Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Casey Phair name="ESPNprofile"/> | ||
Date of birth | [1] | 29 June 2007||
Place of birth | South Korea | ||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1] | ||
Position(s) | Striker | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Angel City FC | ||
Number | 9 | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2024– | Angel City FC | 0 | (0) |
International career‡ | |||
2023– | South Korea U-17 | 2 | (5) |
2023– | South Korea | 5 | (4) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 01:56, 25 February 2024 (UTC) |
Casey Yu-Jin Phair (Korean: 케이시 유진 페어;[2] born 29 June 2007) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward for NWSL club Angel City FC and the South Korea national team. She was the youngest player to ever feature in a FIFA Women's World Cup, having made her debut in the tournament in 2023 at the age of 16 years and 26 days old.[3][4]
A Korean American who lives in New Jersey, United States, Phair was the first multiracial footballer to ever receive a call-up to the South Korea women's national team.[3][4] She is also one of very few footballers to have been capped by a high-level senior national team before having ever played professionally for any club.
Phair was born in South Korea to an American father and South Korean mother.[3][5][6] Her family moved to the United States when she was one month old.[6] Formerly residing in Exeter, New Hampshire,[6] she then moved to Warren Township, New Jersey, where she subsequently started playing soccer at the Pingry School, and training at the Players Development Academy (PDA) in New Jersey.[5][7][8]
Following her strong FIFA Women's World Cup performance, Phair trialed with the her local NWSL club, NJ/NY Gotham FC, as well as the Kansas City Current and Angel City FC.[9] On 18 January 2024, Angel City announced that they had signed Phair to a three year deal. She is the youngest player ever to sign with the club.[10]
Phair played for the South Korea under-17 team before she was called up to the senior team for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.[3] She helped the under-17 team qualify for the 2024 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup, scoring two goals against Tajikistan and three goals against Hong Kong.[5]
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 on 25 July 2023;[11] the distinction had been previously held by Ifeanyi Chiejine.[12][13] 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.[14] Phair played in all three of South Korea's group stage matches and went on to make her first start in the team's final match against Germany, which ended in a 1–1 draw.[15]
On 26 October 2023, Phair scored her first senior goal, as well as her first hat-trick, in a 10–1 win over Thailand in the second round of the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament:[16][17] 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,[16][17] behind only Ji So-yun.[17] 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.[17]
National Team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
South Korea | 2023 | 4 | 3 |
2024 | 1 | 1 | |
Total | 5 | 4 |
No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 26 October 2023 | Xiamen Egret Stadium, Xiamen, China | Thailand | 1–0 | 10–1 | 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament | [16][17] |
2 | 6–0 | [16][17] | |||||
3 | 7–0 | [16][17] | |||||
4 | 24 February 2024 | Cidade do Futebol, Oeiras, Portugal | Czech Republic | 2–0 | 2–1 | Friendly | [18] |