Park Eun-seon

Early years at Seoul WFC

Upon graduating from high school, Park received several offers from university football teams in Korea and clubs overseas but decided to join Seoul City WFC, with whom she was already training. The club offered her a salary of 35 million won, at the time the highest ever salary for a female footballer in South Korea. The Korea Women's Football Federation (KWFF) initially objected to Seoul's recruitment of Park due to rules stipulating that works teams could not sign high school players. However, Seoul manager Seo Jeong-ho argued that the KWFF had not been consistent with recruitment rules at the time of the club's foundation, and Park's father suggested that she may be forced to go overseas if not allowed to play at senior level in Korea. Eventually, Park joined Seoul City as planned, but was banned from KWFF competitions for two years. The ban was withdrawn in April 2006 after Park took legal action and fans filed a complaint with Korea's Human Rights Commission. In February 2007, it was reported that ahead of a training camp in Kunming, China, Park told team staff she wanted to quit playing football. Amid reports of a dispute between her and Seoul's coaching staff, Park did not join the team for the camp. This incident followed Park's suspension from the national team for similar unauthorised absences from training camps. Park's father said that she was suffering from poor mental health due to the pressure of playing football…

South Korea U-20

Park, having already made her senior debut, played for South Korea's U-20 team at the 2004 AFC U-19 Women's Championship, where she scored a hattrick in the final against China. Having scored a total of eight goals, Park was named tournament MVP. She also played at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship and the 2006 AFC U-19 Women's Championship.

South Korea

Park made her full international debut on 8 June 2003 at the 2003 AFC Women's Championship, becoming the youngest player ever to represent South Korea at senior level across both the men's and women's teams. She scored four goals in her debut match. Park was South Korea's top goalscorer at the tournament with seven goals in total, helping the team on their way to a third place finish, which secured South Korea qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time. Appearing at the 2003 tournament, Park was the youngest player to represent South Korea at a World Cup until Casey Phair broke her record in 2023. She was part of the South Korean squad that lifted the trophy on home soil at the 2005 EAFF Women's Cup. In 2006, Park was suspended from the national team for six months due to unauthorised absences from training camps on two separate occasions. She received her next call-up for South Korea in 2008, but declined the invitation on the basis that she had yet to physically and mentally recover following an ankle injury sustained the previous year. Ahead of the 2010 AFC…

Mostly playing as a centre forward, Park was known throughout her playing career for her powerful striking and ability to score goals both in open play and from set pieces. Standing at 182 cm, she was often one of the tallest players on the pitch and was valued for her success in aerial duels. Thanks to her height and physique she was able to physically dominate defenders, and for the South Korea national team she often worked in combination with Ji So-yun, by contrast known for her slight stature and agility. She has sometimes been referred to as "Park-latan", a nickname combining her name with that of Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Park was born in the southern city of Busan. As a child Park enjoyed sports, taking part in taekwondo classes and playing football with her brother and other local children. While attending Okjeong Middle School in Seoul, she participated in an athletics competition where she was noticed by a sports coach from Changdeok Girls' Middle School. The coach suggested she pursue football more seriously, so she transferred to Changdeok, where there was a girls' football team. She continued to play while attending Wirye I.C.T. High School and was already playing for South Korea's senior national team by the time she graduated.