Manchester United star Park Ji-sung recently gave an interview to the club's official website, in which he reviewed his professional football path and mentioned that when he was a child, in order to persuade his parents to let him play football, he even had to show his determination with a small hunger strike.
"I wasn't in football at all, I can say nothing. When my school said it was going to form a soccer team, I went to it. That's when I started learning to play football. ”
"Actually, at first I wasn't sure if I was good at playing football, but I was probably at the average level of the team. I was too skinny and very small, but I really enjoyed playing football. ”
"I liked going to school because of the presence of the football team. But just a year later, the school disbanded the soccer team. The school is located in a new town, and parents don't like to let their children play football, they want their children to be more involved in learning. ”
"Then the coach of that football team wanted to take five players on the team to another new school, and one of the five players who was selected was me. And I was the only one in that age group, with the other three kids all older than me (one of whom turned down the opportunity to keep playing). It's great for me to be able to keep playing. ”
"But my father wanted me to give up playing, and he didn't like me because I went back very late every day. I said no to him because I wanted to keep playing football. Eventually my father gave me a promise that if I wouldn't give up later, I would continue to play football. Then I said I'm not going to give up, please let me keep playing. In this way, my father and I made an agreement. ”
"In fact, even my grandfather didn't want me to play football, because many people said that if they went to certain sports, they wouldn't be able to go to college, and these bad words naturally spread to my family." They forced me to give up playing football, but I really loved football. Then I did one thing – refusing to eat. If I wasn't allowed to play football, I wouldn't want to eat. That's what I did as a kid, somewhat akin to a hunger strike. ”
Embarking on the path of professional football, Park Ji-sung has later used his football career to prove that it was a completely correct decision.
The arguably most successful Asian footballer in history did not actually debut in South Korea, taking the first steps of his professional football career in Japan, and after playing for the varsity team as a teenager, the former Manchester United midfielder signed with Japan's Kyoto Undead Birds.
Park Ji-sung played in Japan for three years before travelling with his mentor Gus Hiddink to Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where he officially landed in the Europa League. In the past few seasons in the Eredivisie, the Koreans have gradually settled in the main position of the team with their physical running, and won two Eredivisie championships with the team.
In 2005, Park Ji-sung officially transferred to Manchester United for 4 million pounds, becoming the first Korean player in Manchester United's history. He spent a successful seven-year career at Old Trafford, winning four Premier League titles and the Champions League.