373 games. To play 373 games at the top of the 373 games at a Korean soccer league, 30 games at a regular pace for 12 years are not enough. All the more significant is that he played in the game while playing as a central midfielder, the most active position, until the age of 37.
The prospect, who was drawing attention as No. 10 in ancient times, was a leader who served as captain of two K-League teams. He announced his retirement after playing until the 2023 season when all his colleagues retired.
I met Kwon Soon-hyung (38), who has completed his 15-year professional career and is living his second life as a leader, and listened to his soccer career.
Kwon Soon-hyung will head to Jeju United after his rookie contract is over for three years. “At that time, Jeju played its unique and cute pass soccer under coach Park Kyung-hoon. I had such a long aspiration for soccer and received many offers, but I chose Jeju because I could play the soccer I wanted under the conditions,” Kwon said, explaining why he chose Jeju.
Kwon Soon-hyung, who has played as many as 40 games since his first year in Jeju in 2012, will join the military after the 2013 season. Kwon Soon-hyung, who served as a player at Park Hang-seo’s last K-League baton, said, “Afterwards, I heard that he achieved great success in Vietnam, and I thought that his success was the same as when he was with me in the past.” Contrary to what he looks like, coach Park Hang-seo is not a pushy-minded person, but he pranks the players a lot and treats them like a close father. Of course, he sometimes calls himself “chindere” even though he is hot-tempered. He acts casually and is nice to me. That’s exactly what he said. His leadership that embraces players is a style that players can only trust in both then and in Vietnam.”
Kwon Soon-hyung, whose skills have improved since coach Park Hang-seo’s last time in Korea, faces the best heyday of his soccer career after being discharged from the military.
Kwon Soon-hyung, who matured as a professional under the guidance of coach Park Hang-seo at Sangmu, is recognized as the best midfielder in the K League, with five goals and eight assists in 37 K League games in the 2016 season, two goals and seven assists in the 2017 season, and two goals and six assists in the 2018 season.
“Looking back, I feel proud of myself during my heyday from 2016 to 2018. Jeju also had the best time in the team’s history from third place in 2016 and second place in 2017, and I really enjoyed playing soccer no matter which team I met.”
Kwon Soon-hyung, who showed perfect chemistry with any midfielders such as Song Jin-hyung, Lee Chang-min, Yoon Bit-garam, and Lee Chan-dong, always kept his position and played as the core of Jeju even if his central midfielder partner changed.
Kwon Soon-hyung cites FC Seoul’s away game held on June 6, 2016 as his “life game.” In the away game against Seoul, which became the ultimate K-League 1 winner of the season, Jeju suffered a come-from-behind victory by 1-3 and then overturned it to 4-3, and Kwon Soon-hyung scored the come-from-behind final goal with a mid-range shooting.
“There are many spectators at an iconic place called the Seoul World Cup Stadium, and the moment I scored, the crowd became silent. Jeju was very weak against Seoul, and it was a goal and game that made a thrilling come-from-behind victory that broke the jinx, so it will never be forgotten in my mind.”
At that time, Jeju manager Cho Sung-hwan gave Kwon Soon-hyung, who led the club’s heyday as a key midfielder with a number 7, the captain’s armband from the 2018 season. His seniors were discharged from the military and played as captains for the rest of the season, but it was the first time that he became an official captain like this. 고수익알바
On top of that, when he left Jeju Island at the end of the 2019 season and played for Seongnam FC, his leadership was recognized to the extent that then Seongnam coach Kim Nam-il entrusted Kwon Soon-hyung with the captaincy ahead of the 2022 season. It is not easy to find cases of captaincy in two teams. Kwon Soon-hyung said, “It was not an easy position to captain. I should not only raise the mood of the team without thinking about myself, but sometimes I have to play the role of a villain, but looking back now, I feel like I should have done better,” referring to the weight of the captain’s armband.