Ahn Jung-Hwan

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Ahn.

Personal information
Ahn Jung-Hwan
Full name	Ahn Jung-Hwan
Date of birth	January 27, 1976 (age 31)
Place of birth	Paju, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Height	177cm
Playing position	forward
Club information
Current club	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Youth clubs
1996	Ajou University
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997-00 2000-02 2002-03 2004-05 2005-06 2006 2007-	Busan Icons AC Perugia Shimizu S-Pulse Yokohama F Marinos FC Metz MSV Duisburg Suwon Samsung Bluewings	87 (44) 30 (5) 38 (14) 34 (16) 16 (2) 12 (2) 3 (3)
National team²
1999-	Korea Republic	65 (18)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 June 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 23 June 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Ahn Jung-Hwan
Hangul:	안정환
Revised Romanization:	An Jeong-Hwan
McCune-Reischauer:	An Chŏng-Hwan

Ahn Jung-Hwan (born January 27, 1976 in Paju, Gyeonggi) is a South Korean football player; he made world headlines by scoring the winning golden goal for Korea against Italy in the 2002 World Cup second round and sending Korea into the quarterfinals.

At the time, Ahn was on loan at Italian league side Perugia. His extra-time header dumped the three-time champions from the World Cup. The next day, Perugia owner Luciano Gaucci was quoted by the Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport as saying, "I am not going to pay the salary of a guy who has ruined Italian soccer."

Perugia later took back what it said, and offered to outright buy Ahn's contract. But Ahn rejected it, saying "I will no longer discuss my transfer to Perugia, which attacked my character instead of congratulating me for a goal in the World Cup."

Ahn then attempted to secure a permanent move to a European club but failed, and returned to Asia, joining the J. League with Shimizu S-Pulse. After one season there, he moved to another J-League team, Yokohama F Marinos. After this successful spell in Japan, he returned to Europe to play for French team FC Metz in July 2005.

Prior to moving to Europe, Ahn played in the K-League with Daewoo Royals, now known as Busan I'Park.

On the 16th of January 2006 Ahn was invited to train with Blackburn Rovers but twice failed to show up.

In February 2006 he secured a 17-month deal with MSV Duisburg in Germany. However, the German club was relegated from the Bundesliga and Ahn failed to move Hearts of SPL or several other European teams.[1] [2]. He has since been released by MSV.

Ahn failed in 2006 to find another team in Europe, and returned to one of the top clubs in Asia, Suwon Samsung Bluewings with one-year contract since January 2007.

On March 14, 2007, Ahn Jung Hwan scored his first goal of the season against Daejeon Citizen at the 18th minute of the first half with a pass from Lee Kwan-Woo. He went on to score a second goal in the 39th minute with a 30 yard pass from Lee. In the 82nd minute, Ahn Jung Hwan scored a hat trick after a through pass from Nadson Rodrigues de Souza. This was Ahn Jung-Hwan's third game of the season, and the Bluewings won the match 4:0 with a goal from Nadson. [3]

Ahn was quoted after the match. "I felt good before the game and I knew I was ready. It feels wonderful to have a great game and make the Suwon fans happy." [4]

Ahn is married to a former Miss Korea, Lee Hye-Won.

[edit] Facts

Ahn Jung-Hwan is sometimes called "the Lord of the Ring" by Korean fans. He got this nickname by kissing his wedding ring after every goal he scores.

During the 2002 FIFA World Cup Ahn scored the tying goal late in Korea's match with the USA. After scoring the goal he performed a goal celebration with his teammates, mimicking the movements of a speed skater. Six months earlier, during the 2002 Winter Olympics a Korean speedskater, Kim Dong-Sung was questionably disqualified for "cross tracking" American skater Apolo Anton Ohno in their 1500 m short track event. Because of the disqualification, Ohno won the gold medal even though Kim passed the finish line first. Ahn's celebration was a form of protest against the ISU's decision, which many Koreans felt was favoritism towards the USA.

He was selected for Korea's 2006 FIFA World Cup squad in Germany, and came off the bench to score the winner in Korea's 2-1 opening match win over Togo, after coming from a goal down at halftime. He is Asia's career leader in goals scored in the World Cup with three.

After the 2006 World Cup, new Korea Republic manager Pim Verbeek announced his new 23-man roster for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Ahn was not announced to be on the team. Neither were former teammates in the 2006 World Cup, Park Chu-Young and Lee Woon-Jae. Verbeek then said that his decision for Ahn to not be on the Korea Republic roster was not personal. And also said Ahn would not return to the team as long as he is clubless (but was signed by the Suwon Samsung Bluewings early January 2007).

	South Korea squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place
1 Lee Woon‑Jae \| 2 Hyun Young‑Min \| 3 Choi Sung‑Yong \| 4 Choi Jin‑Cheul \| 5 Kim Nam‑Il \| 6 Yoo Sang‑Chul \| 7 Kim Tae‑Young \| 8 Choi Tae‑Uk \| 9 Seol Ki‑Hyeon \| 10 Lee Young‑Pyo \| 11 Choi Yong‑Soo \| 12 Kim Byung‑Ji \| 13 Lee Eul‑Yong \| 14 Lee Chun‑Soo \| 15 Lee Min‑Sung \| 16 Cha Du‑Ri \| 17 Yoon Jung‑Hwan \| 18 Hwang Sun‑Hong \| 19 Ahn Jung‑Hwan \| 20 Hong Myung‑Bo \| 21 Park Ji‑Sung \| 22 Song Chong‑Gug \| 23 Choi Eun‑Sung \| Coach: Hiddink

	South Korea squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Lee Woon‑Jae \| 2 Kim Young‑Chul \| 3 Kim Dong‑Jin \| 4 Choi Jin‑Cheul \| 5 Kim Nam‑Il \| 6 Kim Jin‑Kyu \| 7 Park Ji‑Sung \| 8 Kim Doo‑Hyun \| 9 Ahn Jung‑Hwan \| 10 Park Chu‑Young \| 11 Seol Ki‑Hyeon \| 12 Lee Young‑Pyo \| 13 Lee Eul‑Yong \| 14 Lee Chun‑Soo \| 15 Baek Ji‑Hoon \| 16 Chung Kyung‑Ho \| 17 Lee Ho \| 18 Kim Sang‑Sik \| 19 Cho Jae‑Jin \| 20 Kim Yong‑Dae \| 21 Kim Young‑Kwang \| 22 Song Chong‑Gug \| 23 Cho Won‑Hee \| Coach: Advocaat