Park Ji-sung (Korean: 박지성; pronounced [pak̚.t͈ɕi.sʌŋ]; born 30 March 1981) is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Park is regarded as one of the greatest and most successful Asian players in football history, having won 19 trophies in his career. He is the first Asian footballer to win the UEFA Champions League, play in a UEFA Champions League final, and win the FIFA Club World Cup. Park was able to play anywhere across the midfield and was noted for his exceptional fitness level, discipline, work ethic and off-the-ball movement. His remarkable endurance levels earned him the nickname "Three-Lung" Park.
Park began his football career in his native South Korea and played for the Myongji University team before moving to Japan to play for Kyoto Purple Sanga. Park then followed his national team manager Guus Hiddink to the Netherlands to play for PSV Eindhoven. He won two Eredivisie titles, a KNVB Cup, and a Johan Cruyff Shield in Eindhoven before his talents were recognised by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson as PSV reached the semi-finals of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League. Park signed for Manchester United for a fee of around £4 million in July 2005, and in his time at United won 11 trophies, including four Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup. He moved to Queens Park Rangers in 2012 after seven years with Manchester United. However, an injury-interrupted season with QPR, combined with the club's relegation, led to Park rejoining PSV on loan for the 2013–14 season, following which he retired due to a knee injury.
As a member of the South Korea national team, Park won 100 caps and scored 13 goals. He was a member of the team that finished fourth at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and also represented his nation at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. At the World Cup, he was named man of the match four times, the most of any Asian player, and is currently South Korea's joint all-time leading World Cup goalscorer with three goals alongside Ahn Jung-hwan and Son Heung-min, having scored in three consecutive tournaments.
Early life
Park was born in Seoul and grew up in Suwon. He began playing organized football in the fourth grade. Park later recalled that he had initially wanted to play baseball, but third graders could not join his school's team. After football practices began keeping him out late, his father opposed his participation; Park refused to eat until his father relented, on the condition that he would not voluntarily quit the sport. As a sixth grader, he received a national prize from Cha Bum-kun awarded to football prospects.
Park remained small and was frequently ill as a child. After deciding to support his son's career, Park's father, Park Sung-jong, left his company job and opened a butcher shop, which gave him a more flexible schedule and made it easier to provide his son with meat. His family also gave him traditional foods and extracts, including deer blood, frog extract, and deer antler, in the hope of improving his health and growth. From elementary school onward, Park kept training diaries in which he recorded drills, formations, difficulties he had encountered, and his coaches' tactical instructions.
Park's slight build remained a concern when he entered Suwon Technical High School. Believing that intensive training could impede Park's growth, coach Lee Hak-jong initially restricted Park to light work with the ball and sometimes sent him home for weeks at a time to rest and eat. Park and his family initially feared that Lee was trying to force him out, but the coach gradually increased Park's playing time as he developed physically. In 1998, his final year, Park helped Suwon Technical win the high-school division of the 79th Korean National Sports Festival.
Despite the title, Park attracted little interest from university teams as graduation approached, largely because of his size. He had hoped since middle school to attend Korea University, while an effort to join his hometown professional club, Suwon Samsung Bluewings, was also unsuccessful. Lee strongly recommended Park to Myongji University coach Kim Hee-tae, who admitted him after two evaluations. Myongji had already filled its football-admissions allocation, so Kim arranged for Park to be admitted using an unfilled athletic-admissions place assigned to the tennis program.
In early 1999, while in Ulsan with the Olympic squad, Huh Jung-moo, then coach of the South Korea Olympic team, noticed Park in a practice match involving Myongji and invited him to train with the squad for one week. Park's inclusion initially drew criticism because he was slight and largely unknown. On 26 March, Huh named Park among seven newcomers in a 22-player Olympic squad. After earning national selection, Park returned to the Myongji dormitory and continued performing ordinary freshman duties, including fetching water and carrying footballs for teammates.
Kyoto Purple Sanga
Park began his professional career in Japan while still enrolled at Myongji University. On 15 May 2000, at age 19, he agreed to a one-year contract with Kyoto Purple Sanga that was to take effect on 1 June. Bunji Kimura, then the club's head of recruitment, had traveled to South Korea with five J.League scouts intending to assess Jeon Kwang-jin. Kimura later said that Park, despite carrying an injury and playing only about 20 minutes in a practice match, impressed him with his awareness, stamina, and potential. He recalled that recruiting the largely unknown Park drew criticism within the club and even calls for his resignation.
Park made his league debut on 24 June and scored his first league goal on 11 November. He finished the season with one goal in 13 league appearances as the club placed 15th overall and was relegated to the J2 League.
From his second season, Park played mainly as a holding midfielder. He made 38 league appearances and scored three goals in 2001 as Kyoto accumulated 84 points, won the J2 title, and returned to the J1 League. Park later identified the 10 November victory over Shonan Bellmare, which secured the championship and promotion, as one of his most memorable matches in Japan because it also strengthened his hope of playing at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Looking back in 2018, Park credited teammate Kazuyoshi Miura as teaching him how a professional footballer should conduct himself.
On 20 July 2002, shortly after returning from the World Cup, Park came on as a 56th-minute substitute and scored a 113th-minute golden goal in a 2–1 away victory over Vissel Kobe. Teammate Teruaki Kurobe later recalled that manager Gert Engels moved Park from holding midfield to the right side of a front three completed by Kurobe and Daisuke Matsui. According to Kurobe, the switch became a turning point after which the team improved. Park finished the campaign with seven goals in 25 league appearances as Kyoto placed fifth overall, and he was among the recipients of the J.League's 2002 Excellent Player Award.
Kyoto's run to the Emperor's Cup final came as Park prepared to leave for PSV Eindhoven while managing accumulated fatigue and a right-knee injury. He had unusually asked to be substituted late in the quarterfinal and was also withdrawn during the semifinal, but said that he wanted to help Kyoto win the first title in the club's history before departing. In the final against Kashima Antlers on 1 January 2003, Park headed in Shingo Suzuki's free kick five minutes into the second half to equalize. Park was substituted in the 88th minute to applause from the crowd as Kyoto won 2–1 to claim their first major trophy. Park later recalled that Kazuo Inamori, the founder of the club's principal sponsor Kyocera, told him that he would support Park wherever he went, that Park could return at any time, and that the club would wait even if an injury left him unable to…