Son Heung-min's many graces...Why go to Paju NFC, the 'last' ahead of the 'Cheonan Era' in September?
Son Heung-min's many graces...Why go to Paju NFC, the 'last' ahead of the 'Cheonan Era' in September?
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Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur) is set to train at the Paju National Training Center (NFC) in Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do.
The Korea Football Association said on the 7th that it will reconvene at Paju NFC on the 8th and resume training around 4 p.m., along with the additional selection of Bae Joon-ho (Stoke City) to the Korean national soccer team led by head coach Hong Myung-bo.
It is the first time in a year and eight months that the national soccer team has used Paju NFC since training against Tunisia and Vietnam in October 2023 under former coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
This is because Paju NFC's contract with the Korea Football Association was completed on January 23 last year after training for the women's national soccer team led by coach Colin Bell at the time of the same month.
Paju NFC, which has been used as a training ground for the national soccer team since 2001, has been used by the Korea Football Association on a free lease from Paju City. However, after the end of the contract, Paju City demanded 2.6 billion won in annual usage fees, which led the Korea Football Association to remove its burden from the NFC.
Meanwhile, the Korea Football Association is building a "Soccer General Center" in Cheonan City.
The soccer center, which started construction in 2022, is under construction with the goal of completing it in September.
The Korea Football Center, which is under construction in Ipjang-myeon, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, will be built with 478,000㎡ (145,000 pyeong) and will have infrastructure for various soccer activities by creating a total of 11 soccer fields, including one indoor training field made of artificial grass, three natural grass, two hybrid grass, three artificial grass, and KFA Stadium.
Compared to Paju NFC, the number of soccer fields increased by four more, accommodations and fitness centers increased, and additional facilities were added.
Before the establishment of the soccer center, men's and women's soccer teams and national teams of different ages lived in hotels, traveling to various places such as cats, Wonju, and Siheung. They once used the Seongnam FC clubhouse, a professional soccer team.
In particular, in the case of the men's national soccer team, when playing at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, they usually stay at hotels in Goyang City to train at Goyang Stadium, where there is currently no professional team.
When the soccer center to be built in Cheonan is completed, all national team players will stay and train at the center. Paju NFC, which has already been removed, seemed to have been completely forgotten.
However, in December last year, former national soccer team coach Huh Jung-moo, who ran for the 55th president of the Korea Football Association, said he would push for a dualization of Paju NFC with the soccer center, and the Paju NFC utilization plan came back to the surface.
"I don't know why we removed the Paju Football Center, saying we need to expand the situation," Huh said at the time. "I think (the Paju Football Center) is the cradle of Korean soccer. Even now, we can use it as a venue for education by consulting with Paju City."
In terms of geographical location, Paju City has geographical characteristics closer to the metropolitan area than Cheonan City, but considering the upcoming completion of the soccer center, the use of Paju NFC is expected to be the last.
"We decided to rent Paju NFC because it was difficult to rent Goyang Stadium. We booked accommodation for the national team in Goyang City, and only trainings will be held in Paju," a KFA official told Expo News in a telephone interview. 메이저사이트
Recently, Goyang Stadium is known to have difficulty renting the stadium as major concert schedules flock to Goyang as Jamsil Olympic Main Stadium is under remodeling construction.