Seol Young-woo gets first goal for Red Star Belgrade with long shot opener

The 25-year-old Korean fullback scored his first goal for Red Star Belgrade in their 4-1 victory over Novi Pazar Saturday in his second league appearance for the club.

Red Star Belgrade's Seol Young-woo reacts after scoring in a match against Novi Pazar on Saturday at Red Star Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia in a photo shared to the official Red Star Belgrade Instagram account. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Korean footballer Seol Young-woo scored his first goal for Red Star Belgrade in their 4-1 victory over Novi Pazar Saturday in his second league appearance for the club.

Seol got things off to a quick start for the home side at Red Star Stadium and scored the opener in the ninth minute, reacting quickly to a pass from the right.

The 25-year-old fullback took a long shot from the center of the pitch, still strides away from the edge of the box, and sent the ball past the line of defenders and into the bottom left corner to put Red Star up 1-0.

And Red Star beat the visitors 4-1, with the rest of the scoring action by both sides happening in the second half. Red Star are leading the league as of press time with three wins and one draw and more goals scored than No. 2 Cukaricki.

Seol traded in his domestic career for an international one in June, leaving Ulsan HD in the middle of the K League 1 season. He had been recovering from shoulder surgery when the transfer deal went through.

His first goal came in his second Superliga appearance, having played the full 90 minutes in last week's 4-0 win over Tekstilac.

Red Star is Seol's first club as an international, but he's no stranger to the international stage. He has 16 caps for the senior Korean national team, recording an assist during the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and another in a qualifier for the 2026 World Cup.

Fellow Korean footballer Hwang In-beom also played on Saturday in Belgrade, clocking 90 minutes. The defensive midfielder is in his second year with Red Star after joining the club in the middle of the 2023-24 season and helped lead them to both the Serbian Cup and Superliga titles. Hwang has yet to score a goal this season.

Red Star next face Cukaricki on Thursday at Cukaricki Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]