Cha Du-Ri

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Cha Du-Ri bigraphy, stories - South Korean footballer

Cha Du-Ri : biography

25 July 1980 –

Cha Du-Ri ( born 25 July 1980) is a German-born South Korean professional footballer who currently plays for K League Classic club FC Seoul. He can operate as a right back, right winger, or striker. Cha Du-Ri is also the first Korean player that was born outside of Korea to have played in a FIFA World Cup. Cha’s father, Cha Bum-Kun played in the 1986 World Cup. Cha has also played for one of his father’s old clubs, Eintracht Frankfurt. During the third place match of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup against Uzbekistan, Cha captained the national team in place of the regular Korean captain, Park Ji-Sung.

Honours

Celtic

  • Scottish Premier League (1): 2011–12
  • Scottish Cup (1): 2010–11

Early life

Cha was born in Frankfurt am Main in West Germany, when his father Cha Bum-Kun was starring in the German Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt, and spent his childhood in Germany while his father was playing for Frankfurt and later for Bayer Leverkusen.

International career

Cha was noticed by coach Guus Hiddink when the national team played a practice match against Korea University. Strong, aggressive and pacey, he was still playing amateur football when he made his debut for the South Korea national team in 2001.

2002 World Cup

Cha was included in the South Korea football team for 2002 World Cup, even though his playing time was limited to off-the-bench appearances. South Korea surprised the football world by advancing to the semi-finals of the tournament, beating the likes of Portugal and Italy along the way. Their fairy-tale run ended in the semi-finals when they were eliminated after losing 1–0 to Germany, with Michael Ballack netting the only goal.

2006 World Cup

Cha was left off Korea’s roster for the 2006 World Cup, and instead acted as a colour commentator for MBC’s live telecasts of the tournament’s games alongside his father.

Pim Verbeek, South Korea’s head coach, added him into his squad for the qualification of the 2007 Asian Cup. On 14 October 2009, Cha was called back to international duty against Senegal. It was the first time Cha had been selected for the Korean national team since late 2006.

2010 World Cup

In the 2010 World Cup, Cha played as an attacking right-back during the first half of the game against Greece, venturing forward and providing an attacking threat on the right side. During the second half, South Korea were leading so he stayed back in a more defensive role for his side. He did not take part in the following qualifying match against Argentina and South Korea lost 4–1. He was influential in the next match draw against Nigeria. On 26 June, Cha played his 50th game for South Korea in a 1–2 loss against Uruguay.

International goals

Results list South Korea’s goal tally first
Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
20 April 2002 Daegu CRC}} 1 goal 2–0 Friendly match
18 February 2004 Suwon LIB}} 1 goal 2–0 2006 World Cup qualification
14 July 2004 Seoul TRI}} 1 goal 1–1 Friendly match
27 July 2004 Jinan KUW}} 1 goal 4–0 2004 Asian Cup

Club statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
2002–03 Arminia Bielefeld Fußball-Bundesliga 22 1 2 0 24 1
2003–04 Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball-Bundesliga 31 1 2 0 33 1
2004–05 2. Fußball-Bundesliga 29 8 3 1 32 9
2005–06 Fußball-Bundesliga 27 3 3 0 30 3
2006–07 Mainz Fußball-Bundesliga 12 0 1 0 13 0
2007–08 Koblenz 2. Fußball-Bundesliga 28 1 0 0 28 1
2008–09 33 2 1 0 34 2
2009–10 Freiburg Fußball-Bundesliga 23 1 2 0 25 1
Country Germany 187 17 14 1 0 0 0 0 204 18
2010–11 Celtic SPL 17 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 22 1
2011–12 14 1 1 0 2 0 4 0 21 1
Country Scotland 31 2 2 0 3 0 7 0 43 2
2012–13 Fortuna Düsseldorf Fußball-Bundesliga 10 0 1 0 11 0
Country Germany 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0
Total 228 19 17 1 3 0 7 0 258 20