Ki Sung-yueng

Ki Sung-yueng

Personal information
Full name	Ki Sung-Yong
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	FC Seoul
Number	21
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 August 2009

Ki Sung-yueng
Hangul	기성용
Hanja	奇誠庸
Revised Romanization	Gi Seong-yong
McCune–Reischauer	Ki Sŏng'yong

Ki Sung-Yong (Korean: 기성용; born 24 January 1989) is a South Korean football midfielder who currently plays for FC Seoul. He is widely regarded as one of the top, young footballing prospects from Korea Republic along with current Bolton Wanderers winger and former FC Seoul teammate Lee Chung-Yong. He is known for the accuracy and range of his passes, vision, set-pieces, and technique. Both players are affectionately known as "Ssang Yong (Double Dragon)", owed as much to their meteoric rise in talent as their pivotal roles within FC Seoul.

Club career

Youth career

John Paul College

He played the bulk of his youth career at John Paul College in Brisbane under the BSP (Brain Sport Program) overseen by Jeff Hopkins, now head coach of Queensland Roar Women's team. He was part of the team that won the U-15 Nationals (Bill Turner Cup) for John Paul College in 2004. Following offers from FC Seoul, Ki moved back to Korea Republic to pursue his career. Since then, Ki has been a fluent English speaker.

FC Seoul

2006

He joined K-League side FC Seoul in 2006.

2007

2007 marked Ki's rise to fame as he accrued significant playing time and experience as a crucial player in FC Seoul under manager Şenol Güneş. Although he failed to score during the 2007 season, he displayed raw potential in his vision, range of passing and his technique. He also participated in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, showing eye-catching performance, and after the tournament, Ki was at the center of many transfer rumors including being linked to Manchester United. It was later revealed, however, that FC Seoul dismissed the rumours that Manchester United had invited the player over to England to train with Alex Ferguson's side. However, Manchester United's manager Sir Alex Ferguson later admitted that he had keeping his eyes on him throughout the U-20 World Cup.

2008

During the 2008 season, Ki reinforced his position as a key player of FC Seoul.

On 29 October 2008, Ki scored the winning goal against Seoul's biggest rival Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 92th minute. Ki performed a "Kangaroo Ceremony", which he claims to be imitation of Emmanuel Adebayor's, but many Suwon fans argue that this was imitation of 'chicken', which is how many Seoul fans call Suwon.

He lead the team to an unprecedented K-League runners-up position with 4 goals and 1 assist in 21 appearances.

2009

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 has been increased speculation in a big move abroad with suitors including PSV Eindhoven, Hamburg SV and Porto among others.

On 25 August 2009, it was revealed that contact between Celtic FC and FC Seoul had occurred regarding the possibility of Ki Sung-Yong's transfer to the Parkhead club. However, the player's agent revealed that an immediate move is highly unlikely given the World Cup in South Africa, FC Seoul's current success in the league and the Asian Champions League in addition to competing interests from other major clubs .

On 28 August 2009, Celtic FC had clinched a £2.1m transfer for Ki, according to reports. The 20-year-old FC Seoul midfielder will link up with the Parkhead side in the January transfer window at the end of the K-League season .

International career

On the international stage, Ki has played for both the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup and Korea Republic as well as the Korea Republic U-23.

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

His apparent ability became even more exposed on the global stage during the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada; there, he was moved to a central defensive position because of last minute injuries in the Korea Republic squad. His ability to play long accurate passes to the very mobile and speedy forward line of Korea Republic unhinged opponents time and time again. Because of this ability as well as his dangerous runs from deep, that many Korea Republic fans dubbed him the next Hong Myung-Bo, a legendary Korean defender.

However, his performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was mediocre at best, while South Korea failed to enter the round of 16.

He scored his A-match debut goal against North Korea in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match. It proved to be the crucial tying goal for Korea Republic. His second goal came in a subsequent friendly against Uzbekistan when he finished Lee Chung-Yong's cross with a left-foot volley from outside the penalty area.

The Korea Football Association agreed that Ki would focus on the Korea Republic national football team, rather than playing in the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Club career statistics

As of 26 August 2009

Club	Season	League			Cup			League Cup			Asia			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
FC Seoul	2006	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0	0	0
	2007	16	0	0	3	0	0	6	0	0	-	-	-	25	0	0
	2008	21	4	1	1	0	0	6	0	1	-	-	-	28	4	2
	2009	17	2	6	1	0	0	4	1	1	6	1	1	28	4	8
Career totals		54	6	7	5	0	0	16	1	2	6	1	1	81	8	10

International Goals - Korea Republic

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 September 2008	Hongkou Stadium, Shanghai, China	North Korea	1 – 1	1 – 1	2010 World Cup Qualifying
2	11 October 2008	Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon, Korea Republic	Uzbekistan	1 – 0	3 – 0	Friendly
3	6 June 2009	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, UAE	United Arab Emirates	0 – 2	0 – 2	2010 World Cup Qualifying

Honours

• 2008 K-League Best 11
• 2008 K-League Runners-up

External links

• K-League Player Record Template:Ko icon
• National Team Player Record Template:Ko icon
• FIFA Player Statistics
• Club & Country Statistics