Manchester United player profile - Park Ji-Sung

Park Ji-Sung was born on 25 February 1981 in Seoul, South Korea and currently plays football for Manchester United and South Korea. Park Ji-Sung grew up in Suwon, a city south of Seoul and began his football career playing for Myongji University. In 2000 whilst playing for the university side Park Ji-Sung was spotted by Japanese professional club Kyoto Purple Sanga who offered him his first professional contract which he accepted. Park Ji-Sung's international career began at this time too when he was selected for the team to represent South Korea at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In 2001 Park Ji-Sung won his first championship with Kyoto Purple Sanga as they sealed the Japanese division 2 title and gained promotion to the first division.

The following season Park Ji-Sung was instrumental in Kyoto winning the 'Emperor's Cup' scoring and assisting goals in their 2-1 victory in the final. South Korea became the Korea Republic and their then Dutch manager Guus Hiddink selected Park Ji-Sung for the South Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup Finals squad which unexpectedly reached the semi finals where they eventually lost 1-0 to Germany. Park Ji-Sung then moved to Holland to play for PSV Eindhoven in 2003 where he joined former Korea Republic manager Guus Hiddink. In his first 03/04 season Park Ji-Sung struggled with injuries but by the end of the 03/04 season he became more of a permanent fixture in the PSV starting line-up.

Towards the end of the 04/05 season Park Ji-Sung was creating interest amongst some of the bigger clubs and after scoring 13 goals in 64 appearances for PSV, Park Ji-Sung was signed by Manchester United for £5 million. Park Ji-Sung's first goal for the English Premier League side came on 20 December 2005 in a 3–1 win over Birmingham City in the League Cup Quarter Final. It was another four months before Park Ji-Sung scored his first Premier League goal which came on 9 April 2006 in a 2-0 home win against Arsenal. Park Ji-Sung featured in his second World Cup Finals at the Germany 2006 tournament, later becoming captain for his country, and by the end of the 06/07 season Park Ji-Sung had won the first of many medals with Manchester United as they secured the Premier League title.