Yoo Sang-chul


Yoo Sang-chul is a South Korean football manager and former player. He was a former manager of Incheon United. Yoo is regarded as one of the greatest South Korean midfielders of all time. He was selected as a midfielder of 2002 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team and K League 30th Anniversary Best XI.

Playing career

Yoo was one of Korea's most influential players over the last decade. He was known as a powerful and versatile midfielder with strong aerial ability, even though his versatility actually allowed him to shine in just about any area of the field, from defence to attack, but his coaches believed his all-round ability was best deployed in the center of the midfield, where he could patrol the middle of the park with presence and authority. Yoo had the ability to spark an attack with his incisive distribution and was also strong defensively as well as physically.
The highly rated midfielder was offered a trial with FC Barcelona in 1998 for his impressive performances during the 1998 FIFA World Cup group stages. However, he missed out on that possible move to Europe because his club Ulsan Hyundai had already agreed a contract-binding deal to sell Yoo to Yokohama F. Marinos. He moved briefly to join Kashiwa Reysol's Korean trio in 2001 but Marinos brought the versatile Korean back to Yokohama in 2003.
He was part of the South Korea under-23 team for the 2004 Summer Olympics, who finished second in Group A, making it through to the next round, before being defeated by silver medal winners Paraguay.
He scored two goals for Korea in FIFA World Cup, one in 1998 against Belgium and another in 2002 against Poland. He played a key part of the Korean national football team when Korea reached the semi-finals in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He also has a blind eye, in which he kept secret. He publicly told everyone at a Korean TV talk show.

Managerial career

On 17 July 2011, he was appointed manager of Daejeon Citizen. His management at Daejeon Citizen was successful in order to survive the K League 1. Many fans wanted him to stay with Daejeon Citizen for longer but his contract had expired. The club asked for him to renew the contract but the two parties could not agree on some conditions.
In 2013, Ulsan University which is one of the strongest Korean university football clubs asked to be manager. He started coaching again from the 2014 season.

Personal life

On 21 November 2019, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the stage 4, which caused him to be hospitalized.

Career statistics

Club

International

Source:

International goals

DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
11 October 1994Hiroshima1 goal3–21994 Asian Games
30 April 1996Tel Aviv1 goal5–4Friendly match
25 January 1997Sydney1 goal3–11997 Opus Tournament
21 May 1997Tokyo1 goal1–1Friendly match
28 May 1997Daejeon1 goal4–01998 FIFA World Cup qualification
12 June 1997Seoul1 goal3–11997 Korea Cup
24 August 1997Daegu1 goal4–1Friendly match
4 October 1997Seoul1 goal3–01998 FIFA World Cup qualification
18 October 1997Tashkent1 goal5–11998 FIFA World Cup qualification
25 June 1998Paris1 goal1–11998 FIFA World Cup
9 December 1998Bangkok1 goal2–11998 Asian Games
14 December 1998Bangkok1 goal1–21998 Asian Games
11 February 2001Dubai1 goal4–12001 Dubai Tournament
1 June 2001Ulsan1 goal2–12001 FIFA Confederations Cup
9 December 2001Seogwipo1 goal1–0Friendly match
4 June 2002Busan1 goal2–02002 FIFA World Cup
8 December 2003Saitama1 goal1–02003 East Asian Football Championship
5 June 2004Daegu1 goal2–1Friendly match

Honours

Ulsan Hyundai
Yokohama F. Marinos
South Korea Universiade
South Korea B
South Korea
Individual