Only three foreign footballers have ever taken Korean citizenship and thus been eligible for the Korean national team, but their past international exploits with their own countries ruled them out of it. Valery Sarychev (who naturalised in 1998) made his international debut for Tajikistan in 1997 against Korea after a passport problem left that nation short of players for a friendly and they called up some Soviet players from the K-League to replace them. Denis Laktionov played for Russia in 2002 just after the World Cup (was included in their provisional tournament squad but didn't make the final selection), before he naturalised in the summer of 2003, and I think Jasenko Sabitovic's appearances for the Croatian U21 side ruled him out of ever playing for the KNT after naturalisation. Coelho was keen on calling him up but it wasn't possible. Manic Radivoje did start the naturalisation process when he joined Incheon, however his wife made him cancel that idea He'd already played for Yugoslavia against Korea in 1997 so wouldn't have been eligible. There were calls for Sasa Drakulic to take citizenship prior to the World Cup as there were worries over the national team's forward line (aren't there always?) and he seriously considered it, but wasn't prepared to give up his Serbian passport completely. Botti too was considering naturalising and would have been eligible by now but for his move to Japan. Not entirely sure about Korean NT members with foreign parents... I know of Jang Dae-il (English father, Korean mother) who went to the France World Cup in 1998.
dude does know an insane amount about the K-league. Gotta keep settin' the bar higher and higher dont ya?
It'd be nice if we had a foreign goalkeeper, Kim Young Kwang is pure shite and Kim Yong Dae is getting old.
What are you talking about? Kim Yong Dae is 28. He's probably got at least another four years in him. KYG will get better. He's shown flashes of brilliance.
not to be racist but honestly i wouldn't like to see any foreigner on the KNT let's keep it purely korean
I would like to see naturalized non-Korean-born player on KNT if a player has true loyalty to Korea and is as good as Mato, Sasa, Magno etc.
back in 02 i was hoping that denis would naturalize and possibly earn a spot on the knt. but it didn't happen. can't see why he wanted to play for russia, the country of his birth? darn...
I personally don't think there is nothing wrong with having atleast 1 foreigner on a NT. But everyone's opinion is different I guess.
I guess I know what it means when you guys say "foreigner," but naturalized or not, I think it's pretty silly to call any of our NT member a foreigner. Anyone with Korean citizenship who wears our jersey with pride is Korean in my book. I don't care if he's white or black. He could be green for all I care.
I'm OK with foreign only if they live Korea as kid. I dont want us become mercs like France and Japan, their just hoars mang, hoars.
What you have against France? You know, all black players playing in squad were raised France since kid. kkk
But they are. They were born in France, raised in France and have the french nationality. All are kids from immigrants. Thus, they can play for the national team.
They wasnt all born France. Some born somewhere else and imported. Their got luck they can import African becuse native French are shit in sports.
Tell me who. And please, don't speak if you don't know anything about french sport and french football. Was Zidane an import? Henry? Trezeguet? Lizarazu? Barthez? All born in France. What about the new generation? Ribéry, Nasri, Ben Zema, Gourcuff, Menez. All the same.
WTF? I aint gonna do reserch. This issue been discuss, several Frenchies admit some of their player naturlize not born France, dont remeber exact ages but 2 or 3 were like at 13 or 14 I think.
Patrick Viera. born in Senegal, went to france at age of 8 and grew up there. Had a choice of playing for Senegal or France, chose France. There are couple other players in similar circumstances and other fringe players or players who play in France (scouted by the clubs at various ages 12-16) but not called up for French NT. Im not sure if there is a case where a 16 yr old went to France on a football scholarship and ended up playing for France. Now Japan has done that. They even naturalised fully grown adults who came to play pro football in Japan.... Anyway i think both Naru Naru and Ganahal will agree, if a player came to Korea, not on a youth football programme of any sort, grew up here and became a Korean citizen, then fine, he can play for Korea if he gets selected. When Botti and other foreign players wanted to play for Korea, initially i was tempted by it. If our neighbours and everyone else is doing it why not us? Are we missing out on a large pool of possible players? However, in the end, when they werent allowed to play for Korea, i thought it was the right decision. Of course, things could change. I merely hope that we never cross the line and naturalise people who came to the country to play football. However much they say they love the country, however much they speak fluent Korean etc its just not right for football. Its ok for work and stuff, its correct to give foreign workers, foreign residents, naturalised foreigners appropriate rights and fair opportunities. Like, if an accountant, a professor, a labourer came to Korea to work and got settled here, he can continue to be an accountant, a professor or a labourer, even get Industry Awards, become CEOs of Korean companies etc. If he suddenly finds out he is brilliant in football, then fine he can play for the NT, or if his children are footballing geniuses thats fine. But someone who came to learn/play or earn a living as a footballer to nautralise so that they can be selected by a scheming two-faced FA? The difference lies in what kind of people they are. Are they the type of people who are guied by principles (who may bend some rules now and again to apply those principles), or are they the type of people who even when they know full well the rules have loop holes and what they are doing is going against the spirit of why those rules were set up, take advantage of the fact rules cannot cover everything and scheme their way around it all the while pretending to be something they are not.