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Cha Bum-kunCha Bum-keun, the free-scoring Korean forward, is widely regarded as the best footballer ever to come out of Asia. Biography Born on May 22, 1953 in Hwaseong in the Korean province Gyeonggi, Cha began his soccer career with the Korean Air Force club in 1971, the same year he became a Korean U-19 international. By 1972 he had been capped by the Korean national team becoming the youngest player ever called up to the squad. Off to Europe In December of 1978, Cha was transferred to German side SV Darmstadt, where he spent less than a year before being snapped up by Bundesliga giants Eintracht Frankfurt. He made an immediate impact with his new club, winning the UEFA Cup in the 1979/80 season. In 1983 he made the switch to Bayer Leverkusen, with whom he was to win a second UEFA Cup in 1988. Cha retired in 1989 after a long Bundesliga career spanning 308 games in which he scored 98 goals, then the highest total for a foreign player in the league. Into management Cha moved into management with K-League side Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i, coaching them from 1991-1994. His next appointment was in January 1997 as Korean national team coach and led the nation to the 1998 World Cup; however, a disastrous 5-0 defeat at the hands of The Netherlands saw Cha lose his job. After an 18-month spell coaching Shenzhen Ping'an in China, Cha took up a commentating position with MBC, but was tempted back into management when offered the Suwon Samsung Bluewings managerial position at the end of 2003. Cha achieved immediate success with Suwon by lifting the 2004 K-League championship, an achievement he ranked as even better than lifting the UEFA Cup as a player in 1988. Family Cha's son, Cha Doo-ri, has already started to follow in his father's footsteps. He currently plays for Eintracht Frankfurt and is a regular Korean international player.
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