Ethnicity and Football - 'Oriental' Footballers

'Oriental' Footballers

See also: British Orientals in association football

Players of Oriental origin have a long tradition - often forgotten - in European football. Hong Y 'Frank' Soo played 9 times for England during the 2nd World War. Sammy Chung coached Wolverhampton Wanderers to a UEFA Cup Final in 1972, and later as manager helped led them to promotion from the old 2nd division to the old 1st division. Vikash Dhorasoo, of Indo-Mauritian descent, played for the French national team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. South Korean Park Ji-Sung who plays at Manchester United is an excellent example of Asian footballer who can be a rising star in big clubs in Europe. Park may be preceded by the Japanese player Hidetoshi Nakata, who played at various European clubs such as Perugia, AS Roma, Parma, Bologna, Fiorentina and lately at Bolton Wanderers. Another Japanese player, Shunsuke Nakamura, overcame criticism of his lack of pace and stamina, and helped seal Celtic FC's 2006-2007 Scottish Premier League season title. The most prominent example of an Asian player having a successful career in a big European League in the 20th century was Cha Bum-Kun, a Korean striker who played for Darmstadt, Frankfurt and Leverkusen in the German league, scoring 98 goals in 308 matches in Germany. He was later given the title Asia's Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. Other Korean, Iranian, Chinese and Japanese football players have also gained starting places in their respective clubs in Europe. Some football clubs hire the Asian football stars hoping to increase merchandise sales from the player's respective Asian country. However in Britain in 2007, there have still been complaints of a lack of Asian participants in top league football.