Cha Bum-kun facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

In this Korean name, the family name is Cha.

Quick facts for kids
Cha Bum-kun

Cha in 1979

Personal information

Date of birth

22 May 1953 (age 71)

Place of birth

Hwaseong, South Korea

Height

1.79 m

Playing position

Forward

Youth career

1967–1968

Kyungshin Middle School [ko]

1969–1971

Kyungshin High School [ko]

Senior career*

Years

Team

Apps^†

(Gls)^†

1976

Korea Trust Bank [ko]

1976–1979

ROK Air Force (draft)

1978–1979

Darmstadt 98

(0)

1979–1983

Eintracht Frankfurt

122

(46)

1983–1989

Bayer Leverkusen

185

(52)

Total

308

(98)

National team

1970–1972

South Korea U20

1972–1986

South Korea

130

(56)

Teams managed

1991–1994

Hyundai Horang-i

1997–1998

South Korea

1998–1999

Shenzhen Ping'an

2004–2010

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

Honours

Men's football

Representing South Korea
Asian Games
Gold	1978 Bangkok	Team
AFC Asian Cup
Silver	1972 Thailand	Team
AFC Youth Championship
Silver	1971 Japan	Team
Silver	1972 Thailand	Team

Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (Goals).

Korean name
Hangul	차범근
Hanja	車範根
Revised Romanization	Cha Beom-geun
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'a Pŏmgŭn

Cha Bum-kun (Hangul: 차범근; Korean pronunciation: [tɕʰɐbʌmɡɯn] or [tɕʰɐ] [pʌmɡɯn]; born 22 May 1953) is a South Korean former football manager and player. A forward, he was nicknamed Tscha Bum or "Cha Boom" in Germany because of his name and thunderous ball striking ability. He showed explosive pace and powerful shots with his thick thighs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Asian footballers of all time.

In 1972, Cha had been capped for the South Korea national team as the youngest player of the time at the age of 18. He is the youngest player to ever reach 100 international caps in the world at 24 years and 35 days, and the all-time leading goalscorer of the South Korean national team with 58 goals. After dominating Asian competitions including the 1978 Asian Games, he left for West Germany and played for Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen. He scored a total of 121 goals in two Bundesliga clubs, and won the UEFA Cup with each team.

After his retirement, he opened a football academy to develop youth players in South Korea, and managed the national team for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Early life
Club career
International career
Managerial career
Personal life
Career statistics
- Club
- International
Honours
- Player
- Manager
See also

Early life

Cha was born in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi. He originally joined Yeongdo Middle School to learn football, but the school's football club was dissolved as soon as he joined there. He started his football career by transferring to Kyungshin Middle School after playing field hockey for Yeongdo for one and a half years. In his high school days, he tried to leave school due to older students' violence, but continued to play football with the manager Chang Woon-soo's help. He became a notable player of Kyungshin High School, and was selected for the South Korean under-20 team in 1970.

Club career

Career in South Korea

Cha entered Korea University in 1972, and won the Korean National Championship in 1974, the predecessor of the Korean FA Cup. After his graduation, he started his senior career with Korea Trust Bank FC in 1976. He led his team to the title and was named the best player in the spring season of the Korean Semi-professional League. In October 1976, he joined Air Force FC to serve his mandatory military service. Cha originally had a plan to enlist in the Navy FC, but the ROK Air Force persuaded him that it would move his discharge up by six months.

Darmstadt 98

While playing for the national team in the 1978 Korea Cup, Cha attracted the attention of an Eintracht Frankfurt coach Dieter Schulte, who had received an invitation to serve as an scout/observer at that tournament. In November 1978, Schulte sent a letter to the KFA (Korea Football Association), suggesting Cha's tryout in West Germany, who would be discharged from the ROK Air Force in January 1979. Cha had taken time off to leave for Frankfurt after the 1978 Asian Games in December and succeeded to contract with another Bundesliga club Darmstadt 98 by signing a six-month deal. However, he spent just less than a month in Darmstadt. The ROK Air Force didn't follow the contract with Cha, and ordered his return. After his debut match against VfL Bochum on 30 December, Cha returned to South Korea due to his complicated issue about military service on 5 January. He eventually spent the remainder of the duration of his military service until 31 May, and so could not play for Darmstadt.

Eintracht Frankfurt

After being discharged from the military service completely, Cha still wanted to play in Bundesliga, and joined Eintracht Frankfurt at age 26 in July 1979. He scored in three consecutive games from third to fifth matchday of the Bundesliga, making an immediate impact early in his new club. After the first half of his first season in Germany, he was classified as world class in the player rankings [de] of kicker, a notable German football magazine. He was also acclaimed by showing great performances helping Eintracht to win its first-ever UEFA Cup title. He was evaluated as the "unstoppable player" by Sir Alex Ferguson, (Aberdeen's manager at the time) and "one of the best attackers in the world" by Lothar Matthäus. (an opponent player at the UEFA Cup Final and the Bundesliga) In addition to a UEFA Cup title, he was named along with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Kevin Keegan in the Bundesliga Team of the Season by kicker. On 23 August 1980, Cha's spine had been cracked by Jürgen Gelsdorf, who had tackled behind him, but came back to the stadium after a month. Afterwards, he scored six goals in six matches of the 1980–81 DFB-Pokal, leading Eintracht to the title. He became Eintracht's top goalscorer for three consecutive seasons.

Bayer Leverkusen

However, Cha transferred to Bayer Leverkusen due to a financial difficulty of Frankfurt in 1983. In the 1985–86 Bundesliga, he scored his most goals in a single Bundesliga season with 17 goals, and Leverkusen qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time as the sixth-placed team. The magazine kicker once again selected him for the Team of the Season. In the 1988 UEFA Cup Final, he scored a dramatic equaliser against Espanyol to tie the game 3–3. Leverkusen eventually went on to win the game on penalties, holding its first European title.

Cha retired in 1989 after playing 308 Bundesliga games as a fair player. During his Bundesliga career, he scored 98 goals without a penalty, and received only one yellow card. On 31 October 1987, he scored his 93rd Bundesliga goal, becoming the top foreign goalscorer by surpassing Willi Lippens. His scoring record wasn't broken for eleven years until Stéphane Chapuisat scored more goals than him. As of 2024, Cha is ranked ninth along with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the Bundesliga's foreign goalscorer standings.

International career

Cha with Park Lee-chun and Kim Jae-han playing for South Korea in the early 1970s.

Cha generally played the Bundesliga games as a striker, but he had originally been a winger in South Korea. He became a South Korean under-20 international in 1970, and took part in the AFC Youth Championship in 1971 and 1972. In the 1972 AFC Asian Cup, he made his senior international debut against Iraq, and scored his first international goal against Khmer Republic. He was named in the Korean FA Best XI for seven consecutive years, and was selected as the Korean FA Player of the Year in 1973.

Cha usually played for the national team in the Korea Cup, Pestabola Merdeka and King's Cup, which were annually contested between Asian nations and the invited clubs at the time. He won a total of ten trophies and also left memorable games in three competitions. In the 1975 Pestabola Merdeka, he scored his first international hat-trick against Japan. In the 1976 Korea Cup, he scored a hat-trick against Malaysia during five minutes from 83rd to 88th minute, leading South Korea to a dramatic 4–4 draw.

In the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification, he played all of South Korea's twelve matches, and recorded five goals and two assists, although his knee got a boil during the competition. However, South Korea failed to qualify for the World Cup by finishing the qualification as runners-up despite his struggle.

In the 1978 Asian Games, he scored two goals and provided two assists, contributing to team's gold medal. However, he showed lethargic plays to prepare tryouts for Bundesliga clubs, and received criticisms. After the 1978 Asian Games, he left for the Bundesliga and didn't play for South Korea. His last international tournament was the 1986 FIFA World Cup, South Korea's first World Cup since 1954. He showed exemplary performance in intensive checks by opponents, but failed to prevent South Korea's elimination in the group stage.

Managerial career

Cha moved into management with K League side Hyundai Horang-i, coaching them from 1991–94. His next appointment in January 1997 was Korean national team coach and he led the nation to the 1998 FIFA World Cup; however, a disastrous 5–0 defeat at the hands of the Netherlands in Korea's second group game got Cha fired. He later blamed the KFA for the bad performance, citing lack of bonuses and alleging pro soccer games in Korea were fixed. The association promptly slapped a five-year ban on him and he soon left the country with his wife.

After an 18-month spell coaching Shenzhen Ping'an in China, Cha took up a commentator position with MBC in Korea. He returned to coaching in late 2003 when offered the Suwon Samsung Bluewings position. Cha achieved immediate success with Suwon by lifting the 2004 K League championship, an achievement he ranked as even better than the UEFA Cup he won as a player in 1988. He later resigned in June 2010 as Suwon manager.

Personal life

Cha is a devout Christian and said the faith is one of his three biggest values along with family and football.

Cha's second child, Cha Du-ri, also played for the South Korean national team and Bundesliga clubs, among them Eintracht, following in his father's footsteps.

In November 2019, Cha received the Cross of Merit from the German government.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Korea Trust Bank	1976	Semipro League	?	?	?	?	—		?	?	?	?
ROK Air Force (draft)	1976	Semipro League	?	?	?	?	—		?	?	?	?
	1977	Semipro League	?	?	?	?	—		?	?	?	?
	1978	Semipro League	?	?	?	?	—		?	?	?	?
	1979	Semipro League	?	?	?	?	—		?	?	?	?
	Total		?	?	?	?	—		?	?	?	?
Darmstadt 98	1978–79	Bundesliga	1	0	—		—		—		1	0
Eintracht Frankfurt	1979–80	Bundesliga	31	12	4	0	11	3	—		46	15
	1980–81	Bundesliga	27	8	6	6	5	2	—		38	16
	1981–82	Bundesliga	31	11	1	0	6	1	—		38	12
	1982–83	Bundesliga	33	15	1	0	—		—		34	15
	Total		122	46	12	6	22	6	—		156	58
Bayer Leverkusen	1983–84	Bundesliga	34	12	1	0	—		—		35	12
	1984–85	Bundesliga	29	10	3	4	—		—		32	14
	1985–86	Bundesliga	34	17	4	2	—		—		38	19
	1986–87	Bundesliga	33	6	2	1	3	2	—		38	9
	1987–88	Bundesliga	25	4	0	0	10	2	—		35	6
	1988–89	Bundesliga	30	3	5	0	2	0	—		37	3
	Total		185	52	15	7	15	4	—		215	63
Career total			308	98	27	13	37	10	?	?	372	121

International

The KFA is showing the list of Cha's 136 international appearances in its official website. The RSSSF is also claiming 136 appearances about Cha's international career, but its details have some discrepancies. FIFA registered him with 130 appearances in the FIFA Century Club by excluding six matches in the Summer Olympics qualification.

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
South Korea	1972	23	6
	1973	17	8
	1974	13	2
	1975	18	9
	1976	14	11
	1977	26	15
	1978	16	5
	1986	3	0
Career total		130	56

Appearances and goals by competition
Competition	Apps	Goals
Friendlies	10	2
Minor competitions	76	44
Asian Games	12	2
AFC Asian Cup qualification	4	0
AFC Asian Cup	5	1
Summer Olympics qualification	6	2
FIFA World Cup qualification	20	7
FIFA World Cup	3	0
Total	136	58

Scores list South Korea's goal tally first.

List of international goals scored by Cha Bum-kun

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 May 1972	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	2	Khmer Republic	3–0	4–1	1972 AFC Asian Cup
2	19 July 1972	Perak Stadium, Ipoh, Malaysia	8	Singapore	2–0	4–1	1972 Pestabola Merdeka
3	23 July 1972	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	9	Indonesia	2–0	2–0	1972 Pestabola Merdeka
4	29 July 1972	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	11	Malaysia	2–0	2–1	1972 Pestabola Merdeka
5	20 September 1972	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	13	Thailand	3–0	3–0	1972 Korea Cup
6	22 November 1972	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	21	Indonesia	1–1	1–1	1972 King's Cup
7	19 May 1973	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	24	Thailand	2–0	4–0	1974 FIFA World Cup qualification
8	28 May 1973	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	28	Israel	1–0	1–0	1974 FIFA World Cup qualification
9	22 September 1973	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	30	Khmer Republic	2–0	6–0	1973 Korea Cup
10	22 September 1973	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	30	Khmer Republic	4–0	6–0	1973 Korea Cup
11	30 September 1973	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	33	Malaysia	1–0	2–0	1973 Korea Cup
12	16 December 1973	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	37	Khmer Republic	4–0	5–0	1973 King's Cup
13	22 December 1973	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	39	Burma	2–0	2–0	1973 King's Cup
14	25 December 1973	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	40	Malaysia	2–0	2–1	1973 King's Cup
15	18 May 1974	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	43	Burma	2–0	3–0	1974 Korea Cup
16	25 December 1974	Hong Kong	54	Indonesia	2–0	3–1	Hong Kong Tournament
17	29 July 1975	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	58	Malaysia	2–0	3–1	1975 Pestabola Merdeka [ms]
18	7 August 1975	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	61	Thailand	3–0	6–0	1975 Pestabola Merdeka
19	9 August 1975	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	62	Japan	1–0	3–1	1975 Pestabola Merdeka
20					2–1
21					3–1
22	11 August 1975	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	63	Indonesia	1–0	5–1	1975 Pestabola Merdeka
23	15 August 1975	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	64	Bangladesh	4–0	4–0	1975 Pestabola Merdeka
24	21 December 1975	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	68	Burma	1–0	3–1	1975 King's Cup
25	21 December 1975	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	68	Burma	2–0	3–1	1975 King's Cup
26	6 March 1976	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	73	Republic of China	1–0	3–0	1976 Summer Olympics qualification
27	27 March 1976	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	75	Japan	2–1	2–2	1976 Summer Olympics qualification
28	10 August 1976	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	79	India	1–0	8–0	1976 Pestabola Merdeka [ms]
29					5–0
30					8–0
31	15 August 1976	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	81	Burma	2–2	2–2	1976 Pestabola Merdeka
32	11 September 1976	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	84	Malaysia	2–4	4–4	1976 Korea Cup
33					3–4
34					4–4
35	13 September 1976	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	85	India	4–0	4–0	1976 Korea Cup
36	17 September 1976	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	86	Singapore	1–0	7–0	1976 Korea Cup
37	17 September 1976	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	86	Singapore	7–0	7–0	1976 Korea Cup
38	22 December 1976	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	91	Malaysia	1–1	1–1	1976 King's Cup
39	14 February 1977	Singapore	92	Singapore	1–0	4–0	Friendly
40	18 February 1977	Al Ahli Stadium, Manama, Bahrain	93	Bahrain	2–0	4–1	Friendly
41	20 March 1977	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	96	Israel	1–0	3–1	1978 FIFA World Cup qualification
42	3 April 1977	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	98	Japan	1–0	1–0	1978 FIFA World Cup qualification
43	26 June 1977	Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong	100	Hong Kong	1–0	1–0	1978 FIFA World Cup qualification
44	17 July 1977	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	102	Libya	2–0	4–0	1977 Pestabola Merdeka [ms]
45	22 July 1977	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	104	Indonesia	3–1	5–1	1977 Pestabola Merdeka
46	24 July 1977	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	105	Burma	2–0	4–0	1977 Pestabola Merdeka
47	31 July 1977	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	108	Iraq	1–0	1–0	1977 Pestabola Merdeka
48	27 August 1977	Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney, Australia	109	Australia	1–0	1–2	1978 FIFA World Cup qualification
49	3 September 1977	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	110	Thailand	3–0	5–1	1977 Korea Cup
50	5 September 1977	Daegu Civic Stadium, Daegu, South Korea	111	India	1–0	3–0	1977 Korea Cup
51	5 September 1977	Daegu Civic Stadium, Daegu, South Korea	111	India	3–0	3–0	1977 Korea Cup
52	13 September 1977	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	112	Malaysia	2–0	3–0	1977 Korea Cup
53	5 November 1977	Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	115	Kuwait	1–0	2–2	1978 FIFA World Cup qualification
54	19 July 1978	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	121	Japan	2–0	4–0	1978 Pestabola Merdeka [ms]
55	22 July 1978	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	122	Iraq	2–0	2–0	1978 Pestabola Merdeka
56	25 July 1978	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	123	Indonesia	1–0	2–0	1978 Pestabola Merdeka
57	11 December 1978	Chulalongkorn University Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	127	Bahrain	3–0	5–1	1978 Asian Games
58	17 December 1978	Bangkok, Thailand	130	China	1–0	1–0	1978 Asian Games