“One more bowl” was the cry of the young players at the 7th Jung Yong Hwanbae Dreamers Soccer Tournament at the World Cup Village in Gijang-gun, Busan, on the afternoon of June 6. The event, which has been held annually since 2017, is a youth soccer tournament, but is more famous for its all-you-can-eat jjajangmyeon. After the game 메이저사이트, the kids were too scared to take off their soccer shoes and rushed to the jajangmyeon tent. The simple tables set up were already packed with kids eating.
The tournament was organized by his fan club, the Chung Yong-hwan Football Dreamers Scholarship, in honor of Chung Yong-hwan, a former Busan Football Association technical director who represented Korean soccer as a “legendary defender” in the 1980s. A “one-club man” who played 11 years for the Daewoo Royals, the predecessor of the Busan I-Park, the scholarship members first became acquainted as early soccer teachers and students. Although Mr. Chung passed away in 2015, the scholarship members continue to honor his memory.
More than 200 players from 16 elementary soccer clubs (grades 1-2) in the Gyeongnam region of Busan participated in this year’s tournament. Add in the parents, and it was a big event with more than 600 people. The children didn’t care about the outcome of the game, but sweated more to eat the prepared jajangmyeon. A total of 650 servings of jajangmyeon were prepared that day, costing more than 3 million won in ingredients alone.
The reason for serving jajangmyeon to children is that most of the members of the scholarship program work in the Chinese food industry. The food was also prepared by about 40 members. “I’m so grateful to everyone who helped us continue the event for so many years,” said Kim Oe-sook, 55, the wife of former director Chung, with tears in her eyes, “I’m sure he’s watching from afar.”
This year, there were special uniforms for the children who participated. The four-color jerseys were emblazoned with Jung’s number 5, which was his number during his playing days. Professional soccer player Lim Min-hyuk of i-Park, Jong-woo Park of Franklin, also participated in the event and signed the children’s jerseys.
At the end of the tournament, the “Jung Yong-hwan Award (MVP)” was given to the player who made the biggest impact on the day. Busan FCK’s Lee Jung-hyun was honored with the award. “I’ve been training hard for the past few days for this tournament,” he said, “and it feels great to eat delicious food and receive an award.”
“I would like to thank all the members who have been involved in this event for more than 20 years,” said Song Chun-yeol, chairman of the scholarship committee. “I hope that the passion for soccer that Mr. Chung had during his lifetime has been passed on to all the children here.”
The scholarship organization is seeking to erect a statue of Chung in his hometown of Gijang County. Since the beginning of last month, a nationwide petition has been gathering public support, with more than 4,000 signatures. The Gijang County government and the military council are also reportedly supporting the effort.
