Du-ri Cha turns 45: The best Bundesliga South Koreans
The record-breaking South Korean Bundesliga appearance holder was Bum-kun Cha. He was part of the legendary Eintracht Frankfurt team in the early 1980s that won the UEFA Cup and the DFB Cup. In 1988, he won the UEFA Cup again with Bayer Leverkusen. He was also named Asian Footballer of the 20th Century, making a total of 308 Bundesliga appearances. Many years later, Bum-kun also gave us his mini-me, today's birthday boy: Du-ri Cha.
Once beat Franck Ribéry at his own game: Ja-cheol Koo (211 games for Mainz, Augsburg, and Wolfsburg).
Heung-min Son joined HSV in 2008 as part of a cooperation with the South Korean Football Association. He primarily made defenders look stupid (135 games for Hamburg and Leverkusen).
Woo-Yeong Jeong is what the Koreans call a "wandering bird." He trained at Bayern Munich, then moved to SC Freiburg, from there to Stuttgart, and now plays for 1. FC Union Berlin (134 matches).
"Hold my Maekju," Du-ri Cha says to himself. Bum-kun's son played in the Bundesliga for Bielefeld, Frankfurt, Mainz, Freiburg, and Düsseldorf (125 games).
Jae-Sung Lee singing and laughing (123 games).
Must be mentioned in the same breath as Jürgen Ey and Demba Ba: Don-wong Ji (123 games for Augsburg and Mainz).
Had overlooked the small print (sleet showers, Schleifer coach, Augsburg) when he moved to the Bundesliga in 2013: Jeong-ho Hong (56 games).
Had overlooked the small print (mole on Säbener, embarrassing traditional vest at Oktoberfest, Hoeneß) when he moved to the Bundesliga in 2023: Min-jae Kim (52 games).
While he failed to generate lasting enthusiasm in Dortmund, his name can still be heard nationwide on sunny days, when students gather in parks: Joo-Ho Park! (51 games for Mainz and BVB)
Past participle of Gwinn: Chang-hoon Kwon (34 games).
Already playing for al-Nasr when the club was still a glimmer in Cristiano Ronaldo's eyes. Jin-su Kim also played 34 times for TSG Hoffenheim.
Hyun-seok Hong has been whizzing across the field in Mainz for a year now (he has also played 23 times in the stadium next door).
Leipzig was able to pry him away from Salzburg in 2020 after weeks of chewing gum negotiations. He was never happy in Saxony, however, and instead thought: Hwang will finally be the way things never were? Currently playing in the Premier League: Hee-chan Hwang (19 games).
In 2008, BVB believed they had finally found a successor for "Knuuuut" Reinhardt. But Young-pyo "Leeeee"—as the stadium chanted when he had the ball at his feet—was gone faster than André "Schüüüü" Schürrle.
Joo Sung Kim was voted Asia's Player of the 20th Century, coming second behind Bum-kun Cha. He was part of the 1991 FIFA World Cup squad against World Cup winners Germany in support of the children's charity UNICEF. His teammates included Ruud Gullit, Dragan Stojkovic and Chris Waddle. In 1992, he moved to VfL Bochum (13 games). His teammates included Dimitrios Moutas and Sven Christians.
His winning goal at the 2002 World Cup against Italy enraged the entire country. Jung-hwan Ahn was playing for AC Perugia at the time. "I will not pay the salary of a player who ruined Italian football," Perugia's club president said afterward. Ahn left Italy for his homeland. Throughout his career, he was known as the "David Beckham of South Korea." That's why he almost inevitably ended up in Duisburg in 2006 (12 games).
This gallery has more parks than Gelsenkirchen (two). Jung-bin Park played nine times for Fürth.
South Korea’s Andreas Gabalier: Dong-gook Lee (7 games for Werder).
He played for Hertha under Tayfun Korkut (4 games) and left the capital faster than Jürgen Klinsmann. Who can blame Dong-jun Lee?
Seung-Woo Ryu (2 games for Leverkusen) together with Heung-min Son. Not pictured: Karim Bellarabi.
We simply can't find a single picture of the last South Korean to play in the Bundesliga in our photo archives. This photo merely shows a scene from the game in which Park Sang-in made his Bundesliga debut for MSV Duisburg. That was in 1981. Seven minutes of action against Kaiserslautern followed. That should be enough to warrant a mention here.
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