South Korea’s national midfielder Hwang In-beom finally appeared in Feyenoord uniform, one of the most prestigious in the Netherlands.
Feyenoord announced the recruitment of Hwang In-beom on the club’s official website on the 3rd (Korea Standard Time).
“Hwang In-beom was recruited to reinforce the midfield. We signed a four-year contract,” the club said on its website. “Hwang In-beom shared his impression on joining the team. Uro Spic, a teammate of (former club) Tsurvena Zvezda, said, “The right decision is for me to go to Feyenoord. Feyenoord is the biggest club in my career,” he said. “I heard that the stadium fills up every home game. It’s a big club in Europe, and I want to stay here for a long time. I’m happy and I want to show good performance to my fans.”
Feyenoord introduced Hwang In-beom’s journey by circling the globe and drawing a line with his announcement of joining the team.
Having started his professional career in Daejeon, Hwang also played in Canada, Russia, Greece and Serbia. At the age of 28, he finally joined Feyenoord, one of the big clubs in Western Europe.
Hwang will wear his uniform number 4 at Feyenoord. The transfer fee is unknown, but according to Serbian media, Hwang reportedly recorded the highest transfer fee of around 10 million euros (14.5 billion won), the highest in the club’s history.
Feyenoord, who finished second in the Netherlands’ Eredivisie last season and advanced to the UEFA Champions League finals in the 2024-25 season, sought to recruit Hwang In-beom to reinforce the midfield ahead of the transfer market deadline.
Feyenoord competed with Ajax, the Netherlands’ most prestigious Eredivisie and the same Eredivisie for Hwang In-beom, and succeeded in embracing Hwang In-beom by paying more than Ajax.
Unlike the big league, the Dutch league transfer market will be open until the 2nd. Hwang In-beom will sign with Feyenoord by joining the buzzer beater, which will be signed before the transfer market closes.
Hwang In-beom, born in 1996, is one of the representative midfielders of Korean soccer. Making his professional debut with the K League Daejeon Hana Citizen in 2015, he won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, solving military service issues, paving the way for his overseas expansion.
Hwang In-beom moved to Vancouver Whitecaps, a Canadian-based team of the U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS), in 2019, and made his overseas expansion. The following year, he moved to Rubin Kazan, Russia, took his first step on the European stage, and changed his team back to the prestigious Olympiacos in Greece in the summer of 2022.
In the 2022-2023 season, Hwang had a successful year for Olympiakos, scoring five goals and four assists in 40 games, but failed to lift the trophy as his team finished third in the league. Having performed well on the Greek stage, he left Olympiakos for the first time in a year to join FK Tsurvena Zvezda, Serbia’s top prestigious club.
Zvezda was the birthplace of star players who led Yugoslavia’s soccer heyday in the 1990s. Other well-known players such as Sinisa Mykhailovic, who famously played long-distance free kicks, Dragan Stojkovic, who served as coach of the Japanese J-League as the best technician in Eastern Europe, and Dejan Savicevic, who dominated the era as a key striker in AC Milan, succeeded through Zvezda.
It is also well known as the team that had the most splendid period in Eastern Europe, not just Serbia, as it won the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) in 1991. Although not as much as it used to be, it has maintained its status as a prestigious club that has consistently participated in UEFA club competitions on behalf of Serbia.
Zvezda has decided to pay the highest transfer fee for his club in order to recruit Hwang. Last summer, Zvezda paid 5.5 million euros for Hwang’s transfer fee to Olympiacos, and Hwang signed a four-year contract with Zvezda.
Hwang continued to display stellar performances on new stages as well. Although it was his debut season, Hwang played in 35 matches and scored six goals and seven assists in all competitions he played for Zvezda last season, achieving double-digit offensive points.
In addition, Hwang played in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in his career with Zvezda. In the UEFA Champions League group stage last season, Hwang played 533 minutes in all six matches as a starter, showing his capabilities to European big clubs.
Thanks to Hwang In-beom’s performance, Zvezda became the champion of the league, and achieved the Serbian Super League title for seven consecutive years. Hwang In-beom, who lifted the trophy for the first time since entering Europe, also won the Serbian Cup and achieved a double. He also won the league MVP award in his debut season.
His outstanding performance led to rumors of his transfer. He reportedly watched Hwang in various big leagues including Wolverhampton, Hwang Hee-chan’s team, Crystal Palace (England), Real Betis (Spain), and Einracht Frankfurt (Germany).
When the possibility of Hwang’s transfer increased, Serbian media “Mozart Sports” also said, “The question is whether there was a better foreign player than Hwang in Zvezda in the 21st century. It was a miracle that Hwang came to Serbia. Any soccer player with such qualities should have played in the best competition a long time ago.” 스포츠토토
However, no team had offered to recruit Hwang in detail until the closing date of the transfer window. When Hwang was highly likely to stay, Ajax and Feyenoord in the Netherlands knocked on Zvezda’s door ahead of the closing date of the transfer window.
Dutch media “Bootball Premier” said on Monday that Ajax and Feyenoord are competing for Hwang In-beom. “The interest of Ajax and Feyenoord is specific. Zvezda is considering bidding for Ajax and Feyenoord.”
Although it is not the five major European leagues (English Premier League, Spain La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and French League 1), Korean soccer fans welcomed Hwang In-beom when the best prestigious clubs in the Netherlands targeted him.
Ajax is one of the most prestigious clubs in European soccer history. It is one of the three most prestigious in the Dutch league along with PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, and holds the record of most wins by winning the league with 36 titles alone. The Dutch Cup also had the most wins with 20 titles, and is the strongest in Europe
Wearing Feyenoord’s uniform, Hwang In-beom became the ninth Korean Leaguer in Eredivisie’s career in the Netherlands and the fourth Korean player in Feyenoord’s history.
Before Hwang In-beom, a total of eight Korean players (Song Jong-guk, Lee Chun-soo, Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo, Huh Jung-moo, Seok Hyun-jun, Roh Jung-yoon, and Kim Nam-il) advanced to the Netherlands. Among them, Song Jong-guk (2002-2005) and Lee Chun-soo (2007-2008) played in Feyenoord uniforms.
Kim also joined Feyenoord during the winter transfer window in 2003. Later, Kim immediately left for Excelsior on a six-month lease and signed a permanent transfer to Feyenoord after the loan period ended. However, as Feyenoord withdrew the offer after the loan period, Kim’s debut at Feyenoord fell through.
Hwang In-beom has finished joining Feyenoord, but he is currently on an A-match break, so his debut will take place after the A-match schedule ends in September.
Hwang was called up to the Korean national soccer team led by coach Hong Myung-bo ahead of an A-match schedule in September. During the A-match period in September, Hong will play the first and second rounds of the third preliminary round in Asia to advance to the 2026 World Cup finals against Palestine at Seoul World Cup Stadium on September 5 and Oman at Sultan Qaboos Stadium in Oman on September 10.