Park Ji-sung

Park Ji-sung (born 25 February 1981) is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Born in the South Korean capital Seoul, Park is one of the most successful Asian players in football history, having won 19 trophies in his career.

He is the first Asian footballer to have won the UEFA Champions League, to play in a UEFA Champions League final, as well as the first Asian to have won 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.

After Park's national team manager Guus Hiddink moved back to the Netherlands to manage PSV Eindhoven, Park followed him to the Dutch side a year later.

While in high school, Park helped his high school team's win at high school competition of the Korean National Sports Festival in 1998, though he was at that point rejected by a number of professional clubs and universities due to his small stature.

He ended up playing for Myongji University after Lee Hak-jong, his high school coach, strongly recommended him to Kim Hee-tae, the university coach.

Park was attached to the university's tennis club at that time, because the football club was full, so Kim asked the tennis coach for help.

From the winter holiday of his secondary school year, Park began to train with his university team as a prospective member.

A few weeks later, in January 1999, his university team was given the chance to train with the South Korea Olympic team.

After a splendid performance, he attracted the attention of Huh Jung-moo, the coach of the South Korea national team and Olympic team.

Thereafter he became a preliminary member of the Olympic team, and finally a formal member of its squad.

At 18 years old, it was believed that if Park had not been selected for the Olympic team, he would have been selected for the under-20 team instead.

This selection was so unexpected for Park and others that it was rumoured that Huh selected Park to fulfil a bet after losing to Kim Hee-tae in a game of Go.

On 5 April 2000, in a 2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification match against Laos, Park made his debut as a member of the national team, along with Lee Chun-soo.

In June 2000, while he was a national team member and a second year student at Myongji University, Kyoto Purple Sanga of Japan offered Park a contract and he took the offer though he was still a relative unknown.

Park was the first instance of a relatively unknown Korean player being offered a contract by a Japanese club.

In September 2000, at the 2000 Summer Olympics, his Olympic team failed to advance to the knockout stage, and the South Korea national football team replaced head coach Huh Jung-moo with Guus Hiddink.

In June 2000, Park signed with the Kyoto-based then J1 League side Kyoto Purple Sanga.

In the spring of 2000, hearing that there was a rising star in Korea, Bunji Kimura, Sanga's coach at the time, visited Korea along with other scouts.

In a practice game, the rising star did not attract their attention, whereas Park did.

In an interview, Kimura said:

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.

Park was born in Seoul, but his family registered his birth in Goheung, Jeonnam, which is his father's hometown.

He then left for Suwon, a satellite city of Seoul, and spent his adolescence there.

He began playing football during his fourth year of elementary school.

He attended Anyong Middle School and Suwon Technical High School.

While at school, Park attracted attention as one of the most promising young talents in South Korea and was scouted by a number of clubs.

He was well known for his excellent work rate, mesmerising dribbling and accurate passes.

However, his small physique became a weak point after he entered middle school.

His father, Park Sung-jong, quit his job and started a butcher shop for his son's dream.

Sung-jong not only fed Park different meats but also frogs, antlers and deer blood, in the belief that it would increase his physical abilities.

After PSV reached the semi-finals of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, Park's talents were recognised by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and he signed Park for a fee of around £4 million in July 2005.

In his time at United, his honours included four Premier League titles, the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League, and the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup.

He moved to Queens Park Rangers in July 2012 after suffering a reduction in his number of appearances for Manchester United the previous season.

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.

As a member of the South Korea national team, Park won 100 caps and scored 13 goals.