Kim Nam-Il

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Kim.
Kim Nam-Il
Image:Kimnamil.jpg
Personal information
Full name Kim Nam-Il
Date of birth 14 March 1977
Place of birth    Incheon[1], South Korea
Height 1.82 m (5'11")
Nickname The Hoover
Playing position midfielder
Club information
Current club Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2000-04
2002-03
2005-
Chunnam Dragons
Excelsior Rotterdam (loan)
Suwon Bluewings
103 (8)
8 (0)
2 (0)   
National team2
1998- Korea Republic 69 (1)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 2005.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 23 June 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Kim Nam-Il (Korean: 김남일; born March 14, 1977) is a Korean football player. Kim is a defensive midfielder for Suwon Samsung Bluewings. He was virtually unknown before he became a superstar for his impressive defensive displays in the 2002 Football World Cup.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Pre-fame

Kim Nam-Il began playing soccer in 3rd grade in grade school. His decision to play soccer was met with opposition from his parents initially because of his impressive academic performance.[2]

Formerly an unimpressive attacking midfielder, Guus Hiddink converted Kim into an international-class holding midfielder by utilising his defensive talents.

[edit] 2002 FIFA World Cup

Kim became a star in 2002 because of his performance in 2002 FIFA World Cup. Kim was nicknamed the "The Hoover," from his peers for his clean tackling and aggressiveness to 'sweep' his zone of any balls.

[edit] Kim Nam-Il Syndrome

The term "Kim Nam-Il Syndrome" began to be coined by tabloids to describe Kim's superstardom status. During the 2002 World Cup, he gained an unusually large female fan base,[3] led to sold-out matches and goodies, and caused a sudden increase in Chunnam Dragons's popularity.[4][5] Kim, a former unknown to the public, then became highly desirable by numerous endorsement companies that were eager to pay high amounts of money.[4] Many TV programs had asked, or pressured at times for, Kim to appear, but Kim rejected their offers, and appeared only on interviews instead.[6]

He also became notorious for his frank and eccentric personality. Quotes of Kim during the Interviews surfaced on the internet, such as "Hey, Myung Bo, let's eat,"[7] (명보야 밥먹자) referring to Hong Myung Bo who is eight years his senior.

[edit] Post-2002 World Cup

After the World Cup, Kim briefly played on loan for Excelsior Rotterdam, a Dutch football club, hoping he would get an opportunity to play for Feyenoord, where Song Chong-Guk used to play for at the time. Unfortunately, Kim's contract expired before he could make a strong impression, and had no choice but to come back to Korea to play for Chunnam Dragons, where he used to play for before 2002 Football World Cup.

Kim's transfer to Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2005 caused quite a controversy when traded for not one, but two athletes. One of the athletes who were traded for Kim was Ko Jong-Su who was once a star player of the team for a very long time.

[edit] 2006 World Cup

Overcoming an injury in his right foot, Kim made a comeback in late 2005 and quickly re-established his position in the national team and consequently won a place in the South Korean squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In 2006, he said that he had given up his hope of playing for a football club in Europe, and wants to be "a legend of K-League who will be remembered by his fans forever."

In August 2006, he was chosen as the captain of the Korean national football team inheriting the title from Lee Woon-Jae.

[edit] 2007

In March 2007, Kim recently suffered a neck injury during a match against Pusan I'Park. Suwon Samsung won the match 1-0 and set a record for 200 wins in the least number of games.[8]

[edit] Personal life

Kim is the youngest of the three brothers in his family, and is a close friend of Lee Kwan-Woo and Lee Dong-Gook.

Since 2006, there had been rumours about his relationship with anchorwoman Kim Bo-Min eventually leading to the possibility of his marriage. The question was raised once again when a netizen posted a picture of a woman who he claimed was Kim Bo-Min at Suwon World Cup Stadium. The woman was wearing a hat and a light green scarf that covered about half of her face.[9]

Both Kim Bo-Min and Kim Nam-Il neither confirmed nor denied the allegation. In an interview with a woman's magazine, the footballer's parents have stated that they have heard from their son that they are romantically involved, but did not hear about marriage.[10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links


Flag of South Korea South Korea squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place Flag of South Korea

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

Flag of South Korea South Korea squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Flag of South Korea

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

Suwon Samsung Bluewings - Current Squad

1 Lee Woon-Jae | 2 Mato | 3 Park Joo-Sung | 4 Lee Jung-Soo | 5 Kim Nam-Il | 7 Kim Jin-Woo | 8 Song Chung-Gug | 9 Edu | 10 Ahn Jung-Hwan | 11 Kim Dae-Eui | 12 Nadson | 13 Lee Kwan-Woo | 14 Moon Min-Kwi | 15 Lee Sa-Vik | 16 Bae Ki-Jong | 17 Park Sung-Bae | 18 Shin Young-Rok | 19 Namgoong Wong | 20 Baek Ji-Hoon | 21 Kim Dae-Hwan | 22 Lee Hyun-Jin | 23 Cho Won-Hee | 24 Son Seung-Joon | 25 Choi Sung-Hwan | 26 Kim Tae-Jin | 27 Seo Dong-Hyun | 28 Ha Tae-Kyoon | 29 Kwak Hee-Joo | 30 Ko Kyung-Joon | 31 Park Ho-Jin | 32 Im Yo-Hwan | 33 Denis | 34 Lee Sun-Woo | 37 Jung Min-Soo | 39 Kim Hyun-Joon | 40 Choi Chan-Yang | 41 Kwon Ki-Bo | 42 Kim Hyun-Seung | 43 Han Byung-Young | 44 Jung Yoon-Sung | 45 Lee Hyun-Ho | 46 Park Kun-Ha | Coach: Cha Bum-Kun