 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 24 January 1989 | ||
| Place of birth | Gwangju, South Korea | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 11⁄2 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Central Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Sunderland (on loan from Swansea City) | ||
| Number | 4 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2001–2005 | John Paul College | ||
| 2005 | Kumho High School | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2006–2009 | FC Seoul | 64 | (7) |
| 2009–2012 | Celtic | 66 | (9) |
| 2012– | Swansea City | 30 | (0) |
| 2013– | → Sunderland (loan) | 15 | (1) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2005–2006 | South Korea U-17 | 6 | (3) |
| 2006–2007 | South Korea U-20 | 16 | (2) |
| 2007–2012 | South Korea U-23 | 21 | (1) |
| 2008– | South Korea | 55 | (5) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 January 2014.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2013 | |||
| Ki Sung-Yueng | |
| Hangul | 기성용 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 奇誠庸[2] |
| Revised Romanization | Gi Seong-yong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Ki Sŏng'yong |
Ki Sung-Yueng (Korean: 기성용, born 24 January 1989) is a South Korean professional footballer who currently plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Sunderland, on loan from Swansea City, and the South Korea national team.
Ki is known for his vision, technique, long-range passing and shooting, along with his good set-pieces.
Early life
In 2001, Ki was sent to Australia by his father, who believed Ki could play football and learn English.[3]He played the bulk of his youth career at John Paul College in Brisbane under the BSP (Brain Soccer Program) overseen by Jeff Hopkins. He was part of the team that won the U-15 Nationals (Bill Turner Cup) for John Paul College in 2004. Ki received offers in 2005 from Korean club FC Seoul and also A-League club Brisbane Roar (then Queensland Roar), but decided to move back to South Korea to continue his career. Since then, Ki has been a fluent English speaker. He went by his English name David in Australia.[4]
Club career
FC Seoul
Ki returned to Korea and joined FC Seoul where he played alongside national teammate Lee Chung-Yong. He was a Substitute in the last match of the 2006 League Cup,[5] but did not play. Under Şenol Güneş, he made his senior debut in 2007.
During the 2008 season, Ki reinforced his position as a key player of FC Seoul. On 29 October, Ki scored the winning goal against Seoul's biggest rival Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 92nd minute. Ki performed a "Kangaroo Ceremony", which he claims to be an imitation of Emmanuel Adebayor's ceremony, but Suwon fans have argued that this was imitation of 'chicken', which is what many Seoul fans call Suwon. He led the team to an unprecedented K-League runners-up position with 4 goals and 1 assist in 21 appearances.
In FC Seoul's first K-League match of the 2009 season, Ki scored one goal in the 6–1 drubbing ofChunnam Dragons. There was increasing speculation regarding a big move abroad with suitors including PSV Eindhoven, Hamburg SV and Porto among others.[6]
Celtic
On 25 August 2009, it was revealed that contact between Celtic and FC Seoul had occurred regarding the possibility of Ki's transfer to the Parkhead club. However, the player's agent stated that an immediate move would be unlikely given FC Seoul's success in the league and the Asian Champions League. Three days later, Celtic clinched a £2.1m transfer for Ki. He linked up with the Parkhead side in the January transfer window at the end of the K-League season. The signing was confirmed on 13 December 2009 after Ki passed a medical and secured a work permit. He reportedly turned down an offer from English Premier Leagueclub Portsmouth. He took the number 18 with "Ki" on his shirt. He made his debut for Celtic in a 1–1 draw against Falkirk at Celtic Park on 16 January 2010, winning the Man of the Match award from the official Celtic website.[7][8][9][10][11][12] He played a further four games for Celtic that season, but struggled to make much impact in what was a period of upheaval for the club.
Ki barely played for Celtic in the first month of season 2010-12, but came off the bench to score his first competitive goal for Celtic on 22 August 2010 with a shot from 25 yards in a 4–0 victory against St. Mirren in theScottish Premier League (SPL).[13] By the end of October he had become a first team regular and was voted theSPL Young Player of the Month for October 2010.[14][15] However, on 30 October 2010, Ki found himself the recipient of apparent racist abuse during a league match away at St Johnstone. A section of the St Johnstone support were heard making barking noises - 'woofing' - at Ki as he took a corner kick. Chants of "Who ate all the dogs?" where also heard from the home fans throughout the game.[16]
Ki scored his second goal of the season in a 2–2 draw with Inverness Thistle at Celtic Park.[17] On 26 December 2010, Ki scored against St Johnstone in a 2–0 victory in the SPL,[18] in what was his last game for Celtic before travelling to Qatar to play for South Korea in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup during January.[19] On coming back to Scotland in February, Ki returned to the Celtic first team for the 2-2 draw against Rangers in a Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox. Celtic played a significant part of the game with only ten men after Fraser Forster was sent off, but the midfield including Ki won praise for the manner in which they dominated the game in the second half.[20] Ki also played in the replay at Celtic Park, an ill-tempered match which Celtic won 1-0.[21] On 21 May 2011, Ki scored the first goal of Celtic's Scottish Cup Final win against Motherwell with a left-footed strike from around 35 yards. He also won the official Man of the Match award.[22][23]
Ki started the 2011–12 campaign in Celtic's opening game against Hibernian in the SPL. Scoring the second goal in a 2–0 victory, a 25-yard left foot strike into the right hand bottom corner and also won the Man of the Match award from the official Celtic website. He impressed Celtic manager Neil Lennon so much in the Hibernian game that he said:[24]
| “ | He's a very important player to us. I rate him very highly. He can go on to be anything he wants to be," Lennon told The Telegraph. "We think he is a class player and we're glad he's here." He added: “Ki has been very consistent over the past 18 months. He's developing nicely into a class player. "He had good presence and good composure on the ball. He has a goal or two in him and his passing range is excellent." | ” |
Ki then went on to score another goal in the Scottish Premier League against Dundee United at Celtic Park, a strike into the top left hand corner from the edge of the box. On 15 August 2011 it was reported that Premier League sides Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham Hotspur and several clubs from the Russian Premier League were interested in signing Ki. Celtic the next day issued a hands off warning to the interested clubs, saying that it would take a bid of significant proportions for Celtic to allow the increasingly important midfielder to leave the club.[25] On 10 September 2011, Ki put Motherwell to the sword yet again, this time in the Scottish Premier League with a superb strike from outside the box with his right foot. Celtic went on to win the game 4–0. On 29 September, he started in Celtic's 1–1 draw with Italian side Udinese, scoring on a penalty after 3 minutes.[26] On 18 December 2011, he scored the second goal of the game as Celtic beat St Johnstone 2–0 at McDiarmid Park in the Scottish Premier League. Over the course of the 2011–2012 campaign, Ki scored 7 goals and had 6 assists, playing a key role in helping Celtic win the Scottish title.[27] Ki's talent and performance at Celtic and national team drew the interest of teams such QPR, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Deportivo La Coruña, Rubin Kazan, and several Bundesliga clubs.[28][29]
Swansea City
On 24 August 2012, Ki transferred to Swansea City for around £6 million on a three-year deal, which was Swansea's record transfer fee until it was broken byWilfried Bony.[30] He made his debut for the Swans in a 3–1 victory against Barnsley in the second round of the League Cup at Liberty Stadium on 28 August 2012. Wearing a No. 24 jersey, Ki started as a central midfielder and was substituted 76 minutes into the game.[31]
Ki enjoyed a promising debut season in the Premier League. Although he failed to replicate the scoring form he displayed at Celtic,[32] his passing style drew praise from supporters and critics,[33] and he finished the season with 38 appearances in all competitions. On 24 February 2013, Swansea City competed in the final of the League Cup.[34] Ki played for over an hour in the final in an unfamiliar central defensive role.[34][35] The tactical switch proved to be a success, as Swansea ran out comfortable 5–0 winners against Bradford City[34] as Ki won his first trophy with the Welsh club.[35]
Sunderland
On 31 August 2013, Ki joined Sunderland on a season-long loan with a mid-season re-call option.[36] He scored his first goal for Sunderland in the 119th minute against Chelsea in a 2–1 League Cup quarterfinal win.[37] On December 26 he scored his second for Sunderland in a 1-0 away win over Everton. Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard played a short pass to Leon Osman who was robbed of the ball by Ki. Howard brought Ki down and was sent off, and Ki converted the penalty kick himself to give the Black Cats a vital win. It was Ki's first league goal.[38][39]
International career
On the international stage, Ki has played in the 2007 U-20 World Cup and for the South Korea national team as well as the South Korea U-23 team.[40]
On 7 June 2008, he made his international debut in a 2010 World Cup qualification match against Jordan.[40]
On 1 June 2010 Ki was picked in the 23-man South Korea world cup squad.[41] On 12 June Ki played in South Korea's first game of the 2010 World Cupagainst Greece.[42] Ki played a part in all 3 group games and assisted twice in 2 different matches against Greece and Nigeria which helped him and his country get through to the knock-out stages of the competition.[42]
On 25 January 2011, during the 2011 AFC Asian Cup semi-final match between Japan and South Korea, Ki scored the opening goal through a penalty kick.[43] Ki created a controversy by celebrating his goal by making a monkey face and scratching his cheek in front of a pitch-side camera in an allegedly racist slur at Japanese people.[44] Ki initially defended his goal celebration through a Twitter post claiming that he was annoyed at having seen a Rising Sun Flag in the stadium.[45] Ki then claimed that the celebration was a reference to alleged racist abuse he had received during Scottish Premier League games from opposition fans, but the chief executive of Show Racism the Red Card expressed scepticism about this.[45] Asian Cup tournament director Tokuaki Suzuki said that no action will be taken on part of the AFC and that FIFA has not contacted the AFC regarding the matter.[44]
On 20 December 2011, Ki (along with Ji So-yun of Kobe INAC Japan) was awarded the South Korean Player of the Year award. The decision was announced by the Korean Football Association (KFA) based on his international and club performance in the Scottish Premier League.[46]
In the London 2012 Olympics, he scored the fifth and vital penalty for South Korea in their quarterfinal match against Great Britain, allowing South Korea to progress to the semifinals
