Yoon Do-young

Yoon Do-young was born on 28 October 2006, in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.^[1][2] He began playing football at Suji Junior FC when he was a first grade elementary school student. He later moved to Daejeon after being scouted by the under-15 team of Daejeon Hana Citizen.^[2] He scored 10 goals in 20 matches when he helped it win its first title at the middle school division of the K League Junior in 2021.^[2][3] After the club went on to win two additional youth championships that year, he was credited for playing a key role in the team's three domestic titles.^[1]

Yoon enrolled at Chungnam Mechanical Technical High School, which had the under-18 club of Daejeon Hana Citizen.^[2] While playing at the high school division of the K League Junior, he executed a hat-trick in the fifth round of Group B, followed by the club's first victory of the season with a final score of 6–0.^[4] He scored the winning goal in a 3–2 win over Yuseong Bio Science Technology High School, which allowed his high school to represent Daejeon at the high school competition of the Korean National Sports Festival.^[5]

Daejeon Hana Citizen

Yoon signed a semi-professional contract (a small-scale contract with a youth team player) with Daejeon Hana Citizen for the 2024 K League 1 season, being known as the second semi-professional player at the club behind Ahn Tae-yoon [ko].^[6] He made his first senior appearance on 25 May in a match against Ulsan HD, named the youngest player to debut in the club's history at 17 years, 6 months and 27 days.^[7] On 16 August, he became the club's first professional player to be promoted from a semi-professional player.^[8] On 1 September, he scored his first senior goal in the first 50 seconds of a match against Gwangju FC,^[9] becoming one of three high school students who scored at the K League 1 that year alongside Yang Min-hyeok and Kang Ju-hyeok.^[9]

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 21 March 2025, Daejeon Hana Citizen and Brighton & Hove Albion announced Yoon's transfer to Brighton. He signed a five-year contract from July 2025 to June 2030 with the Premier League club.^[10][11]

As an under-17 international, Yoon represented South Korea at the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup and the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup.^[12][13] He scored one left-footed goal and one right-footed goal against Afghanistan in a Group B match of the U-17 Asian Cup.^[14] While helping South Korea reach the U-17 Asian Cup final, he and Kim Myung-jun both had four goals and one assist each.^[15] The two players finished as the second top goalscorers of the tournament after losing 3–0 to Japan in the final.^[2][16][17]

Yoon has been utilized as a right winger or attacking midfielder.^[2][6] He is a left-footed player and his dribbling and touch has been compared to Lee Kang-in in South Korea.^[1] Before the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA selected him as one of five Asian talents, describing him as "a skilful dribbler who boasts the ability to contribute vital goals with his cultured left foot in a similar vein to Arjen Robben".^[18] By comparison, the assessments of his speed are not identical to each other. Jung Ji-hun, a journalist of FourFourTwo Korea, praised his speed,^[19] whereas himself and his international teammate Baek Ga-on [ko] did not.^[1]

Yoon cited Lionel Messi as one of his role models in addition to compatriots Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in.^[1][19]

As of match played 14 March 2026^[20][21]

South Korea U17

• AFC U-17 Asian Cup runner-up: 2023^[20]

Individual

• K League All-Star: 2024^[22]