Who is Hwang In-beom and how he plays, midfielder bound for FC Porto | OneFootball

FC Porto are on the verge of securing Hwang In-beom, a 29-year-old South Korean midfielder who has represented Feyenoord over the last two seasons. With his arrival at the Dragão seemingly imminent, it is worth understanding who the player is and why Francesco Farioli wants to work with him.

Born on 20 September 1996 in Daejeon, South Korea, the midfielder has had a truly globetrotter career path. He developed as a footballer at Daejeon Citizen, his hometown club, where he also took his first steps as a professional, before beginning a career marked by several moves abroad.

That same year, he was part of the South Korea side that won the Asian Games. That triumph allowed him to avoid completing the full mandatory military service. Hwang served only half of the period with Asan Mugunghwa, the now-defunct national police team, which allowed players to keep competing while carrying out their service.

Already a full international, he made his debut for the senior national team under Paulo Bento in a friendly against Costa Rica. Hwang In-beom’s development under the Portuguese coach earned him the nickname ‘Bento’s prince’, an expression the former manager explained to A BOLA as a “natural joke” within the group.

In 2019, Hwang left South Korea and moved to Vancouver Whitecaps, the Canadian club that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS). His move into European football came the following year, when he signed for Russia’s Rubin Kazan. After a brief loan spell at FC Seoul, he returned to his home country, then moved to Greece and joined Olympiacos.

At the Piraeus club, he worked with another Portuguese coach, Pedro Martins. After a season in which he recorded five goals and four assists, he moved to Serbia. It was at Red Star, in Belgrade, that he gained greater prominence: he shone in 2023/24 and began the following season with five assists in just seven games. Feyenoord tracked his performances and moved to sign him for a fee never officially disclosed, but estimated at between seven and eight million euros.

In Rotterdam, Hwang played 54 matches over two seasons, scored four goals and also had a hand in six others. Although he is under contract with the Dutch club until 2028, the strong World Cup he had — he was decisive in South Korea’s only win in the competition, against Czechia — combined with FC Porto’s interest, could lead him to a new chapter in European football.

A different profile from Froholdt, but one to Farioli’s liking

Francesco Farioli knows Hwang In-beom from his time in charge of Ajax. In the Netherlands, the Italian coach faced the South Korean international several times, when he was playing for rivals Feyenoord.

At 29, the midfielder offers different characteristics from Froholdt and also does not fit the profile of Seko Fofana, who took on a role similar to the Dane’s in the second half of 2025/26. Even so, as happened with the Ivorian in January, this is a signing designed to deliver immediate results: Hwang is at a stage of full maturity and offers Farioli guarantees.

In Paulo Bento’s words to A BOLA, Hwang In-beom is capable of performing different roles in central midfield, able to play as a “number 10 in a 4x2x3x1 or as part of a double pivot”. Although he does not stand out for his physical ability, he fully commits himself to the tasks assigned to him and is “aggressive when it comes to going into duels”.

The former Portugal manager also drew, with the necessary distinctions, a comparison with a player well known to Porto fans: João Moutinho. The possible arrival of the South Korean would therefore add a different option to the Dragons’ midfield, above all because of his ability to control the tempo and the more measured way in which he reads the game.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.