CheongChun FC: The team taking Korea by storm
Korea's latest reality TV show takes amateur players who were never given a fair chance, and pits them against some of the best professional teams in the country.
In every country in the world there are footballers who almost made it, only for some bad luck or injury to snatch their dream away. This year, twenty-two Korean footballers were given a second shot at that dream. KBS TV’s latest reality show has been one of hope and it has captured the hearts of its viewers, the players involved have had tough lives and many of them were incredibly close to becoming a professional player before some unforeseen event prevented their dreams from coming true. The show’s name is Hungry Eleven, and the players that make up the squad are those who were the most determined and motivated to make the most of their second chance.
The team is led by manager Ahn Jung-Hwan, the legendary Korean striker who knocked Italy out of the 2002 World Cup with his headed goal in extra time. Ahn Jung-Hwan has played in Italy, Germany, France, China, and Japan in his career. He joked that he only joined the show because the producers got him drunk and pressganged him into it, but it is clear that he really cares for the players involved. To help him manage the team, Ahn brought in 2002 World Cup teammates Lee Eul-Yong and Lee Woon-Jae. Former Asian Player-Of-The-Year Lee Geun-Ho, currently with Jeonbuk Motors, also made a guest appearance to help coach and motivate the players.
Over two-thousand hopefuls applied for the program, with Ahn Jung-Hwan selecting five-hundred or so for trials before deciding on the final squad. Many of the players did whatever they could to stand out, striker Lee Woong-Jae even made a personalised t-shirt that he showed off when he scored a tap-in during one of the trial matches (despite the coaches displeasure for it, it seems to have worked as he made the squad despite missing a lot of simple chances in that match).
The chosen players started off by playing a local university and a high school team, where it became apparent that they needed to work on their bodies in order to be competitive. After physical training and some more work on perfecting their movement and positioning, Cheongchun FC headed to Europe where they toured Belgium and France, playing six matches against local opposition. After a tour of France and Belgium, the players returned home for a series of matches against K-League opposition. Unlike almost every other K-League match, demand for tickets to watch Cheongchun FC was so high that the supplementary stadium used for the team’s match against Seoul Eland was completely sold out, with supporters standing on the top of a nearby hill or peering through the perimeter fence in order to get a view of the action.
Although Eland didn’t play a full strength side, the game was useful from their perspective as well as for Cheongchun FC. Seoul Eland coach Dan Harris, talking to kleaguefootball.com, told us that it was nice for some of Eland’s development players, most of whom have just come out of the university football system, to experience playing in a hostile atmosphere, and such an experience was a good part of their learning curve. He also told us that he thought that Cheongchun FC “have some players there that potentially could play professionally”.
Something that the program hinted at several times is the lack of scouting in the K3 League by K-League teams. If this is true then it represents a large inefficiency in Korean football. When looking at the England national team, Jamie Vardy, Charlie Austin, Rickie Lambert, and even Manchester United defender Chris Smalling all began their careers in non-league football, so it is likely that players who could add something to K-League sides could be hiding in the K3.
Hungry Eleven’s participants will be hoping to make the transition from amateur to professional football once the show is over. They can take strength from players like Christopher van Huizen appeared on Singapore reality program First XI in 2013 and who is now playing for Lions XII, Singapore’s representatives in the Malaysian Super League. Cheongchun FC will be hoping that their moment in the spotlight leads to the same opportunity for a career in football.
By Steve Price
In every country in the world there are footballers who almost made it, only for some bad luck or injury to snatch their dream away. This year, twenty-two Korean footballers were given a second shot at that dream. KBS TV’s latest reality show has been one of hope and it has captured the hearts of its viewers, the players involved have had tough lives and many of them were incredibly close to becoming a professional player before some unforeseen event prevented their dreams from coming true. The show’s name is Hungry Eleven, and the players that make up the squad are those who were the most determined and motivated to make the most of their second chance.
The team is led by manager Ahn Jung-Hwan, the legendary Korean striker who knocked Italy out of the 2002 World Cup with his headed goal in extra time. Ahn Jung-Hwan has played in Italy, Germany, France, China, and Japan in his career. He joked that he only joined the show because the producers got him drunk and pressganged him into it, but it is clear that he really cares for the players involved. To help him manage the team, Ahn brought in 2002 World Cup teammates Lee Eul-Yong and Lee Woon-Jae. Former Asian Player-Of-The-Year Lee Geun-Ho, currently with Jeonbuk Motors, also made a guest appearance to help coach and motivate the players.
Over two-thousand hopefuls applied for the program, with Ahn Jung-Hwan selecting five-hundred or so for trials before deciding on the final squad. Many of the players did whatever they could to stand out, striker Lee Woong-Jae even made a personalised t-shirt that he showed off when he scored a tap-in during one of the trial matches (despite the coaches displeasure for it, it seems to have worked as he made the squad despite missing a lot of simple chances in that match).
The chosen players started off by playing a local university and a high school team, where it became apparent that they needed to work on their bodies in order to be competitive. After physical training and some more work on perfecting their movement and positioning, Cheongchun FC headed to Europe where they toured Belgium and France, playing six matches against local opposition. After a tour of France and Belgium, the players returned home for a series of matches against K-League opposition. Unlike almost every other K-League match, demand for tickets to watch Cheongchun FC was so high that the supplementary stadium used for the team’s match against Seoul Eland was completely sold out, with supporters standing on the top of a nearby hill or peering through the perimeter fence in order to get a view of the action.
Although Eland didn’t play a full strength side, the game was useful from their perspective as well as for Cheongchun FC. Seoul Eland coach Dan Harris, talking to kleaguefootball.com, told us that it was nice for some of Eland’s development players, most of whom have just come out of the university football system, to experience playing in a hostile atmosphere, and such an experience was a good part of their learning curve. He also told us that he thought that Cheongchun FC “have some players there that potentially could play professionally”.
Something that the program hinted at several times is the lack of scouting in the K3 League by K-League teams. If this is true then it represents a large inefficiency in Korean football. When looking at the England national team, Jamie Vardy, Charlie Austin, Rickie Lambert, and even Manchester United defender Chris Smalling all began their careers in non-league football, so it is likely that players who could add something to K-League sides could be hiding in the K3.
Hungry Eleven’s participants will be hoping to make the transition from amateur to professional football once the show is over. They can take strength from players like Christopher van Huizen appeared on Singapore reality program First XI in 2013 and who is now playing for Lions XII, Singapore’s representatives in the Malaysian Super League. Cheongchun FC will be hoping that their moment in the spotlight leads to the same opportunity for a career in football.
By Steve Price