BioAhn Jung-hwan earned most of his fame in Europe, rather than in Japan. His early career in Korea was explosive, and aimpressed scouts in Europe enough to earn him a move to Perugia. Though he lasted only two seasons and had just 29 appearances, this was a still relatively ground-breaking for a Korean player. Ahn's strong performances for the Korean National team, at the 2002 World Cup SHOULD have boosted his value. But a combination of Italian prejudice and rumors of match fixing led to him actually being released from Perugia. Nevertheless, spotlight that Ahn attracted thanks to his World Cup exploits won him a contract with Shimizu S-Pulse in mid-2002. Ahn would play for a year and a half in Shizuoka, and the same amount of time at Yokohama Marinos. In the space of just three years [two of them "interrupted"] Ahn managed to post some impressive statistics, tallying 26 times in 63 appearances. These performances finally earned Ahn a return to Europe, with FC Metz in 2005. A year in Germany followed, before Ahn returned to Korea in 2007. By this time the big point man had lost much of his speed, and he featured only as a squad player until he decided to take advantage of China Super League largesse and finish out his career at Dalian Shide. While he only spent three years in Japan, Ahn Jung-hwan had a pronounced influence on the J.League, particularly in terms of boosting the popularity of Korean strikers. The iconic play of Ahn, Choi Yong-soo and Cho Jae-jin (who all entered the JLeague at about the same time) would open a path for many more players to follow, in the subsequent decade. |
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