We finally have an answer after years of rumors and speculation: earlier today, 8/11/2025, FIFA approved Jens Castrop’s request to switch international allegiance to South Korea.
Who is Jens Castrop?
In short, he is a recently-turned 22-year-old central midfielder (formerly right back) of German-South Korean heritage. Through his mother, Castrop has always been eligible to represent South Korea, but Germany got to him first, having called him up at the U16-U21 level between 2018-2025. He recently transferred to Borussia Monchengladbach after 3.5 years at FC Nürnberg. Before that he was brough up through the academy at FC Koln.
Wait what about military service?
Any Korean male has to undergo compulsory military service. With dual nationals and “second generation Koreans” it’s a bit more complicated, and as we’ve never had a mixed-race footballer play for the KNT, there is some grey area at the moment. But Castrop reportedly strongly wants to represent the KNT over Germany, and he is fully aware that if he opts for the KNT (which he did) and he gets called up, he will likely have to go through exemption routes just like everyone else.
Fortunately for Castrop there are plenty of opportunities, such as the next two Asian Games and the Olympics in 2028. In September 2026 when the Asian Games kick off he will be 23, making him not take up a vital wild card spot (although there aren’t any obvious candidates for the wild card spot right now as most of our NT-relevant footballers already have exemption).
Random thought, but I do wonder if this might pave the way for Marvin Park of Las Palmas? Born in Spain to a Nigerian father and a Korean mother, Marvin came through the Real Madrid Castilla and made some senior team appearances in 2020-2021, but has not cracked the starting XI at Las Palmas since their promotion last season, and as a R winger, is competing for a much more difficult spot on the KNT than Jens Castrop. I would not place much hope on Marvin Park making the switch like Castrop.
How does he fit in our system?
For the past 1-2 years, the media has increasingly been covering Jens Castrop’s situation with Jurgen Klinsmann and Hong Myung Bo both monitoring his performances in Europe.
For us KNT fans, he is certainly a very exciting prospect. Jens Castrop offers something no other Korean midfielder does – aggression and workrate in the midfield. He’s not quite a DM like Park Yong Woo or Kwon Hyeok Kyu but he’s not quite a CM like Hwang In Beom or Kim Jin Kyu or Paik Seung Ho either. In my impression of his BL2 games he’s slightly more similar to Vidal or Khedira – a fighter-type enforcer in midfield, an archetype that we never had access to until now. And I guarantee you no Korean midfielder recently called up to the KNT plays like this. Castrop also played RB during his youth days, and us KNT fans all know we are desperately missing depth in the DM and RB departments (especially the former), and Jens Castrop would be a huge improvement over the aging and error prone Jung Woo Young and Park Yong Woo. The rise of Seol Young Woo and potentially Hwang Jae Won (who may transfer to Europe this summer) has eased our RB woes to some extent but outside of a recently resurgent Kwon Hyeok Kyu over in France, we are sorely lacking in that position. I have watched a few Nurnberg games here and there out of interest, and in my opinion Jens Castrop deserves to be called up soon. Depending on how well he does at Monchengladbach, he’s probably even a strong contender to start. That being said Hong Myung Bo is a bit weird with player selections, having always prioritized loyalty and past performances over current form, and I am slightly worried we will keep seeing Park Yong Woo in the near future.
Hong Myung Bo’s reactions to Castrop’s situation have been mixed. He said that he’s “impressed” but has also expressed that he is not yet ready to play for the South Korean national team. Which I personally do not agree with given how awful our DM candidates have been the past few years.
Rumor has it he will be called up to the September friendlies, but we will see – much depends on his form over in Germany, Hong’s preferences, and in my view, how well Kwon plays at Nantes (and as always, it’s a good start – let’s just hope he isn’t injured a third time in a row). But either way, his eligibility for us is huge and a very welcome development. Our KPA list will be updated, as well as the list of players I will personally be following very closely.
Join in the Tavern's conversations -Leave a comment...