Past Korean Players Overseas

Cha Bum-keun is widely recognised as the greatest footballer Asia has ever produced, and he made that name for himself in the German Bundesliga. Cha initially joined SV Darmstadt but six months later he was on the move to Eintracht Frankfurt. He picked up the UEFA Cup trophy in the 1979/80 season, and would go on to win that trophy again in 1988 with Bayer Leverkusen. During his time in Germany he played 308 games and scored 98 goals, at that time a record achievement for a foreign player in the Bundesliga.

Also joining Cha in Europe around that time was Huh Jung-moo, who played at PSV Eindhoven from 1980 to 1983. Kim Nam-il also had a spell in Holland with Excelsior after the 2002 World Cup. Song Chong-guk was another player who earned a move to Europe after the 2002 World Cup, signing with Dutch giants Feyenoord from Busan in 2002 where he spent two years before joining up with Suwon Samsung Bluewings for 2005.

Park Ji-sung became the first Korean to join an English Premiership side when he signed for Manchester United in 2005. The former PSV Eindhoven player, who played in Holland from 2003, was joined in England a month later by PSV teammate Lee Young-pyo, who moved to Tottenham Hostpur after having joined PSV in early 2003. Seol Ki-hyeon became the third player to join them in the Premiership when he moved to Reading in the summer of 2006. Seol, who joined up at Belgian side Antwerp from Kwangwoon University in 2000, impressed in his one season with the club and was snapped up by Anderlecht in 2001. Seol's oft-stated ambition of playing in England was realised in 2004 when he made the switch to Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers, and a string of great performances in an underachieving side caught the eye of several Premiership clubs. Seol made the move to Premiership newcomers Reading in the summer of 2006, and subsequently moved on to Fulham in the summer of 2007. A fourth Korean, Lee Dong-guk joined the Premiership after his early 2007 move to Middlesbrough. Lee had previously enjoyed a brief stay in the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen in 2001.

Lee Eul-yong made his first foray into Europe after his successful showing in the 2002 World Cup, with Trabsonspor paying Bucheon SK $1.5m for his services in late 2002. Lee spent one year in Turkey before returning to Korea with Anyang LG Cheetahs, however Trabsonspor were again to come calling for his services and in July 2004 he made the return trip to Turkey for $580,000. After two years in Turkey Lee returned to Korea to join former side Anyang in their current guise of FC Seoul.

Another Lee, Lee Chun-soo, became the first Korean player to play in Spain's Primera Liga when his transfer to Real Sociedad, a record signing for the Spaniards at $4m, went through in June 2003. Lee failed to impress with Sociedad and spent much of his time in Spain on loan to Numancia before returning to Korea. Lee joined his third European club in 2007 when he made a $2m switch from Ulsan to Dutch side Feyenoord.

Ahn Jung-hwan first moved abroad in the 2000/01 season, joining Italian club Perugia on loan from Busan I'cons at the start of the season and had his deal extended after initially impressing with the club. His golden goal against Italy prompted Perugia chairman Luciano Gaucci to 'sack' Ahn, and the Korean hero moved into Japanese football, firstly with Shimizu S-Pulse and latterly with Yokohama F. Marinos. He made the switch to French club Metz in the summer of 2005 after a flurry of interest from other European teams, but spent only six months there before moving to Duisburg. His stay at Duisburg was cut short as he was released from his contract by mutual consent in the summer of 2006 after the side's relegation.

Choi Sung-yong played for LASK Linz in Austria in 2001 as well as Japanese clubs Vissel Kobe and Yokohama FC. Kang Chul also partnered Choi at LASK Linz around the same time, and Hong Soon-hak enjoyed a spell in Austria with Grazer AK in 2006.

Seo Jung-won previously spent one season in Europe in 1998 with French club RC Strasbourg and, after returning to Korea and spending six successful seasons with Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Seo made the switch to Austria Salzburg at the beginning of 2005 as he entered the veteran stage of his career. After four months with the club he joined newly-promoted SV Reid in June of this year and ended his playing career with the club in the summer of 2007.

Rather uniquely, Noh Jung-yoon spent most of his professional career in the Japanese league, becoming the first Korean to jet overseas and play in the J-League when he joined Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 1993. He spent a year in Holland with NAC Breda before returning to Japan firstly with Cerezo Osaka and lastly with Avispa Fukuoka. Noh played in almost 250 games during his time in Japan.

One of Korean football's greatest ever defenders, Hong Myung-bo played out the final years of his career with MLS side LA Galaxy in 2003 and 2004. Hong had previously played at Bellemare Hiratsuke and Kashiwa Reysol in the J-League. Hwang Sun-hong became yet another Korean player to feature for Kashiwa when he signed for them from Pohang in 2001 and, despite a brief spell with Suwon, finished his career with the J-League side. Another Korean football legend who made his mark on Japan was Yoo Sang-chul, having played for Yokohama Marinos and Kashima Reysol. Kim Do-hoon (Vissel Kobe), Ha Seok-ju (Cerezo Osaka) and Choi Tae-wook (Shimizu S-Pulse) were three other Koreans to make an impact in Japanese football.

Former Seongnam stalwart Shin Tae-yong finished his career in Australia with Queensland Roar before moving into coaching, and Korean U20 international Cho Won-kwang signed professional forms with French side Sochaux in 2003 and remained on their books for three years.

Ex-Suwon forward Kim Dong-hyun made a high-profile move to SC Braga in 2005, but was loaned out to Russian club Rubin Kazan in mid-2006 before returning to the K-League with Seongnam for 2007.