Cha Bum-kun

Cha Bum-kun ( or ; 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
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.

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 Rankings of German football (1970s) 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 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.

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.

  


 * Scores list South Korea's goal tally first.

Player
Korea University
 * Korean National Championship: 1974

Korea Trust Bank
 * Korean Semi-professional League (Spring): 1976

ROK Air Force
 * Korean National Championship runner-up: 1976

Eintracht Frankfurt
 * UEFA Cup: 1979–80
 * DFB-Pokal: 1980–81

Bayer Leverkusen
 * UEFA Cup: 1987–88

South Korea U20
 * AFC Youth Championship runner-up: 1971, 1972

South Korea
 * Asian Games: 1978
 * AFC Asian Cup runner-up: 1972

Individual
 * IFFHS World's Player of the 20th Century 60th place: 2000
 * IFFHS Legends: 2016
 * IFFHS Asia's Player of the 20th Century: 1999
 * IFFHS Asian Men's Team of the 20th Century: 2021
 * IFFHS Asian Men's Team of All Time: 2021
 * MasterCard Asian/Oceanian Team of the 20th Century: 1998
 * ESPN Best Asian Footballer of All Time: 2015
 * Korean FA Best XI: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978
 * Korean FA Most Valuable Player: 1973
 * Korean FA Hall of Fame: 2005
 * Korean Semi-professional League (Spring) Best Player: 1976
 * Korean Sports Hall of Fame: 2017
 * kicker Team of the Season: 1979–80, 1985–86
 * Eintracht Frankfurt All-time XI: 2013

Records
 * Youngest player in the world to reach 100 caps: 24 years, 35 days
 * Most caps for South Korea: 136 caps
 * South Korea all-time top goalscorer: 58 goals

Manager
Hyundai Horang-i
 * Korean League Cup runner-up: 1993

Suwon Samsung Bluewings
 * Pan-Pacific Championship: 2009
 * A3 Champions Cup: 2005
 * K League 1: 2004, 2008
 * Korean FA Cup: 2009
 * Korean League Cup: 2005, 2008
 * Korean Super Cup: 2005

Individual
 * AFC Coach of the Month: February 1997, May 1997, September 1997
 * AFC Coach of the Year: 1997
 * K League 1 Manager of the Year: 2004, 2008
 * Korean FA Cup Best Manager: 2009