Park Ji Song is one of the most famous South Korean football players in history. It was he who was part of the South Korean national team, which in 2002 was able to break into the semi-finals of the World Cup, defeating such titans as Portugal, Spain and Italy. However, many people know him precisely for this bright performance, but after all, the player’s career was 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 interested in how the club career has developed, then this material will tell you about which clubs and how successful Park Ji Sung managed to play.
Carier start
In South Korea, football is not the most popular sport - even now, numerous academies are just beginning to open there, where young players can try to reveal their talent. What can we say about a player like Park Ji Sung, who was born in the early eighties. Naturally, his talent in football was noticed, and he still ended up at the academy of the local Mengzhi club, but it cannot be said that his abilities developed there greatly. In 1999, upon reaching adulthood, Ji Song seriously thought about playing at a professional level, which he could not achieve at Mengzhi, a university team. Therefore, already in January 2000, Park Ji Sung signed his first professional contract, becoming a player of the Kyoto Sanga club.
The heyday of Kyoto
Park Ji Song, while still very young, did not immediately get a place at the base in the club - he gradually went on replacements and even appeared on the field a couple of times from the first minutes. But in his first professional season, he was able to play in only 16 matches, 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, Park Ji Sung played as many as forty matches, scoring three goals in them. The next season began even better for him - in the first half of the year he played 29 matches and scored eight goals, although he played not as an attacker, but as an attacking midfielder. And now, the moment of the 2002 World Cup came, in which the football player took a direct part, shining brighter than everyone. Naturally, this did not go unnoticed, and immediately after the end of the World Cup, Korean clubs were strewed with offers from European clubs who would like to see him in their composition.
Relocation to Europe
Park Ji Sung, whose photos 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 took a reasonable step - he signed a contract with the Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. He understood that if he immediately went to the top club, then he could sit there all the time on the bench. The player 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 gained form, having played 9 matches for the remaining six months. But from the next season, he became a base player, having entered the field in forty games and scoring six goals.
The next season was even more successful - after all, in his first year in PSV, Ji Sun managed to win the local championship, but in the second season the trophy slipped away from the club. Therefore, the 04/05 season became outstanding, since Pak played 44 matches, scored eleven goals and won with the club not only the Dutch Championship trophy, but also the Holland Cup. He definitely went to the peak of his career, everyone in Europe recognized that Park Ji Song is a world-class footballer. Therefore, no one was surprised that in the summer of 2005 he moved to one of the strongest clubs in Europe.
Transition to Manchester United
It was a real climb for a football player like Park Ji Sung. His biography began in the university team without special prospects, and by the age of 24 he had already ended up at Manchester United. The club acquired 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 at the base, he played in forty-five matches, scoring two goals in them. Of course, in a third of them he left the bench, but for him it was an impressive result. However, already the next season turned out to be far less impressive - the player got into the application a little and played in only 20 matches, although he raised his performance and scored five goals in them.
The problem was that he began to suffer from injuries, because of which he missed a lot. The knee failed him every time, and only in the 08/09 season could he more or less fully play the whole year. But after that, a recession began - three years ago, Park Ji Sung, whose goals still excite the minds of fans, played for Manchester, but at the same time appeared on the field two times less 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, won the FA Cup four times, and in 2008 even won the prestigious Champions League football tournament with decoys. But after three seasons in which Pak received half as much playing practice as before, he decided to change his club registration. Two million euros for him agreed to give another English club, the CRC.
A new beginning
When Pak moved to the CRC, he was already 31 years old, that is, the player was at sunset. Nevertheless, the season he began very cheerfully, immediately received the captain's armband. But in October, after only ten matches, 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, having played another 15 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 another 27 matches, scoring two goals. Such a small number of games was due to another injury, so when Pak returned a year from rental to the CRC, he announced that he was completing his professional career as a football player. But he didn’t get involved in football - Ji Song returned to Manchester United, where he is now the global ambassador.