Baek Ji-hoon
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Baek Ji-Hoon | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position(s) | midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Suwon Samsung Bluewings | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 June 2007 [1] | |||
Baek Ji-Hoon (Hangul: 백지훈, Hanja: 白智勳, born February 28, 1985) is a Korean football player was born in Sacheon, a city in the southeast of the Korea Republic.
Career
Early life
Baek wore his first pair of football boots the winter of his ninth birthday and he proved a fast learner. Such was his promise that the following year, aged ten, he transferred to the Bongrae Elementary School in Jinju, a specialist football school some 20 kilometres from his home town. Baek was initially keen to play in goal but was forced to come outfield as the claimed that he was "too short", today he stands at 175 cm, approximately 5 feet 9 inches. He has been patrolling the middle of the park ever since.
Baek's development continued as he made his way through Jinju middle school and Andong High School and by 2002, his third year at high school, he had taken his place in the South Korean U-19 side. Strong going forward, he was unable to hold down a regular place with the U-19s because it was considered he still had work to do on the defensive side of his game.
Debut in the K-league
On leaving high school, Baek joined K-League side Chunnam Dragons. He made a good early impression with three substitute appearances in his first season however, he soon found himself a fixture in the reserves. In 2004, though, Baek played seven games in the first team and his progress was noted by national U-20 coach Park Sung Hwa who installed him as his captain.
The following year Baek took another great step forward when he joined FC Seoul. The young Baek appeared 15 times in the K-League in the 2005 season, scoring one goal. Last year also brought his first senior appearance for his country, against Japan in their closing match of the East Asian Championship on August 7. In July 2006, FC Seoul secretly negotiated with Suwon Samsung Bluewings to transfer Baek to Suwon. Later in the same month, his transfer was confirmed.[3] Prior to the transfer, rumors had been circulating that the coach of FC Seoul disliked him. He has expressed concerns about this transfer, not only because FC Seoul did not ask for his stance, but also because high amount of cash could prevent him playing for another team, Europe in particular. In addition, he would have become a free agent in matter of months. [4] The amount of cash is predicted to be $1.5 million.[5][6]
References
External links
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