South Korea football star Park Ji Sung is scheduled to participate in a charity football tournament held in Vietnam in June, the Chosun Ilbo news agency announced yesterday.
The charity program called the Asian Dream Cup will also draw participation of other well-known footballers like Lee Chung Yong of Bolton Wanderers, Ki Sung Yueng of Glasgow Celtics, Park's Manchester United teammate Patrice Evra of France, and retired Japanese star Hidetoshi Nakata.
South Korea’s former captain Park Ji Sung is moving on to the next stage in his career as the founder of a charitable JS Foundation.
"This will be a new starting point and the final destination in my football career," said Park, who retired from the national team last month. “I want to do something meaningful through football to share with the world."
Among the charity event's sponsors are notable sport figures like Choo Shin Soo of the Cleveland Indians, Olympic weightlifting champion Jang Mi Ran, and Hur Jae, head coach of KCC Egis in Korea’s professional basketball league, as well as entertainment celebrities including actor Jung Jun Ho and singer Kim Heung Gook.
"We want to promote football in Southeast Asia through various projects in cooperation with football associations there,” said Park, who is the foundation's executive director.
The paper also announced that Vietnam was chosen as the venue for the foundation's first project thanks to active support from the country's football association as well as the high popularity of Manchester United and Park there.
His father Park Sung Jong along with some members of the foundation paid a five-day visit to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and worked with Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) last December.
“VFF has contacted JS Foundation and promised to create best conditions for the success of the upcoming charity football tournament,” said VFF’s General Secretary Tran Quoc Tuan.
“I do hope that Vietnamese spectators will have a chance to witness great performance by renowned footballers like Park Ji Sung.”
Meanwhile, Tran Dinh Huan, director of Thong Nhat Sports Center in HCMC, told Tuoi Tre that according to the JS foundation, Thong Nhat Stadium is less modern than Hanoi’s My Dinh National Stadium and its capacity is not as large as My Dinh’s.
However, “When we said that a large number of South Koreans live and work in HCMC, the foundation’s members find it a big advantage [to play in HCMC],” he added.
