Soccer Around the World

History of Soccer in Asia

Soccer in Korea
In Korea, the most popular sport is soccer. Everyone loves it. Everyone’s a fan. Everyone has a favorite player. The Korean soccer team was first started by the Joseon Football Association on September 19, 1933. Then, on September 4, 1948, the national team was reorganized. In London, Korea competed in the Olympics for the first time in 1984. Back in 1954, Korea competed for the World Cup in Switzerland. After that, Korea’s soccer team has traveled to Mexico, Italy, France, and the United States for the World Cup with little success. However, in the Korea-Japan World Cup, Korea ranked fourth in the world (Kim and Al-hajeri).
Some of the best known players of the Korean soccer team include Hong Myung Bo, Hwang Sun Hong, and Ahn Jung Hwan. Hong Myung Bo is known as “the best player in Asia” (Kim and Al-hajeri). He first earned recognition when scoring in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. In 1997, he transferred to Japan’s J-League. Then, in 2000, Hong Myung Bo was the first Korean in J-League (Kim and Al-hajeri).
Out of the three, Hwang Sun Hong is the most inexperienced. In 1944, he was dubbed Most Valuable J-League Player. As well as topping the J-League scoring standards, Hwang Sun Hong was a candidate for the Asian Player of the Year award (Kim and Al-hajeri).
Ahn Jung Hwan grew in popularity as part of the K-League. Later, he joined Italian Club Perugia. Unfortunately, he struggled on the team. Then, in 2002, Korea hosted the World Cup along with Japan (Kim and Al-hajeri).
The Korean national soccer team is made up of twenty-three players. The team used to practice in Wool-San and Je-Judo. Then, Korean players joined leagues such as the Asian K-League, J-League, and the World Cup. Korea’s coach, Guss Hiddink, used to be the head of Ajax, the Netherlands professional soccer team. During Guss Hiddink’s time with Ajax, Korea’s coach was Cha Bum Gum and lost to Ajax. Today, Guss Hiddink is a popular coach for the Korean national team (Kim and Al-hajeri).

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Works Cited:

Kim and Al-hajeri, Choyeon and Mansour. "The Korean National Soccer Team." Culture Capsules: People, Places, and Processes. 07 May 2002. 2 Mar 2009 <http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/culturecapsules2002/kimweb/kim.html>.