Jeon Ga-eul (, or ; born 14 September 1988) is a retired 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 lea ...

. 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 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 ...

, 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 women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

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 ...

, 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 men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

. 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. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

of the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

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 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 (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

fourth round victory against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

. 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 Spain-based sports news website. It has 8 editions; Spain, United States, United Kingdom, France, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, and Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country p ...

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 symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

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 a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

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

Charlton Charlton may refer to: People * Charlton (surname) * Charlton (given name) Places Australia * Charlton, Queensland * Charlton, Victoria * Division of Charlton, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wales ...

in the

FA Women's League Cup The Women's League Cup, also known as the Subway Women's League Cup due to sponsorship reasons, 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 t ...

. 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 The 2005 AFC U-17 Women's Championship was the first instance of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship. It was held from 16 to 27 April 2005 in Namhae, South Korea. Venues Group stage Group A ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group B ---- - ...

, 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, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, 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 5 to 16 October 2007 at Chongqing in China. North Korea defeated Japan 1–0 in the final to become ...

, where South Korea finished fourth. In 2008, she was called up to represent South Korea at the

2008 EAFF Women's Football Championship The Second EAFF Women's Football Championship was a Football (soccer), football competition held from February 18 to February 24, 2008 in Chongqing, China. Japan women's national football team, Japan won the second edition by beating its opponent ...

, 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. * 8 ...

and at the 2008 Peace Queen Cup. 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 country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the

2010 Peace Queen Cup The 2010 Peace Queen Cup was the third and last edition of the Peace Queen Cup. It was held from 17 to 23 October 2010 in Suwon, South Korea. Venues Group stage Group A ---- ---- Group B ---- ---- Final Awards Goalscorers ...

final and was named the tournament's

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

. 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 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

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 Cit ...

. 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, Aus ...

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 Cup ...

, 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 (), officially known as the 17th Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014 (), were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded ...

, 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 f ...

, scoring a goal in a 2–2 draw with

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

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 *

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. Icheon D ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

International

Summer Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* Peace Queen Cup:

Individual

Top Scorer:

* Peace Queen Cup 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 youth international footballers South Korea women's under-20 international footballers South Korea women's international footballers South Korean expatriate women's 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 (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 Women's Century Club FISU World University Games gold medalists for South Korea Summer World University Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade 21st-century South Korean sportswomen