Casey Yu-jin Phair (; born 29 June 2007) is a South Korean professional

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 lea ...

who plays as a striker for

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL) club

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The formation of the team was announced on July 21, 2020; it beg ...

and the

South Korea national team South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

. She was the youngest player to ever feature in a

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

, having made her debut in the tournament in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

at the age of 16 years and 26 days old. A

Korean American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...

who was raised in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, United States, Phair was the first

multiracial The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races (human categorization), races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicity, ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used ...

footballer to ever receive a call-up to the South Korea women's national team.

Early life

Phair was born in South Korea to an American father and South Korean mother. Her family moved to the United States when she was one month old. Formerly residing in

Exeter, New Hampshire Exeter is a New England town, town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. Its population was 16,049 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county ...

, she then moved to

Warren Township, New Jersey Warren Township is a township in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the much larger New York metropolitan area, located within the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 Unite ...

, where she subsequently started playing soccer at the

Pingry School The Pingry School is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory country day school in New Jersey, with a Lower School (K–5) campus in the Short Hills neighborhood of Millburn, a Middle (6–8) and Upper School (9–12) campus in ...

, and training at the Players Development Academy (PDA) in New Jersey.

Club career

Angel City FC

Following her strong

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

performance, Phair trialed with local NWSL club

NJ/NY Gotham FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sk ...

as well as the

Kansas City Current The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...

and

. On 18 January 2024, Angel City announced that they had signed Phair to a three-year deal through the

NWSL Under-18 Entry Mechanism The Under-18 Entry Mechanism sets the rules for how soccer players below the age of 18 may sign professional contracts in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Background The NWSL had ...

. She is the youngest player ever to sign with the club. She made her debut for Angel City as a 66th-minute substitute in a Summer Cup game against

Bay FC Bay Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the San Francisco Bay Area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The team began play in the NWSL as an expansion team in the 2024 Nat ...

on 26 July 2024. Phair scored her first goal for Angel City on February 22, 2025, scoring a header in the 86th minute to secure a 1–1 draw, during a preseason match at the Coachella Valley Invitational against

Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

. Phair made her professional debut on April 18, 2025, coming on as a substitute against

International career

Phair played for the South Korea under-17 team before she was called up to the senior team for the

. She helped the under-17 team qualify for the 2024 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup, scoring two goals against

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

and three goals against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. At the 2023 Women's World Cup, Phair became the youngest player to ever appear in a senior World Cup— men's or women's— at the age of 16 years and 26 days, coming on as a substitute in South Korea's opening game against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

on 25 July 2023; the distinction had been previously held by Ifeanyi Chiejine. In the process, she also became the youngest footballer to have reportedly won a cap for a women's senior national team, a record that was later broken by Una Rankić in September of the same year. Phair played in all three of South Korea's

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

matches and went on to make her first start in the team's final match against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, which ended in a 1–1 draw. On 26 October 2023, Phair scored her first senior goal, as well as her first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

, in a 10–1 win over

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the

2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament The 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament was the sixth edition of the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine which wo ...

: in the process, at 16 years and 119 days of age, she became the second youngest goalscorer in the history of the South Korean women's senior national team, behind only

Ji So-yun Ji So-yun (, ; born 21 February 1991) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League and the South Korea national team. Club career Ji started her career in Jap ...

. She also became the youngest player to ever score a hat-trick for any South Korean national team, in men's or women's football. On 10 October 2024, Phair was named to the South Korea under-17 roster for the

2024 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2024 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup () was the 8th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was hos ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

References

External links

*
Casey Phair
at

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phair, Casey 2007 births Living people People from Warren Township, New Jersey Soccer players from Somerset County, New Jersey South Korean women's footballers South Korea women's international footballers South Korea women's youth international footballers American women's soccer players South Korean people of American descent American sportspeople of Korean descent Pingry School alumni 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Angel City FC players 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century South Korean sportswomen National Women's Soccer League players