Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
The recently appointed Asian Football Confederation Social Responsibility Committee met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last week. Most of the committee members were new to the role, and so was also the representative from Korea Republic. However, as a world famous former footballer, he was no stranger to his committee colleagues: Park Ji-Sung is the most decorated Asian footballer of all time.
Park Ji-Sung commented about his new AFC role: “Social responsibility is something I am personally interested in. I have my own foundation in Korea Republic, the JS Foundation. I hope to learn concretely from the committee and the AFC who have more experience in social responsibility programmes.”
Park won 19 trophies during his career and is the first Asian footballer to have won the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup. Park Ji-Sung started his playing career in the Myongji University team in his native Korea Republic before moving to Japan’s Kyoto Purple Sanga in 2000.
He made his debut in Europe for PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands three years later, moving on to Manchester United FC in the English Premier League in 2005 where he won the UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup in 2008. Park moved to Queens Park Rangers in 2012 and finished his playing career at PSV Eindhoven, having rejoined the club on loan for the 2013-14 season.
Park has 100 international caps and he was the captain of the Korea Republic team at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, reaching the semi-finals.
The AFC Social Responsibility Committee advises the AFC administration on social responsibility matters. The list of the members of the AFC Social Responsibility Committee for the 2015-2019 period can be found here.