otto
09-15-2002, 10:22 PM
People seem confused as to which country's players are ''better'' by mixing up who gets signed to European teams and who actually plays better. Those are two separate things. Once you realize that football has become big business, you will also realize that just because you play better doesn't mean you will get signed to bigger teams in Europe, as is the case with Korean players. If everything was based soley on the skills of the players, one would expect that more Korean players would have been signed to European teams especially after the recent World Cup.
However, the reality is that, aside from player's skills, it's the perceived MARKETABILITY of the player that ultimately goes to decide who will get signed. In the case of Asian teams, even though Korea consistently has better players, Japan and China get more players signed to bigger leagues such as the Premier League. This means that while the amazing performance of Korea at the World Cup has raised the perceived value of Asian players overall, in the end, European teams are more likely to sign Japanese or Chinese players.
Much of this has to do with historical circumstances in that Japan and China have been well-known Asian countries in Europe for hundreds of years before anyone ever heard of Korea (due in large part to Korea's secretive policies for centuries). Chinese and Japanese restaurants are more popular internationally for that same reason. Japan's economy has become one of wealthiest in the world. China has the advantage that they have the world's largest population. Korea, on the other hand, was devastated by war in the early fifties, and had to recover from scratch since then. To be more specific, in the case of Japanese players, Japanese products are considered to have more value and profitability up to now in the global market than Korean products. So the European clubs think more about how much money they will make from T-shirts sold in Japan. They also assume that (like Japanese cars, electronics) Japanese players will be more popular and marketable than Korean players. Not only that, players like Inamoto, Nakata, Suzuki...etc. were partly helped by wealthy Japanese corporations who were willing to sponsor the European teams that would sign them. Money talks. In the case of China, the main reason Chinese players are getting signed to big leagues like the Premier League is because they are much cheaper than Korean or Japanese players. The other reason is that, in the case of England, there is a larger Chinese community (meaning larger consumer base) and more familiarity with Chinese culture within England in general, which translates into perceived marketability.
Korean players have long suffered from their perceived lower market value than Japan as well as being undercut by China who are willing to accept the cheapest prices to get their players into Europe. Certainly, this is not helped by the now infamous dirty play by Italy's Perugia who potentially endangered the career of Jung-Hwan Ahn even after (or should I say, precisely because of) his spectacular display during the World Cup.
Fortunately, things are changing for the better. Anderlecht's Ki-Hyun Seol has been the leading scorer in the Belgian league after scoring 6 goals in the first 4 consecutive games of the season. Jong-Gug Song has already made an impressive debut for Feyenoord. More Korean players have made their way into Europe such as Duri Cha at Bielefed (Leverkusen) and Eul-Yong Lee at Trabzonspor. Guus Hiddink's PSV Eindhoven are said to be making plans for adding Korean players, namely Nam-Il Kim.
Ultimately, I hope the success of more Korean players in Europe finally gains the respect for Asian players as a whole in the world of football, instead of being tokenized as marketable products and number of T-shirts sold. Also, my hope is that the nationalistic rivalries between Asian football countries should take heed from the wonderful camaraderie developing between Jong-Gug Song and Shinji Ono at Feyenoord. May their love of football and friendship help the success of Asian football and help people gradually overcome jingoistic nationalism to the point that this game can truly be called a beautiful game.
However, the reality is that, aside from player's skills, it's the perceived MARKETABILITY of the player that ultimately goes to decide who will get signed. In the case of Asian teams, even though Korea consistently has better players, Japan and China get more players signed to bigger leagues such as the Premier League. This means that while the amazing performance of Korea at the World Cup has raised the perceived value of Asian players overall, in the end, European teams are more likely to sign Japanese or Chinese players.
Much of this has to do with historical circumstances in that Japan and China have been well-known Asian countries in Europe for hundreds of years before anyone ever heard of Korea (due in large part to Korea's secretive policies for centuries). Chinese and Japanese restaurants are more popular internationally for that same reason. Japan's economy has become one of wealthiest in the world. China has the advantage that they have the world's largest population. Korea, on the other hand, was devastated by war in the early fifties, and had to recover from scratch since then. To be more specific, in the case of Japanese players, Japanese products are considered to have more value and profitability up to now in the global market than Korean products. So the European clubs think more about how much money they will make from T-shirts sold in Japan. They also assume that (like Japanese cars, electronics) Japanese players will be more popular and marketable than Korean players. Not only that, players like Inamoto, Nakata, Suzuki...etc. were partly helped by wealthy Japanese corporations who were willing to sponsor the European teams that would sign them. Money talks. In the case of China, the main reason Chinese players are getting signed to big leagues like the Premier League is because they are much cheaper than Korean or Japanese players. The other reason is that, in the case of England, there is a larger Chinese community (meaning larger consumer base) and more familiarity with Chinese culture within England in general, which translates into perceived marketability.
Korean players have long suffered from their perceived lower market value than Japan as well as being undercut by China who are willing to accept the cheapest prices to get their players into Europe. Certainly, this is not helped by the now infamous dirty play by Italy's Perugia who potentially endangered the career of Jung-Hwan Ahn even after (or should I say, precisely because of) his spectacular display during the World Cup.
Fortunately, things are changing for the better. Anderlecht's Ki-Hyun Seol has been the leading scorer in the Belgian league after scoring 6 goals in the first 4 consecutive games of the season. Jong-Gug Song has already made an impressive debut for Feyenoord. More Korean players have made their way into Europe such as Duri Cha at Bielefed (Leverkusen) and Eul-Yong Lee at Trabzonspor. Guus Hiddink's PSV Eindhoven are said to be making plans for adding Korean players, namely Nam-Il Kim.
Ultimately, I hope the success of more Korean players in Europe finally gains the respect for Asian players as a whole in the world of football, instead of being tokenized as marketable products and number of T-shirts sold. Also, my hope is that the nationalistic rivalries between Asian football countries should take heed from the wonderful camaraderie developing between Jong-Gug Song and Shinji Ono at Feyenoord. May their love of football and friendship help the success of Asian football and help people gradually overcome jingoistic nationalism to the point that this game can truly be called a beautiful game.