The ‘Middle East Wind’ is blowing through the K League of Professional Soccer. This summer’s transfer window has seen a number of Korean players head to the Middle East.
Kim Moon-hwan (28) left Jeonbuk Hyundai to join Qatar’s Al Duhail. “We have acquired Kim Moon-hwan from Jeonbuk, the two-time champions of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL),” Alduhail announced on its website on July 24 (KST). “Kim can play as a right fullback and a midfielder,” he said. Kim is the second South Korean player to join Alduhail after Nam Tae-hee. Kim’s contract is reportedly for two years.
Kim began his professional career in 2017 with the Busan I-Park, where he was named to the “Best 11 of the K League 2” for the second consecutive season in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, he left Busan and moved to LACF in the U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS), where he recorded one goal and one assist in 28 games. He then moved to Jeonbuk in March last year.
Kim Moon-hwan has been in the public eye with his performances for the national team. He was called up to the men’s national soccer team led by Paulo Bento and played at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where he helped South Korea reach the round of 16.
Earlier, Ulsan Hyundai’s Park Yong-woo (30) also made a “surprise” move to Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on July 17. “Park Yong-woo passed the medical and agreed to all the necessary details of the contract,” Al Ain said on social media. Park immediately joined the team’s training camp in Spain to get acclimatized. 메이저사이트
Park made his professional debut with FC Seoul in 2015. He then moved to Ulsan in 2017 before joining Gimcheon Commerce in 2020 and completing his military service before returning to Ulsan in 2021. He has eight goals and four assists in 232 games in the K League.
Park Yong-woo was called up to the national team last month by head coach Jürgen Klinsmann. He played in both friendlies against Peru and El Salvador. However, shortly before his selection, he was involved in a “racism controversy” with some Ulsan players over social media comments. He was fined 15 million won and suspended for one game by the Korean Football Association.