Pak Ji-sung: biography and photo of the football player

Pak Ji-sung is one of the most famous South Korean players in history. It was he who was part of the South Korean team, which in 2002 was able to break into the semi-finals of the World Championship, having overcome such titans as Portugal, Spain and Italy. However, many know him precisely for this bright performance, but after all, the player's career was developing not only from this tournament. He also had a vibrant club life, and he was able to achieve impressive results with various clubs. So, if you are wondering how the club career developed, then this material will tell you about which clubs and how successfully Pak Ji-sung managed to play.

Carier start

In South Korea, football is not the most popular sport - even now there are just starting to open numerous academies, where young players can try to reveal their talent. What can we say about such a player as Pak Ji-sung, who was born in the early eighties. Naturally, his talent in football was noticed, and he nevertheless found himself in the academy of the local club "Mengzhi", but one can not say that his abilities there developed very much. In 1999, after attaining his majority, Ji Sung seriously thought about playing at a professional level, which he could not achieve at Mengzhi, the university team. Therefore, in January 2000, Park Ji-sung signed his first professional contract, becoming a player of the club "Kyoto Sanga".

Flowering in "Kyoto"

Park Ji-sung, being still quite young, did not immediately get a place at the base in the club - he gradually went out to replace and a couple of times even appeared on the field from the first minutes. But in his first professional season he was able to play only in 16 games, scoring one goal. However, the player's progress was more than obvious, so next year he became one of the key figures on the football field.

Unlike the previous year, Pak Ji-sung played as many as forty matches, scoring three goals in them. The next season began for him even better - in the first half of the year he played 29 matches and pinned eight goals, although he played in the position of not an attacker, but an attacking midfielder. And so, the moment of the World Championship of 2002 came in which the football player took part, flashing the brightest of all. Naturally, this did not go unnoticed, and immediately after the World Cup ended, the Korean was showered with proposals from European clubs that would like to see him in their composition.

Moving to Europe

Pak Ji-sung, photos of which began to appear in all sports magazines, was one of the main transfer goals of that year. But he still finished the season for his Korean club, after which he made a reasonable move - signed a contract with the Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. He understood that if he immediately went to the top club, he could sit there all the time on the bench. Footballer first decided to prove that he can play not only in Korea, but for this he needed a starting step. And in January 2003, he moved to PSV, where he gradually recruited the form, playing for the remaining six months of 9 matches. But already from the next season he became the player of the base, going on the field in forty games and scoring six goals.

The following season became even more successful - after all in the first year in PSV Ji Sung managed to win the local championship, but here in the second season the trophy slipped from the club. Therefore, the season 04/05 became outstanding, as Pak played 44 games, scored eleven goals and won together with the club not only the trophy of the Dutch Championship, but also the Dutch Cup. He definitely reached the peak of his career, everyone in Europe admitted that Pak Ji-sung is a world-class football player. Therefore, no one was surprised that in the summer of 2005 he moved to one of the strongest clubs in Europe.

Going to Manchester United

It was a real upgrade for a player like Pak Ji-sung. His biography began in a university team with no special prospects, and by the age of 24 he was already in Manchester United. The club bought it for seven million euros, paying two million more than PSV Eindhoven three years ago. And in the first season Korean talent immediately won a place in the basis, he played in forty-five matches, scoring two goals in them. Of course, in a third of them he came out of the bench, but for him it was an impressive result. However, the next season turned out not so impressive - the player did not get into the application and played only 20 matches, although he raised his performance and scored five goals.

The problem was that he began to suffer injuries, because of which he missed a lot. The knee let him down every time, and only in the season of 08/09 he was able to play more or less fully a whole year. But after that the recession began - three years ago Pak Ji-sung, whose goals still excited the minds of the fans, played for Manchester, but at the same time appeared on the field two times less often than usual. In total, he gave this club seven years of his career, won the English Championship four times, won the League Cup three times, four times won the FA Cup, and in 2008 even won the most prestigious football tournament, the Champions League, with the "manki". But after three seasons, in which Pak received half as many gaming practices as before, he decided to change club registration. Two million euros for him agreed to give another English club, CRC.

A new beginning

When Pak moved to the CRC, he was already 31 years old, that is, the football player was at sunset. Nevertheless, he began the season very vigorously, immediately receiving a captain's armband. But already in October, after only ten matches played, Pak again suffered a knee injury - as a result he was treated for a long time, after returning he could not gain a foothold in the base and, after playing 15 more matches before the end of the season, left the club on loan.

Rent in PSV

At the age of 32, a Korean football player returned to where he started his career in European football. For his first team, he played 27 more matches, scoring two goals. Such a small number of games was due to another injury received, so when Pak returned a year later from the lease to the CRC, he announced that he was completing his professional career as a football player. But he did not tie with football - Zhi Sung returned to Manchester United, where he is now a global ambassador.