Kim Min-jae (Korean: 김민재; born 15 November 1996) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the South Korea national team.
After starting out at semi-professional club Gyeongju KHNP for half a year, Kim went on to play for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, where he won two K League 1 titles for two years before transferring to Beijing Guoan in 2019. After two-and-half years at the Chinese Super League, he joined Süper Lig side Fenerbahçe in 2021, and Serie A side Napoli in 2022. He was considered one of the best defenders in the world while helping Napoli win a Serie A title in the 2022–23 season. Then, in July 2023, he moved to Bayern Munich for €50 million, making him the most expensive Asian player of all time.
Kim is a South Korean international, having progressed from under-20 onwards. He represented the national team at the 2022 and 2026 FIFA World Cups and two editions of the AFC Asian Cup.
Kim was born in Tongyeong. Both of his parents are former athletes and his brother was also a footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Myongji University.
Kim embarked on his youth football career with the football club of Tongyeong Elementary School. He later transferred to Gaya Elementary School in Haman and graduated from there. He entered Yeoncho Middle School and Suwon Technical High School which has produced many international footballers such as Park Ji-sung.
After he graduated from high school in 2015, he went on to Yonsei University. In July 2016, when he was in his second year, he dropped out of school to fulfill his dream of making his professional debut, although the school tried to dissuade him.
Kim joined semi-professional club Gyeongju KHNP on 1 July 2016, and participated in the Korea National League from the middle of the 2016 season. Kim played 15 matches for KHNP until the end of the regular season, leading his team to the play-offs. On 2 November, Kim played the quarter-final game of the play-offs for 78 minutes, contributing to a 2–0 victory over Changwon City. On 5 November, KHNP drew 1–1 with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in the semi-final, but were not able to advance to the final due to a lower rank in the regular season standings.
On 22 December 2016, Kim joined K League club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on a free transfer. Jeonbuk manager Choi Kang-hee expressed his expectancy about him during the pre-season training camps in Dubai, and used him as a key player from the beginning.
Kim made his debut goal for his career in a K League 1 match against Daegu FC on 25 June 2017. He scored his second goal for Jeonbuk against Gwangju FC with a mid-range volley on 19 August. He was ousted from the game against Sangju Sangmu for warnings accumulated on 20 September. On 15 October, it turned out that Kim suffered a semilunar valve injury and for this reason Kim had to have surgery in Japan, being unable to play remaining games of the season. With his performance, he was named the K League Young Player of the Year and nominated for a part of the K League Best XI, although he was shown nine yellow cards and one red card during 29 appearances.
Kim made his first AFC Champions League debut in a 3–2 victory over Kashiwa Reysol on 13 February 2018. Kim scored his first goal of the 2018 season with a header as well as showing strong defense in a K League 1 match against FC Seoul on 18 March, and was named the MVP of the week. Afterwards, he led Jeonbuk's defense to six consecutive clean sheets. Unfortunately, however, Kim suffered from a fibula injury in a match against Daegu FC on 2 May, absenting himself from the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
On 29 January 2019, Kim transferred to Beijing Sinobo Guoan. With his impressive defensive performance, Kim went on to play an integral role in Beijing's runner-up finish in the 2019 CSL Season.
In May 2020, Kim engendered controversy by expressing dissatisfaction about Beijing teammates' method of play in a YouTube channel, which was being operated by a South Korean football commentator, after his wedding in South Korea. At a similar time, he received intensive attention from a wide range of European clubs, and Tottenham Hotspur manager José Mourinho tried to recruit him. However, Tottenham didn't want to pay more than €5 million for Kim, and it failed to negotiate with Beijing, which demanded €10 million.
Kim transferred to Fenerbahçe on 16 August 2021 with a transfer fee of €3 million and signed a 4-year contract.
Kim won the most number of unclaimed balls and won the most tackles among Fenerbahçe defenders in his first match for Fenerbahçe against Antalyaspor on 22 August. He made his European debut in the UEFA Europa League Group D match against Eintracht Frankfurt on 16 September. Two days after receiving his first red card in the Süper Lig against Trabzonspor on 17 October, Kim said "This was a first for me in my five-year career playing football at the highest level, I guess we have to have such experiences in Turkey." Kim led Fenerbahçe to a 2–1 victory by making the most passes and blocks in the Intercontinental Derby on 21 November, and was selected as the man of the match by Fenerbahçe fans with 76.3 percent of the votes. Kim scored his first goal for Fenerbahçe against Konyaspor on 20 March 2022. At the end of the 2021–22 season, International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), FIFA 22 and Opta Sports selected Kim for the Süper Lig Team of the Season.
On 27 July 2022, Kim signed for Serie A club Napoli for a reported fee of €18 million, as a replacement for Kalidou Koulibaly, who departed to join Chelsea. On 21 August, he scored his first goal for Napoli from a header in stoppage time during a 4–0 victory over Monza.
In his second month in Italy, he was named Serie A Player of the Month for September 2022. During a season at Napoli, Kim was an integral part of Napoli's victory to its third Serie A title in the 2022–23 season, the first one in nearly three decades, being named the Serie A Best Defender of the season. He was also evaluated as the best defender in Europe during the season, earning the most votes among defenders from European Sports Media and Ballon d'Or voting.
On 18 July 2023, Bundesliga club Bayern Munich announced that they had signed Kim on a deal until 30 June 2028. Bayern reportedly triggered a release clause in Kim's Napoli contract by paying €50 million (€58 million according to La Gazzetta dello Sport), and so Kim became the most expensive Asian footballer in history by surpassing Shoya Nakajima's transfer fee of €35 million. He is the second South Korean player to sign with the club, the first being Jeong Woo-yeong.
Kim scored his first goal for Bayern with a header as well as keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0 victory over VfB Stuttgart on 17 December. In the first half of the 2023–24 season, he was selected for Bundesliga's Best XI by fans, but magazine kicker criticised his inconsistent performance including his mistakes against 1. FC Saarbrücken, which eliminated Bayern from the DFB-Pokal. During the second half of the season, he frequently allowed the space behind him due to his inaccurate decisions, and manager Thomas Tuchel preferred Eric Dier and Matthijs de Ligt after pointing out that he did not follow the promised tactics. Tuchel criticised him openly once again after the UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, where he played instead of De Ligt.