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Ki Sung-yueng

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Ki Sung-yueng
Ki Sung-Yeung warming up before a Celtic match in November 2010
Personal information
Full name Ki Sung-Yeung
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Central Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Celtic
Number 18
Youth career
2001–2006 John Paul College
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Seoul 64 (7)
2009– Celtic 66 (9)
International career‡
2005–2006 South Korea U-17 6 (3)
2006–2007 South Korea U-20 16 (2)
2007–2008 South Korea U-23 13 (0)
2008– South Korea 45 (5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 April 2012
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 29 February 2012
Ki Sung-yueng
Hangul
기성용
Hanja
奇誠庸[1]
Revised RomanizationGi Seong-yong
McCune–ReischauerKi Sŏng'yong

Template:Korean name

Ki Sung-Yeung (Korean: 기성용) (born 24 January 1989), also spelled as Ki Sung-Yong, is a South Korean professional footballer who currently plays as a central midfielder for Scottish Premier League club Celtic and the South Korea national team.

Known for his vision, technique, long range passing and shooting, along with his good set-pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the top young South Korean football prospects.

His playing style has earned him the title of the "Korean Steven Gerrard". On 22 September 2009, he received a Sky Sports Scout Rating of 62/80.[2]

Early life

John Paul College

In 2001, Ki was sent to Australia by his father, who believed that Ki could play football and learn to speak English.[3] He played the bulk of his youth career at John Paul College in Brisbane under the BSP (Brain Soccer Program) overseen by Jeff Hopkins. He was part of the team that won the U-15 Nationals (Bill Turner Cup) for John Paul College in 2004. Ki received offers in 2005 from Korean club FC Seoul and also A-League club Brisbane Roar, but decided to move back to South Korea to continue his career. Since then, Ki has been a fluent English speaker. He went by his English name David in Australia.[4]

Club career

FC Seoul

Ki returned to Korea and joined the reserve team of FC Seoul where he played alongside national teammate Lee Chung-Yong. Under Şenol Güneş, he made his senior debut in 2007.

During the 2008 season, Ki reinforced his position as a key player of FC Seoul. On 29 October, Ki scored the winning goal against Seoul's biggest rival Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 92nd minute. Ki performed a "Kangaroo Ceremony", which he claims to be imitation of Emmanuel Adebayor's, but Suwon fans argue that this was imitation of 'chicken', which is how many Seoul fans call Suwon. He led the team to an unprecedented K-League runners-up position with 4 goals and 1 assist in 21 appearances.

In FC Seoul's first K-League match of the 2009 season, Ki scored one goal in the 6–1 drubbing of Chunnam Dragons. There was increasing speculation regarding a big move abroad with suitors including PSV Eindhoven, Hamburg SV and Porto among others.[5]

Celtic

On 25 August 2009, it was revealed that contact between Celtic and FC Seoul had occurred regarding the possibility of Ki's transfer to the Parkhead club. However, the player's agent stated that an immediate move would be unlikely given FC Seoul's success in the league and the Asian Champions League. Three days later, Celtic clinched a £2.1m transfer for Ki. He linked up with the Parkhead side in the January transfer window at the end of the K-League season. The signing was confirmed on 13 December 2009 after Ki passed a medical and secured a work permit. He reportedly turned down an offer from English Premier League club Portsmouth. He wears the number 18 with "Ki" on his shirt. He made his debut for Celtic in a 1–1 draw against Falkirk at Celtic Park on 16 January 2010, winning the Man of the Match award from the official Celtic website.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

He scored his first competitive goal for Celtic with a shot from 25 yards in a 4–0 victory against St. Mirren in the Scottish Premier League (SPL). Ki was voted the SPL Young Player of the Month for October 2010. He became a first team regular and scored his second goal of the season in a 2–2 draw with Inverness Thistle at Celtic Park. On 26 December 2010, Ki scored against St Johnstone in a 2–0 victory in the SPL. On 21 May 2011, Ki scored the first goal of Celtic's Scottish Cup Final win against Motherwell with a left-footed strike from around 35 yards. He also won the official Man of the Match award.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

Ki started the 2011–12 campaign in Celtic's opening game against Hibernian in the SPL. Scoring the second goal in a 2–0 victory, a 25-yard left foot strike into the right hand bottom corner and also won the Man of the Match award from the official Celtic website. He impressed Celtic manager Neil Lennon so much in the Hibernian game that he said:[19]

He's a very important player to us. I rate him very highly. He can go on to be anything he wants to be," Lennon told The Telegraph. "We think he is a class player and we're glad he's here." He added: “Ki has been very consistent over the past 18 months. He's developing nicely into a class player. "He had good presence and good composure on the ball. He has a goal or two in him and his passing range is excellent."

Ki then went on to score another goal in the Scottish Premier League against Dundee United at Celtic Park, a strike into the top left hand corner from the edge of the box. On 15 August 2011 it was reported that Premiership sides Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham Hotspur and several clubs from the Russian Premier League were interested in signing Ki. Celtic the next day issued a hands off warning to the interested clubs, saying that it would take a bid of significant proportions for Celtic to allow the increasingly important midfielder to leave the club.[20] On 10 September 2011, Ki put Motherwell to the sword yet again, this time in the Scottish Premier League with a superb strike from outside the box with his right foot. Celtic went on to win the game 4-0. On 29 September, he started in Celtic's 1-1 draw with Italian side Udinese. After 3 minutes Celtic won a penalty which Ki converted.[21] On 18 December 2011, he scored the second goal of the game as Celtic beat St Johnstone 2-0 at McDiarmid Park in the Scottish Premier League. Over the course of the 2011-2012 campaign, Ki scored 7 goals and had 6 assists, playing a key role in helping Celtic win the Scottish title. [22]

International career

On the international stage, Ki has played in the 2007 U-20 World Cup and for the South Korea national team as well as the South Korea U-23 team.[23]

On 7 June 2008, he made his international debut in a 2010 World Cup qualification match against Jordan.[23]

On 1 June 2010 Ki was picked in the 23 man South Korea squad.[24] On 12 June Ki played in South Korea's first game of the 2010 World Cup against Greece.[25] Ki played a part in all 3 group games and assisted twice in 2 different matches against Greece and Nigeria which helped him and his country get through to the knock-out stages of the competition.[25]

On 25 January 2011, during the 2011 AFC Asian Cup semi-final match between Japan and South Korea, Ki scored the opening goal through a penalty kick.[26] Ki created controversy with his goal celebration by pulling a monkey face and scratching his cheek in front of a pitch-side camera in an allegedly racist slur at Japanese people.[27] Ki initially defended his goal celebration through a Twitter post claiming that he was annoyed at having seen a Rising Sun Flag in the stadium.[28] Ki then claimed that the celebration was a reference to alleged racist abuse he had received during Scottish Premier League games from opposition fans, but the chief executive of Show Racism the Red Card expressed scepticism about this.[28] Asian Cup tournament director Tokuaki Suzuki said that no action will be taken on part of the AFC and that FIFA has not contacted the AFC regarding the matter.[27]

On 20 December 2011, Ki Sung-Yueng (along with Ji So-yun of Kobe INAC Japan) won the South Korean Player of the Year award. The decision was announced by the Korean Football Association (KFA) based on his international and club performance in the Scottish Premier League.[29]

International goals

Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 September 2008 China Hongkou Stadium, Shanghai  North Korea 1 – 1 1–1 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
2 11 October 2008 South Korea Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon  Uzbekistan 1 – 0 3–0 Friendly International
3 6 June 2009 United Arab Emirates Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai  United Arab Emirates 2 – 0 2–0 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
4 14 October 2009 South Korea Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul  Senegal 1 – 0 2–0 Friendly International
5 25 January 2011 Qatar Al-Gharafa Stadium, Doha  Japan 1 – 0 2–2 2011 AFC Asian Cup

Club statistics

As of 22 April 2012
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
FC Seoul
2007 16 0 3 0 6 0 - 25 0
2008 21 4 1 0 6 0 - 28 4
2009 27 3 1 0 4 1 7 1 39 5
Total 64 7 5 0 16 1 7 1 92 9
Celtic
2009–10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0
2010–11 26 3 4 1 3 0 1 0 34 4
2011–12 30 6 2 0 3 0 6 1 41 7
Total 66 9 6 1 6 0 7 1 85 11
Career Total 130 16 11 1 22 1 14 2 177 20

Honours

Club

FC Seoul

Celtic

Individual

References

  1. ^ "월드컵 허정무호 젊은 '쌍룡', 이란 격파 선봉에" (in Korean). NEWSIS. 20 January 2009.
  2. ^ "Sky Sports Scout – Ki Sung-yong". Sky Sports. 30 September 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  3. ^ "세대 축구선수들의 성공요인은?" (in Korean). Sportsseoul. 12 October 2009.
  4. ^ Ki Sung Yeung SBS
  5. ^ "FOX '기성용, 포르투·함부르크 갈 수도'" (in Korean). Goal.com. 11 June 2009.
  6. ^ "기성용 에이전트, 셀틱과 첫 협상" (in Korean). Naver. 26 August 2009.
  7. ^ "기성용, 스코틀랜드 `셀틱FC` 이적" (in Korean). 한국경제. 29 August 2009.
  8. ^ "Ki clinches four-year Celtic deal". BBC Sport. 13 December 2009.
  9. ^ "Exclusive – Ki Sung-yong: I rejected Portsmouth offer as Celtic are a great club". Goal.com. 7 September 2009.
  10. ^ "Ki to make Celtic move in January". BBC Sport. 28 August 2009.
  11. ^ Ki impresses on Celtic debut Asian Football Confederation, 18 January 2010
  12. ^ Celtic 2 – 2 Inverness CT BBC Sport, 27 November 2010
  13. ^ Celtic 2 – 0 St Johnstone BBC Sport, 26 December 2010
  14. ^ Celtic 4 – 0 St Mirren BBC Sport, 22 August 2010
  15. ^ a b Celtic's Ki Sung Yueng wins October young player prize BBC Sport, 9 November 2010
  16. ^ Ki wins Young Player of the Month award Celtic FC, 9 November 2010
  17. ^ Celtic beat Motherwell in Scottish Cup final to end season on a high guardian.co.uk, 21 May 2011
  18. ^ "Celtic lift the 2011 Scottish Cup". Scottish FA. 21 May 2011.
  19. ^ "Ki Sung-Yueng can be anything he wants to be - Celtic boss Neil Lennon". Goal.com. 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  20. ^ "Celtic in hands off warning over Ki Sung Yueng". Evening Times. 15 August 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  21. ^ "Celtic 1-1 Udinese". BBC Sport. 29 September 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  22. ^ "Koo Ja-Cheol, Park Ji-Sung & the top five South Koreans in Europe for the 2011-12 season". goal.com. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  23. ^ a b "축구희망 기성용". Sports Hankook. 22 December 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  24. ^ "South Korea reveal final squad". BBC Sport. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  25. ^ a b "Ki Sung Yueng". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  26. ^ "Japan 2–2 South Korea (AET, 3–0 Pens)". Bangkok Post. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  27. ^ a b "Asian Cup chief plays down Ki racism row". One HD. 27 January 2011.
  28. ^ a b Hannah, Roger (28 January 2011). "Cheeky MonKI". The Scottish Sun. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  29. ^ "Celtic Football Club". celticfc.net. Retrieved 2012-01-29.

External links

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