Kim Nam-il
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kim Nam-il | ||
| Date of birth | 14 March 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Incheon, South Korea | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defensive Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1996–1999 | Hanyang University | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2000–2004 | Chunnam Dragons | 92 | (7) |
| 2002–2003 | → Excelsior (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 2005–2007 | Suwon Bluewings | 45 | (4) |
| 2008–2009 | Vissel Kobe | 54 | (1) |
| 2010–2011 | Tom Tomsk | 41 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Incheon United | 59 | (0) |
| 2014 | Jeonbuk Hyundai | 20 | (2) |
| 2015 | Kyoto Sanga FC | 26 | (1) |
| National team | |||
| 1999 | South Korea U-23 | 17 | (1) |
| 1998–2013 | South Korea | 98 | (2) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2017– | Jiangsu Suning (assistant coach) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 March 2016. |
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| Kim Nam-il | |
| Hangul | 김남일 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 金南一 |
| Revised Romanization | Gim Nam-il |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Namil |
Kim Nam-Il (Korean: 김남일; born 14 March 1977) is a retired South Korean footballer who played as defensive midfielder. He was virtually unknown before he became a superstar for his impressive defensive displays in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Kim Nam-Il began playing soccer in 3rd grade in grade school. His decision to play soccer was initially met with opposition from his parents because of his impressive academic performance.
Formerly an unimpressive attacking midfielder, Guus Hiddink converted Kim into an international-class holding midfielder by utilising his defensive talents, being named to the best XI of the 2002 Gold Cup under his tutelage.
Kim became a star in 2002 because of his performance in 2002 FIFA World Cup. Kim was nicknamed the "The Vacuum Cleaner" from his peers for his clean tackling and aggressiveness to 'sweep' his zone of any balls.
The term "Kim Nam-Il Syndrome" began to be coined by tabloids to describe Kim's superstardom status. During the 2002 World Cup, he gained an unusually large female fan base, led to sold-out matches and goodies, and caused a sudden increase in Chunnam Dragons's popularity. Kim, a former unknown to the public, then became highly desirable by numerous endorsement companies that were eager to pay high amounts of money. Many TV programs had asked, or pressured at times for, Kim to appear, but Kim rejected their offers, and appeared only on interviews instead.
He also became notorious for his frank and eccentric personality. Quotes of Kim during the Interviews surfaced on the internet, such as "Hey, Myung Bo, let's eat," (명보야 밥먹자) referring to Hong Myung Bo who is eight years his senior.
After the World Cup, Kim briefly played on loan for Excelsior, a Dutch football club, hoping he would get an opportunity to play for Feyenoord, where Song Chong-Gug used to play for at the time. Unfortunately, Kim's contract expired before he could make a strong impression, and had no choice but to come back to Korea to play for Chunnam Dragons, where he used to play for before 2002 Football World Cup.
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