Korean Youth Players Abroad

Why hate Spain? If the kid represents Spain then it's the kid's choice...but is the kid naturalized in Spain or did he hint?

 

I don't understand why some ppl are worrying about what national team he'll represent. He moved to Spain just 1 and a half year ago and like Geseki said, unless he's crazy he's going to represent us.

 

its really moot at this point. sometimes players change nationalities to get EU spots or our league it frees up a foreigner spot. but its never going to happen so lets not even bother. you have exceptions like cameronesi but most stay with the country they are from unless they are not able to play for their home country jones (usa), eduardo (croatia), deco (portugal) etc.

we should not worry about these sorta things. he is only going to the barca football academy to be a future barca player not for spain. he will most likely be called up eventually for either a U17,20,22, or 23 just like messi was.

 

This topic has definitely been beat to death multiple times, in multiple threads on this board. STFU (not you nmssis) and leave it alone. It's worthless trying to talk about hypotheticals when he still has a long way to go in the barca's system.

 

Agree...not sure how this matter came about but if it was a hypothetical then let's put it to rest.

 

Didn't KFA spmose them there?
It usually takes 10 years to get a citizenship there(according to fm heh)
By the time he reached that age and he is skilled... KFA would be calling him ASAP for all youth teams or maybe he will end up like that taekwondo instructors kid heh...

 

What a silly discussion. Question should be, would Spain want him in the National team in the first place?? When it comes to citizenship and ethnic ties, Spain is closer to Korea in attitude than USA or UK.

I remember reading about discussions concerning the inclusion of naturalized Koreans into KNT (I think is was a player from Eastern Europe who gained Korean citizenship) and there were plenty of posters who admitted that they would NEVER accept such individuals in the team no matter what. Far as they were concerned "they" were not REAL Koreans not worthy of representing South Korea.

From everything I have read about Spain, they have similiar atittude toward non-Europeans. Messi, who is Argentian of Italian extraction, who be easily accepted as one of Spain's own, but non European like Korean who have difficult time being accepted. It's not like short-track skating where average Spaniard couldn't give rats ass, but soccer where it's more of a religion than Catholicism. And it is likely some, if not many, Spaniards will not accept a Korean player in their National side, just as some, if not many, Koreans will never accept non-ethnic Korean players in the National team.

 

Barcelona might offer the kid a Spanish citizenship, but that will be only to beat the system and they don't give a rats ass about the national team. If Baek insists on not taking the citizenship, they won't urge him to do it.

Also, KFA didn't send any of the current Barcelona trainees there lol. You can't just send a kid to La Masia. Barcelona isn't Hamburg.

Like some have said, it's silly to discuss the possibility of seeing Baek Seungho representing Spain. Count the number of African-born footballers that have played for Spain's national team and you will know why. Many of Baek Seungho's lifelong Korean friends to be are currently in Korea's underaged squads and Baek probably will want to be playing with them. He can play with his Barcelona friends at Barcelona.

Speaking from first hand experience [and having friends that have moved abroad at different stage of their life], he moved to Barcelona at a mature age and identity won't be a complex issue to him. Baek is old enough to know that he is Korean and not toy with the idea that some part of him that could be Spanish/Catalan.

In contract, Lee Kangin moved to Korea before he was old enough for Korea's underaged squads and he probably won't have too many friends in the system. At his age, pride is a difficult concept and he may not be mentally mature enough to register it into his head. To top it all, he's alone in Spain without the care of his Korean parents. In the not-so-probable scenario where both Baek and Lee are good enough for Spain's national team, I'd say the possibility of Lee Kangin representing Spain is a lot higher.

 

yea i dont think they were sent by the KFA. but they were all on korean youth sides before they made the move there.

looking at the pics of Baek he looks very small now so it will be interesting to see where he ends up. anyone know how tall his parents are?

 

normal height for their generation.

even on the small end, for his generation, he'll probably end up taller than PJS at the end of the day when he's done growing.

 

yea something around 178cm would be sufficient. even Baek Sung-dong height is ok

 

But Baek Sungdong and Park Jisung are miles apart? lol

Baek Seungho will be over 180cm easilly. In fact, sometime within the next two years, he's going to grow so tall that it will affect his playing style. I suspect he will land somewhere around the 183-185cm range.

 

My parents always had me buy shoes 1 size big, thinking that I would grow through high school. I stopped growing in 8th grade and got foot injuries running in shoes that didn't fit.

My parents never sought French citizenship for my brother who was born in Alsace. Now that brother wishes he had dual citizenship to fall on for EU work privileges.

These personal examples have nothing to do with Baek Seungho, but my point is that it's too early to tell for anything with some young kid.

 

It is an observation I've made from monitoring Baek over a few years. Everyone in his family is very tall so it is not a total illusion to think that he will grow to be very tall. His facial features hasn't developed at all since his departure to Spain which means the growth spurt hasn't yet to come. His upper body [including his head] is still a lot taller than his lower body so there's a lot of growing left for him.

 

South Korea doesn't allow dual citizenship for individuals who are over18 years and up. Besides EU is a lousy place to look for work right now and will be for many, many years.

 

lololol this is hilarious.

 

Well, you're not 18 years old when you're born so it's allowed for kids... Having dual citizenship gives you options. You see 유학생s all the time have dual American-Korean, whether it's for attending international schools in Korea or securing loans for college etc., then give it up and return for the army. Btw the age for that law is 21 I believe.

Back on topic:

I seem to remember some source saying that he already signed an endorsement contract with Nike but I see him here wearing adidas boots.

http://www.sportalkorea.com/news/view.php?gisa_uniq=2012022604150051&section_code=20&key=&field=

 

That pic was during his time with the U14 squad, before joining La Masia

 

Sorry to continue with the citizenship thing but
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korean_nationality_law#Dual_citizenship


All abroad Korean footballers apply for the first jot note.

"Koreans with multiple nationalities who has vowed his/her intention not to exercise his/her foreign nationality in the Republic of Korea"

Just keep the non Korean passport in a safe in the country that are playing in. Heh

 

It turns out Cadete A occasionally takes players from Cadete B to its matches

Paik's debut with Cadete A (although from the FCF records it's his only game with Cadete A)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBY3JBFWWXY"]Juvenil A 4 - Reus 0 / Cadete A 3 Damm 1 - YouTube[/ame]
The Cadete A match starts about half way through the vid and you only see one ball touch from Paik but at 6:02 there's a short interview with him!

 

hope that means there are good things to come. Thanks for posting!

 

thanks for the link! seungho looks half the age of the cadete a players haha
he's still young so hopefully that's not much to worry about... i just hope he doesnt turn out to be scrawny like LCY

 

^haha yeah the height difference is so evident..

Also...
They all have twitter accounts! And their teammates also have twitter accounts..

http://twitter.com/#!/SeungHoPaik8
http://twitter.com/#!/SeungWooLee17
http://twitter.com/#!/GyeolHeeJang

 

WTF!

(I beat Mudang to it!)