietnam from 28 May to 8 June 2008. It was won by North Korea. Qualification Seedings The draw was held on 18 April 2008 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. * 1. * 2. * 3. * 4. * 5. * 6. * 7. * ...

and at the

2008 Peace Queen Cup The 2008 Peace Queen Cup was the second edition of the Peace Queen Cup. It was held from 14 to 21 June 2008 in Suwon, South Korea. Venues Group stage All times are Korean Standard Time (KST) – UTC+9 Group A ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

. In 2009, she helped South Korea win gold at the

, finishing as the top scorer of the tournament with 10 goals. The following year, she scored the game-winning goal against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the

2010 Peace Queen Cup The 2010 Peace Queen Cup was third edition of Peace Queen Cup. It was held from 17 to 23 October 2010 in Suwon, South Korea. Venues Group stage All times are Korean Standard Time (KST)–UTC+9 Group A * South Korea advanced to the final on ...

final and was named the tournament's

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. She was also part of the team that won bronze at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), was a regional multi-sport event celebrated from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, although several events ...

and finished third at the

2010 EAFF Women's Football Championship The third edition of the EAFF Women's Football Championship was held in 2010, with a preliminary qualification tournament held in 2009. Rounds Semi-final competition The semi-final competition was held in Tainan County (now part of Tainan City ...

. However, South Korea finished third in group B at the

2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup was held from 19–30 May at the Chengdu Sports Centre in China PR. The winners, Australia, runners-up, Korea DPR, and third-place team, Japan qualified for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. With this victory, Austr ...

and failed to qualify for the World Cup. At the

2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup, the 18th edition of the competition, was a women's association football tournament competed by national teams in Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It served as the qualification for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cu ...

, she scored three goals in 5 appearances as South Korea qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 2003. She won another bronze medal at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

, where she scored six goals. In 2015, she helped South Korea finish second at the

2015 EAFF Women's East Asian Cup The 2015 EAFF Women's East Asian Cup was the fifth edition of the EAFF Women's East Asian Cup, an international women's football tournament organised by the East Asian Football Federation. Nine of ten EAFF member nations entered the tournament. O ...

and at the

2015 Four Nations Tournament The 2015 Four Nations Tournament (Torneio Quatro Nações) in Portuguese, was the second edition of the Four Nations Tournament held in João Pessoa, Brazil between 10–13 June as a Men's friendly handball tournament organised by the Brazilian ...

. Jeon played all four of South Korea's matches at the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

, scoring a goal in a 2–2 draw with

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

on 13 June 2015.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list South Korea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jeon goal.''

Honours

Club

Suwon FMC *

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

International

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Peace Queen Cup The Peace Queen Cup was an invitational women's association football tournament for national teams organized by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. Its three editions were all been hosted by South Korea. The foundation also organized the Peace ...

Individual

Top Scorer:

MVP:

MVP: 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeon, Ga-eul 1988 births Living people People from Paju South Korean women's footballers Women's association football forwards Women's association football midfielders South Korea women's under-17 international footballers South Korea women's under-20 international footballers South Korea women's international footballers South Korean expatriate footballers Suwon FC Women players Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels WFC players WK League players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Expatriate women's footballers in England South Korean expatriate sportspeople in the United States South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Australia South Korean expatriate sportspeople in England Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Asian Games medalists in football Western New York Flash players Melbourne Victory FC (A-League Women) players Bristol City W.F.C. players Reading F.C. Women players Women's Super League players National Women's Soccer League players Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games FIFA Century Club Universiade gold medalists for South Korea Universiade medalists in football Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade