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K League sees first foreign goalkeeper in 28 years
Portuguese goalkeeper Emanuel Novo / Yonhap
By Park Ung
1999 foreign goalkeeper ban ended last year amid league expansion and rising domestic wages
Emanuel Novo has become the Korea Professional Football League's (K League) first foreign goalkeeper in 28 years, a milestone that signals a growing openness in a role long closed to non-Korean athletes.
Yongin FC, named after its home city in Gyeonggi Province and set to enter the second-tier K League 2 this season, announced on Saturday that it had signed the Portuguese goalkeeper. The 33-year-old is also the K League’s first foreign goalkeeper since the league lifted its long-standing ban on foreign registrations at the position last June, a change that took effect this season.
Previously, Novo played in Portugal’s first and second divisions and has also competed in Romania and Saudi Arabia. Yongin FC cited his command of the air — aided by his 192-centimeter frame — as well as his strong communication with defenders.
“As the first goalkeeper to join the K League since the ban on foreign goalkeepers was lifted, I want to live up to that responsibility,” Novo said, adding that it was a great honor to join the team.
In 1999, after years of gradual curbs, the league barred the registration of foreign goalkeepers to nurture domestic athletes and ensure more playing time for Korean nationals.
The move followed years of heavy reliance on foreign goalkeepers, particularly from former Soviet states and Eastern Europe, who were widely viewed as cost-effective.
One notable example is Valeri Sarychev, a goalkeeper from Tajikistan who later became a naturalized Korean citizen in 2000 under the name Shin Eui-son. He joined Ilhwa Chunma — now Seongnam FC — in 1992 and helped lead the club to three consecutive league titles from 1993 to 1995.
Valeri Sarychev, a former goalkeeper born in Tajikistan who later became a naturalized Korean with the name Shin Eui-son, poses at Cheonan Sports Complex in South Chungcheong Province, March 20, 2024. He was among the foreign goalkeepers who played in Korea during the 1990s. Korea Times file
That policy shifted in June last year, when the league’s board voted to open the goalkeeper position to foreign players beginning with the 2026 season, citing league expansion and sharply rising goalkeeper salaries.
With the league now expanded to 29 clubs this year across K League 1 and K League 2 — up from a maximum of 10 teams in the 1990s — the board determined that opening the goalkeeper position would not limit opportunities for domestic players.
The board also cited salary distortions, saying that restrictions on the position had pushed wage growth for domestic goalkeepers far above that of field players.
Although the league does not release official data on position-based salary growth or league-wide wage tables, it revealed summary figures last week, including average pay per player and the top five earners.
Those figures put the average annual salary in K League 1 at about 311 million won ($215,000), with domestic players earning 237 million won.
Among the top five earners last year, Ulsan HD goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo ranked third at 1.46 billion won — about six times the domestic players’ average. In 2024, Jo topped all domestic players, earning 1.49 billion won.
Experts say the policy’s repeal reflects a broader trend.
Football commentator Park Moon-sung said lifting position-based restrictions on foreign players was inevitable in the long run because they run counter to the principle of free competition in sports.
Park added that with far more clubs than in the past, opportunities to develop domestic goalkeepers have expanded, and that greater competition ultimately strengthens the league.