Jewels of the East - 5 Influencial Asian Footballers

The concept of the ‘Asian footballer’ was always associated more with weaknesses than with any true abilities or strengths. With a lot of hard work, this stereotype has started to change of late. Over the past decade or so, we have started to see an influx of Asian talent into major European leagues. Clubs around the world are paying more attention to the Asian market as a place to pick up untapped talent for much smaller sums of money. Some current examples of Asian footballing stalwarts are Yuto Nagatomo, Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa, and Ji Dong-Won. Their introduction into the big leagues has been made easier due to the few players before them, who despite all the odds, forced themselves and their countries into the limelight. It is because of these men that Asian football is receiving the kind of attention it deserves today.

Cha Bum-Kun

Long before Park Ji-Sung put the spotlight on Asian football, his compatriot Cha Bum-Kun had been knocking in the goals as a striker in the Bundesliga. Cha, nicknamed ‘Cha Boom’, began his football career with the South Korean Air 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 their history to be called up to the squad. His career in the Bundesliga began at SV Darmstadt, but he soon moved on to Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen, winning a UEFA Cup with each club in the process, as the main striker. He went on to score 98 goals in his ten-year career, all from open play. He is the all time leading goal-scorer for the South Korean national team with 55 goals in 121 appearances. Cha went on to coach the national team at the 1998 World Cup, and started a number of soccer clinics after his retirement in 1989. All of these achievements culminated in him receiving the title of ‘Asia’s Player of the Century’ by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics in 1999. One can safely say, that he was he was the first modern day Asian footballing legend.

Ali Daei

Seen by many to be the best player to come from Iran, Ali Daei began his footballing career at hometown club, Esteghal Ardabil. This striker-in-the-making used to only be able to represent his club in the summer months, due to his father not being supportive of his playing career during the school year. After a couple of seasons with Iranian giants Persepolis, Daei made the move to the Bundesliga by joining newly promoted Arminia Bielefeld. The following season, he was hand picked to play for Bayern Munich by legendary footballer Franz Beckenbauer, President of the club, who rated him as a world-class centre-forward. He made a famous four million Deutsche mark move from Arminia Bielefeld to the four-time European Cup winners, which was a record for Asian players at the time. Daei was an unused substitute in the famous 1999 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. His international career alludes to his well known attributes as a striker. Ali Daei is the world’s all time leading goal-scorer for a national team, with 109 goals in 149 appearances; a clear 25 goals ahead of Hungarian legend, Ferenc Puskas. Daei’s hard work has paved the way for compratriots like Mohammad Ali Karimi and Javad Nekounam to make moves to the Bundesliga and La Liga respectively.

Hidetoshi Nakata

Hidetoshi Nakata began his professional career at the age of eighteen in 1995, with J. League side Bellmare Hiratsuka. After the 1998 World Cup in France, Nakata was signed by A.C. Perugia in Italy’s Serie A for $ 4 million, becoming the second Japanese player ever to appear in the Italian top league, after Kazu Miura had done it for Genoa four years earlier. He spent the majority of his career in Serie A, playing for clubs like Roma, Parma, Bologna and Fiorentina. He even spent a year on loan at Premier League side Bolton Wanderers, which is where he ended his career. Due to his obsession with fashion, he was dubbed Asia’s ‘David Beckham‘, but this should not distract one from the amazing qualities he possessed as a football player. He proved himself on a regular basis, and even got Pele’s attention when the great Brazilian named Nakata in his Fifa 100 list for the best living footballers at that time. To add to his impressive resume, Nakata was also nominated for the Ballon d’Or three times. Shinji Kagawa has some huge boots to fill, because Nakata is without a doubt, Japan’s greatest player so far.

Hakan ?ükür

With Turkey being a Eurasian country, Hakan ?ükür qualifies to be featured on this list. The ‘Bull of Bosphorus’ predominantly made a name for himself playing for Turkish giants Galatasaray, during three different spells throughout his career. In between those spells, he enjoyed stints at clubs in the Serie A, especially Inter Milan, and in the English Premier League with Blackburn Rovers. In his career he won a UEFA Cup and an Italian Cup, as well as the Turkish League eight times, but the highlight of his career was his goal against South Korea, in the third place playoff at the 2002 World Cup, where he scored the fastest ever goal (10.8 secs from kickoff) in World Cup history. ?ükür represented Turkey a total of 112 times, scoring 51 goals, making him the nation’s top goalscorer. Being the star of Turkish football, Hakan ?ükür showed the way to other Turkish players like Emre, Hamit Altintop, Arda Turan and now, Nuri Sahin, as well as a number of other Turks that have gone on to play for clubs in all the top leagues in Europe.

Park Ji-Sung

And finally, the face of Asian football as we know it – Park Ji-Sung. Easily the Asian player that has had the most impact on the world of football, we all know about ’3 Lung Park’. Key attributes such as his never ending reserves of energy, his ability to score crucial goals in important matches, and his need to always put the team first, is what led Manchester United to snap him up from PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch League for £4 million. The rest is history. During his time as a key member of the Red Devils, Park went on to win four Premier League titles, three League Cups, one Champions League trophy, as well the Club World Cup.

He also captained his country and ended up representing South Korea in 100 matches, scoring 13 goals. The success of Park Ji-Sung at Manchester United catalyzed the current movement of European clubs taking to various countries in Asia to search for young and unknown talents. As a result, there are a number of Asian players now plying their trade across all the major European leagues.

These stars are an example of what the Asian community is capable of on a football field, provided they have the heart and drive for the sport, as well as the facilities to enhance their natural talent. With Sunil Chhetri now playing in Portugal with Sporting Lisbon, we are perhaps seeing the beginnings of real change on the Indian football front. As an ex- national level player, I can tell you first hand that the few facilities we possess are woefully behind the times. Big clubs in Europe wanting to start football schools in our country is welcome news, as we are in desperate need of quality facilities. Hopefully the day will come, when we see an Indian pull on the jersey of a big club in any of the major leagues in Europe. Don’t get me wrong, that day is not close, but it is also not as far as we may think it to be.