Jeong Woo-yeong and Freiburg chase DFB-Pokal glory

SC Freiburg's Jeong Woo-yeong, right, in action against FC Union Berlin's Paul Jaeckel in a Bundesliga match in Europa Park Stadion in Freiburg, Germany on May 7. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

SC Freiburg's Jeong Woo-yeong is the only male Korean footballer in Europe that could still lift a trophy at the end of the season, with the final of Germany's DFB-Pokal Cup to be held on Saturday.

This season, Freiburg reached the final of the DFB-Pokal for the first time in the club's history and will face RB Leipzig on Saturday.

With Son Heung-min's Tottenham Hotspur competing for fourth place and Hwang Hee-chan's Wolverhampton Wolves in eighth place in the Premier League, Kim Min-jae's Fenerbahce stuck in second in the Super Lig, Hwang Ui-jo's Bordeaux in Ligue 1 and Lee Kang-in's Mallorca in La Liga both fighting relegation and the Bundesliga season finished, Jeong is now the only male Korean footballer still in with a chance of getting his hands on some silverware.

On Jan. 19, Freiburg reached the quarterfinals in the DFB-Pokal, beating TSG Hoffenheim 4-1 with Vincenzo Grifo bagging a brace along with goals from Kevin Schade and Ermedin Demirovic.

In the quarterfinals held on March 2, Freiburg beat Vfl Bochum with two goals from Nils Petersen and Ronald Sallai to advance to the semifinals, where they beat Hamburger SV 3-1 to advance to the finals for the first time in the club's history.

However, Freiburg haven't enjoyed much luck in the competition in the past.

On April 17, 2013 when Freiburg first reached the semifinals, they lost 2-1 to Stuttgart and were knocked out of contention for the trophy.

In the last 10 seasons, Freiburg have failed to make it past the second round on five occasions. Last season, Freiburg lost to Stuttgart 1-0 in the second round.

Jeong has played all of Freiburg's five DFB-Pokal matches, starting in three and being substituted on in the other two.

During the regular season, Jeong scored five goals in 32 appearances with the club, outpacing last season's four goals in 26 appearances. Two weeks ago on May 1, Jeong scored Freiburg's winning goal in a 4-3 victory against Hoffenheim.

At the time, that victory put Freiburg in fourth place in the standings, but the team dropped their last two matches 4-1 to Union Berlin and 2-1 to Leverkusen to finish their season in sixth place and earn a spot in next year's Europa Conference League.

Jeong's European career started in 2017, when he was signed by Bayern Munich from Incheon United. He appeared predominantly for the youth and reserve teams, making a single appearance for the German club in a UEFA Champions League game in November 2018.

At the start of 2019, Freiburg announced that they had signed Jeong to a four-year deal. He made just one appearance for his new club before being loaned straight back to Bayern Munich, where he slotted right back into the reserve team.

It wasn't until the last two seasons that Jeong started to become a regular first team fixture at Freiburg.

The DFB-Pokal final will take place on Saturday at Olympiastadion Berlin in Berlin.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]