Choi Chung-min (; 30 August 1930 – 8 December 1983) was a former

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. Nicknamed the "Golden Legs", Choi was one of Asia's greatest strikers in the 1950s.

Playing career

Choi was born in Taedong,

Heian'nan-dō , alternatively Heian'nan Province or South Heian Province, was a province of Korea under Japanese rule. Its capital was at Pyongyang, Heijō. The province consisted of modern-day South Pyongan, North Korea. Population Number of people by nat ...

Korea, Empire of Japan From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

, in what is now North Korea. He grew up in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

, but moved south during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. Afterwards, he enlisted in the Korea Army Counter Intelligence Corps. (CIC) He played for CIC's football club and the

South Korea national football team The South Korea national football team (; recognized as Korea Republic by FIFA) represents South Korea in men's international Association football, football and is governed by the Korea Football Association, a member of FIFA and the Asian Foot ...

since 1952. South Korea went to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to play qualifiers for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

against Japan national team. South Korean team felt a heavy burden of the two matches against Japan due to pressure from the South Korean public caused by the Japanese occupation until 1945. He scored three goals during two matches, and South Korea advanced to the World Cup by defeating Japan 7–3 on aggregate. In the

, however, he failed to prevent South Korea's defeats against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Honours

ROK Army CIC * Korean National Championship: 1957, 1959 *

Korean President's Cup The President's Cup National Football Tournament is a football competition, held by Korea Football Association, for South Korean semi-professional and amateur football clubs. This competition was originally one of major club competitions of Sout ...

: 1952, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1961 South Korea *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

silver medal:

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

References

External links

Choi Jeong-min
at KFA 1930 births 1983 deaths South Korean men's footballers South Korea men's international footballers South Korean football managers 1954 FIFA World Cup players 1956 AFC Asian Cup players 1960 AFC Asian Cup players AFC Asian Cup–winning players Footballers at the 1954 Asian Games Footballers at the 1958 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 1954 Asian Games Medalists at the 1958 Asian Games Men's association football forwards People from South Pyongan Province South Korean people of North Korean origin 20th-century South Korean sportsmen Asian Games silver medalists in football {{SouthKorea-footy-forward-stub