BAYERN LIFE
BAYERN ARE SELF-CONFIDENT, BUT NEVER ARROGANT. IMPRESSIVE! began to learn German and took a language course in Bonn.” I‘ m now studying German literature, and that has everything to do with FC Bayern,“ she says, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
A boom thanks to Minjae
Football is a true national sport in South Korea and is roughly on a par with baseball in the popularity rankings. Koreans probably first encountered the round leather ball at the end of the 19th century, when British soldiers from the Royal Navy passed the time with a game of football during a stopover at Incheon harbour. A professional football league, now known as the” K League“, only developed in the early 1980s. Most of the clubs were factory teams of Korean companies such as Kookmin Bank, Daewoo and Posco. The national team has been supervised by European coaches for a long time. Dutchman Guus Hiddink led South Korea to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup on home soil, where they were knocked out by Germany and an inspired Oliver Kahn. Later, Uli Stielike and Jürgen Klinsmann also coached the national team. Korean sports bars have mainly been showing Premier League matches since the celebrated national hero Heung-min Son started playing there. FC Bayern can now also benefit from a similar boom thanks to Minjae. Since the centre-back‘ s move to Munich in 2023, public television has been broadcasting more and more Bayern matches. In January 2024, he was voted Player of the Year by the Korean Football Association. Kim‘ s popularity is also reflected in FC Bayern‘ s membership figures: around 1,000 Koreans joined the German record champions in the 2023 / 24 season. The Red Light Korea fans come from all over the country. Many live in the Seoul metropolitan area but cofounder Kay, for example, lives in the north, not far from the border with North Korea. Her workplace is surrounded by several army bases. Because the members are dotted around the country and the time difference to
Ji-hong and Young-eun are also good friends outside of the fan club.
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