{"id":558500,"date":"2026-07-20T05:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T05:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/558500\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T05:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T05:23:08","slug":"squid-game-actress-jung-ho-yeon-makes-surprise-world-cup-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/558500\/","title":{"rendered":"Squid Game actress Jung Ho-yeon makes surprise World Cup appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SEOUL \u2013 Actress Hoyeon, who starred in Netflix\u2019s blockbuster series Squid Game, made an unexpected appearance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup final on July 19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">She is the first South Korean actor to participate in a World Cup final ceremony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/sport\/football\/spain-win-second-world-cup-after-1-0-extra-time-win-over-defending-champs-argentina?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\">final World Cup match between Argentina and Spain<\/a> at the New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Hoyeon, whose full Korean name is Jung Ho-yeon, walked onto the pitch alongside Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz, carrying the World Cup trophy in a specially designed Louis Vuitton case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The pair presented the trophy as part of the Trophy Trunk Ceremony, a symbolic event in which the championship trophy is brought onto the field in a custom-made case and unveiled before kick-off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Hoyeon was selected for the role because of her position as a global ambassador for Louis Vuitton, which produced the official trophy trunk for the 2026 tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The French fashion house has created the World Cup trophy\u2019s official travel case since the 2010 tournament in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Hoyeon rose to global fame through her role as North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok in Squid Game in 2021. She has since expanded her career across acting and fashion, establishing herself as one of South Korea\u2019s most prominent global stars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">She recently made her Korean film debut in director Na Hong-jin\u2019s Hope, playing a character named Seong-ae. The film surpassed two million admissions within three days of its release in South Korea, the fastest any film has reached the milestone in the country in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Although South Korea did not make it to the round of 32, Korean stars still left their mark on the World Cup final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">While Hoyeon\u2019s appearance came as a surprise, BTS took the stage in a highly anticipated performance as a co-headliner for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/sport\/madonna-shakira-bieber-and-the-muppets-light-up-world-cup-half-time-show?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\">first half-time show ever held during a FIFA World Cup final<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The group performed its global hit Dynamite, adapting the lyrics to include soccer-themed phrases such as \u201ckick the ball\u201d and \u201ca game of soccer\u201d. THE KOREA HERALD\/ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL \u2013 Actress Hoyeon, who starred in Netflix\u2019s blockbuster series Squid Game, made an unexpected appearance at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-558500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}