Jong-woo Park

Park Jong-woo
Personal information
Date of birth	(1989-03-10) 10 March 1989 (age 25)
Place of birth	Seongnam, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Central midfielder
Club information
Current club	Guangzhou R&F
Number	8
Youth career
2008–2009	Yonsei University
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2010–2013	Busan IPark	96	(7)
2014–	Guangzhou R&F	8	(0)
National team‡
2011–2012	South Korea U23	9	(1)
2012–	South Korea	10	(0)
Honours[show] Olympic Games Bronze 2012 London Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 April 2014. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18 December 2012

Park Jong-woo (Korean: 박종우; born 10 March 1989) is a South Korean football player, who currently plays for Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F as a midfielder.

Club career

Park joined Busan IPark from Yonsei University for the 2010 K-League season.^[1] Park's first appearance for his new club was in the K-League, as a substitute in the 3–0 win over FC Seoul on 2 May 2010.^[2] Since his debut, Park has established himself as a Busan regular, making several appearances in both 2010 and 2011. Park scored his first professional goal in a drawn match with the Chunnam Dragons on 21 August 2011.^[3]

Park enjoyed a personally successful 2012 season, in which he became a key figure for Busan I'Park due to his commitment, accomplished passing and excellent set piece delivery. His performances ensured his inclusion in the South Korea squad for the London Olympics that summer.

Park continued his good form into 2013. On the opening day of the K-League Classic season, during a 2-2 draw with Gangwon, he assisted Lim Sang-hyub's's opening goal, and later converted a penalty. On 7 August, Park scored the deciding goal, also from the penalty spot, in the 2-1 victory over FC Seoul in the quarter final of the FA Cup, taking Busan into the semi finals. Park was included in the official K-League Team of the Week on six occasions during the 2013 season.

On 13 February 2014, Park transferred to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F.^[4]

International Career

Park was included in the South Korean squad for the 2012 London Olympics. He started all three group games as South Korea finished second in their group and advanced to the next round. In the quarter final match with Great Britain, Park played the entire 120 minutes as the game went to a penalty shoot-out. Park took and emphatically scored the fourth penalty for Korea, who won the shoot-out 5-4. Park was an unused substitute in the semi final defeat to Brazil, but returned to the starting line-up for the third place play-off victory over Japan, which ensured Korea were bronze medal winners.

After impressing at the Olympic Games, Park made his full international debut on 17 October 2012 in a World Cup qualifying defeat to Iran. He has since been a regular member of the national team squad, and also represented his country in the 2013 East Asian Cup.

London Olympics Controversy

Although the International Olympic Committee prohibits players from making political statements, following South Korea's victory of Japan in the Bronze medal match of the men's soccer, Park displayed the sign with a slogan of justification for Korea's occupation of the Liancourt Rocks, known as Dokdo or Tokto (독도, literally) in Korean, or Takeshima (たけしま/竹島^?) in Japanese.^[5] As a consequence he was banned from the medal ceremony and unlike his other 17 teammates he did not receive a bronze medal for his performance. It was also announced that he was under investigation by the International Olympic Committee and soccer's governing body FIFA,^[6] both of which have rules that prohibit political statements by athletes on the field.^[7]

South Korea exempts Olympic medalists from military service to motivate them to win. Despite Park not receiving a medal due to his political statement South Korean sports minister Choe Kwang-shik stated that regardless of what the IOC investigation decides Park will still not be required to do the two years of military service that South Korean men are required to do.^[8] FIFA failed to reach a conclusion on the case at a meeting at its Zurich headquarters held on 5 October, and the disciplinary committee discussed the case again on the following week,^[9] then failed to reach a verdict again.

After that, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) announced that Park would receive his bronze medal.^[10]

However, the case was heard again by the committee on 20 November,^[11] and FIFA finally decided and announced on 3 December to suspend Park for two matches after he was considered to have breached the FIFA Disciplinary Code and the Regulations of the Olympic Football Tournaments. FIFA also impose a warning on the Korea Football Association and reminded it of its obligation to properly instruct its players on all the pertinent rules and applicable regulations before the start of any competition, in order to avoid such incident in the future. The Korea Football Association was warned that should incidents of such nature occur again in the future, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee may impose harsher sanctions on the Korea Football Association.^[12]

On 11 February 2013, Park attended an International Olympic Committee disciplinary hearing at Lausanne, Switzerland. After the Disciplinary Commission reviewed Park's action at the Olympics, the IOC decided to give the player the medal he had been barred from collecting for several months.^[13] Park was subsequently awarded his Olympic bronze medal, following a ruling by the International Olympic Committee over his celebration at the London Olympic Games.^[14][15]

Club career statistics

As of 30 November 2013

References

External links

• Park Jong-woo at kleague.com
• Player Record at soccerway.com
• Park Jong-woo on Twitter