CHA BUM-KUN (CHA BUM KUN) | CENTER OF STUDIES | Unkris

This is a Korean name; the family name is Cha.

Korean nameHangul

차범근

Hanja

車範根

Revised RomanizationCha Beom-geunMcCune–ReischauerCh’a Pŏmgŭn

Cha Bum-kun (Hangul: 차범근; Korean pronunciation: [tɕʰabʌmɡɯn]; born 22 May 1953) is a South Korean football manager and former player, nicknamed Tscha Bum in Germany (“Cha Boom”) because of his name and his thunderous ball striking ability. The nickname was first used by the German Kicker Magazine, which also named Cha as one of the greatest footballers of the 1980s.[citation needed] In South Korea, Cha is greatly respected for his accomplishments in the Bundesliga and the South Korean national team. During his career, Cha has played for SV Darmstadt 98, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, and represented his national side 121 times, scoring 55 goals. He was given the title Asia’s Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. He is the all time leading goal scorer for the South Korean national team.

Biography

Born in Hwaseong in the South Korean province of Gyeonggi, Cha Bum-kun began his football career with the South Korean Cairan Force club in 1971, the same year he became a Korean U-19 international. By 1972 he had been capped by the Korean national team as the youngest player in history called up to the squad. After developing into the top player in his country, Cha wanted to play in Germany’s Bundesliga. Cha promised to learn skills in Germany and help Korea advance in football. He eventually rose to international stardom and fulfilled his promise by coming back to South Korea after his retirement and starting youth football clinics. He coached the national team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and also Ulsan Hyundai and Suwon Samsung Bluewings of the K-League.

Club career

Cha started his career in the Bundesliga at age 25. In December 1978, he was transferred to SV Darmstadt, where he spent less than a year before being snapped up by Eintracht Frankfurt. Cha made an immediate impact with his new club, scoring in three consecutive games. Frankfurt went on to win the UEFA Cup in the 1979–80 season. He was widely considered one of the best forwards in the Bundesliga throughout his career. He became the third-highest-paid footballer in Germany. In the 1981 season, in a game against Leverkusen, he suffered a near career-ending knee injury.

In 1983 he was transferred to Bayer Leverkusen. He won a second UEFA Cup with them in 1988. Cha scored a dramatic equalizer against Espanyol to tie the game 3–3. Leverkusen eventually went on to win the game on penalties.

Cha retired in 1989 after a long Bundesliga career spanning 308 games in which he scored 98 goals (none from penalty kicks),[1] then the highest for a foreign player in the league. Over his 10-year career, he received only one yellow card.

International career

Cha was part of the South Korean national team of the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals, in Mexico, where they lost to Argentina and Italy but earned a draw against Bulgaria. The opposing teams were fully aware of Cha’s scoring abilities and frustrated him by marking him with two defenders at all times. He did not score any goals in the tournament. Looking back, he recalled: “We didn’t achieve our first win but the campaign was not disappointing as we played hard and well against the best teams in the world, including the eventual champions Argentina.”

• 2 June: Argentina 3–1 South Korea
• 5 June: Bulgaria 1–1 South Korea
• 10 June: Italy 3–2 South Korea

Managerial career

Cha moved into management with K-League side Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i, coaching them from 1991–1994. His next appointment in January 1997 was Korean national team coach and he led the nation to the 1998 FIFA World Cup; however, a disastrous 5–0 defeat at the hands of The Netherlands in Korea’s second group game got Cha fired. He later blamed the Korea Football Association for the bad performance, citing lack of bonuses and alleging pro soccer games in Korea were fixed. The KFA promptly slapped a five-year ban on him and he soon left the country with his wife.

After an 18-month spell coaching Shenzhen Ping’an in China, Cha took up a commentator position with MBC. He returned to coaching at the end of 2003 when offered the Suwon Samsung Bluewings position.

Cha achieved immediate success with Suwon by lifting the 2004 K-League championship, an achievement he ranked as even better than lifting the UEFA Cup as a player in 1988.

On 6 June 2010, he resigned as manager of Suwon.

Personal life

Cha is a devout Christian and list the three most important things in his life as ‘family, religion and football’.[2] Bum-Kun’s second child, Cha Du-ri, is following in his father’s footsteps. The younger Cha played in Germany and was converted from forward to defender, and now plays for FC Seoul after having his contract terminated with Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Honours

Club

Eintracht Frankfurt

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

International

South Korea

• Asian Games: 1978
• Merdeka Cup: 1972, 1975, 1977, 1978

Individual

• He was voted Asia’s Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics in 1999.

Managerial

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

• K League: 2004, 2008
• League Cup: 2005, 2008
• FA Cup: 2009
• Super Cup: 2005
• A3 Champions Cup: 2005
• Pan-Pacific Championship: 2009

Career statistics

Domestic League

Club performanceLeagueCupContinentalTotalSeasonClubLeagueAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGermanyLeagueDFB-PokalEuropeTotal1978–79Darmstadt 98Bundesliga1000-101979–80Eintracht Frankfurt31124011346151980–81278665238161981–823111106138121982–83331510-34151983–84Bayer Leverkusen341210-35121984–85291034-32141985–86341742-38191986–8733621323891987–88254001023561988–893035020373TotalGermany3089827133710372121Career total3089827133710372121

National team

[3]

Korea Republic national teamYearAppsGoals197221719731771974132197515919761411197724141978145197900198000198100198200198300198400198500198630Total12155

International goals

Scores list South Korea’s goal tally first.

Records

• Cha is the ninth player in history to win the UEFA Cup with different teams. Cha shares the record with reputable players such as Salvatore Schillaci and Jürgen Klinsmann.
• Cha once held the Bundesliga record for the number of goals scored by a non-German player by surpassing predecessor Ente Lippens’s record of 92 goals in 1988. In 1999, Swiss Stéphane Chapuisat broke Cha’s 14-year-old Bundesliga record of 98 goals. As of September 2013, Cha is ranked fifth in the category after Claudio Pizarro’s 167, Giovane Élber’s 133, Chapuisat’s 106, and Aílton’s 105 goals.
• Cha’s record of 17 league goals in the 1985–86 season remains as the highest goal-tally achieved by an Asian player in Bundesliga history. The finest effort to date in attempt to match Cha’s feat was delivered by Iranian striker Vahid Hashemian, who scored 16 goals during the 2003–04 season with Bochum.
• Cha is South Korea’s all-time leading scorer with 55 goals in international A matches.

References

K League Manager of the Year

• 1983: Ham Heung-chul
• 1984: Chang Woon-soo
• 1985: Park Se-hak
• 1986: Choi Eun-taek
• 1987: Lee Cha-man
• 1988: Lee Hoe-taik
• 1989: Kim Jung-nam
• 1990: Ko Jae-wook
• 1991: Bicskei
• 1992: Lee Hoe-taik
• 1993: Park Jong-hwan
• 1994: Park Jong-hwan
• 1995: Park Jong-hwan
• 1996: Ko Jae-wook
• 1997: Lee Cha-man
• 1998: Kim Ho
• 1999: Kim Ho
• 2000: Cho Kwang-rae
• 2001: Cha Kyung-bok
• 2002: Cha Kyung-bok
• 2003: Cha Kyung-bok
• 2004: Cha Bum-kun
• 2005: Chang Woe-ryong
• 2006: Kim Hak-bum
• 2007: Sérgio Farias
• 2008: Cha Bum-kun
• 2009: Choi Kang-hee
• 2010: Park Kyung-hoon
• 2011: Choi Kang-hee
• 2012: Choi Yong-soo

AFC Coach of the Year

• 1994: Charnwit Polcheewin
• 1995: Park Jong-hwan
• 1996: Ma Yuanan
• 1997: Cha Bum-kun
• 1998: Takashi Kuwahara
• 1999: Mahmoud Rakhimov
• 2000: Philippe Troussier
• 2001: Nasser Al-Johar
• 2002: Guus Hiddink
• 2003: Cha Kyung-bok
• 2004: Adnan Hamad
• 2006: Choe Kwang-sok
• 2007: Rauf Inileev
• 2008: Akira Nishino
• 2009: Huh Jung-moo
• 2010: Takeshi Okada
• 2011: Norio Sasaki
• 2012: Kim Ho-gon
• 2013: Choi Yong-soo

South Korea squads

Cha Bum-Kun navigation boxes