“Dresden, Germany’s third division, has produced a national team!” The first issue of Klinsmann featured Kyuhyun Park
Park Gyu-hyun (22, Dynamo Dresden) has earned his first call-up to the South Korean national soccer team, and the news has been met with surprise in Germany.
German daily ‘Bild’ reported the news of Park’s call-up to the Klinsmann on March 13 (KST), stating, “Third division Dynamo Dresden has produced a national team player!” The nuance is that it’s not often that a player from the third division is called up to the national team.
‘Bilt’ said of Park, “He was consistently selected for the Korean youth national team and played in 15 matches, including the Doha Cup in Qatar in March. This is the first time he has been selected for the adult national team.”
“Park, who joined Dynamo on loan from Werder Bremen last season, impressed with strong performances in the second half of last season and signed a contract with Dynamo until 2026,” said Bild.
Dresden sporting director Ralf Becker expressed his satisfaction with the player’s recent development and performance, telling Bild: “Park developed well last year and was able to put in a strong performance at the end of the season.”
The Dresden club also announced on their website that “we have an international player again” and added: “Congratulations on your first call-up to the national team. We are confident that PARK will make his A-match debut.”
Park is a former Ulsan youth player who can play both left back and left center back. He spent last season on loan with Dresden from Bremen, making 16 appearances in the German third division. His unorthodox play caught the eye of Dresden and head coach Jürgen Klinsmann.
Dresden head coach Markus Anfang is no stranger to Korean players, including Park Kyu-hyun. He played alongside Park in the mid-2000s in Duisburg, Germany. He coached Baek Seung-ho (Jeonbuk) as head coach of Darmstadt in 2020-2021. He took over as Bremen head coach in 2021 and moved to Dresden a year later, calling on Park Kyu-hyun from the Bremen youth team.
Dresden finished sixth in the German third division last season, narrowly missing out on a promotion playoff spot available to the top five.
Park, meanwhile, was at the center of controversy four years ago when he lifted the trophy as captain of his country at the 2019 U-18 Panda Cup in Chengdu, China. The incident caused such a stir that then-head coach Kim Jung-soo issued a public apology to the Chinese national team.안전놀이터
Park was scheduled to be part of Hwang Sun-hong’s U-24 squad for two friendlies against China this month, but he was a surprise call-up to the national team as a replacement for the injured Kwon Kyung-won (Gamba Osaka).
With Sergio Ramos as his role model, Park will look to make his A-match debut against Peru (Busan) on Sept. 16 and El Salvador (Daejeon) on Sept. 20.
