The ‘Cha Beom-geun Soccer Class’, which was established in 1988 as Korea’s first soccer education institution exclusively for youth and children, has been in operation for 34 years, and has been suspended due to problems with the use of the stadium.
On the 16th, Cha Beom-geun’s soccer class posted on Instagram, “As the period for permission to use the soccer field at the Han River Project Headquarters in Seoul could not be extended, we inevitably ended the class at Ichon Soccer Field.” Classes are scheduled to continue until October 8, but they added that they will no longer be able to operate after that.
The reason why Cha Bum-geun’s soccer classroom was suddenly closed was that it lost the right to use the Ichon soccer field. Ichon Soccer Field has been used by Cha Beom-geun’s soccer classroom in a way that it receives a business license from the Seoul Han River Project Headquarters through an open bidding every three years. There were no competitors in the open bidding in previous years. This is because fellow soccer players who knew the meaning and purpose of Cha Bum-geun’s soccer class did not participate in the bidding. But this time it was different.
The Cha Bum-Keun Soccer Class was bid at 253 million won, which is 2.5 times the appraised price, but another corporation spent 350 million won, beating the Cha Bum-Keun Soccer Class and securing the right to use the space in the future. This corporation once announced that it would open a ‘Han River Soccer Class’ with a blog notice with the same timetable and the same operating method as Cha Bum-Geun’s soccer classroom, but that article has now been deleted. Cha Bum-Keun Soccer Class posted a separate post on Instagram and said, “I would like to inform you that Cha Bum-Keun Soccer Class has nothing to do with the new company and has not taken over the coaching staff, class schedule and class method comprehensively.”
The soccer classroom officials as well as the local parents seemed to be shocked. This is because the Cha Bum-Keun Soccer Class was not just a school that borrowed the fame of Cha Bum-Keun, but was a representative Korean youth soccer education institution. In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo in 2017, Cha Bum-geun said, “I want to create an environment where I can play and play with the ball on the grass from an early age” as to why he is passionate about soccer education. “This is the reason why Korean football is always criticized for its ‘frog in the well’ and ‘lack of goal determination,’” he said.
In this regard, Beom-Geun Cha’s soccer class has been known as a place that leads the right soccer education by recruiting students at a low tuition fee of 60,000 won per month. There were so many people who wanted to take the class, so it was basic to wait several months. However, the news that this soccer classroom is disappearing is confusing to nearby parents. In a nearby mom cafe, there were lines of messages wishing that Cha Bum-geun’s soccer class could be operated again, saying, “It’s not just a soccer class.”
Currently, there are 1,400 members of Cha Bum-Geun Football Class. So far, 36,000 members have gone through the soccer class. Former national soccer player Jeong Jo-guk also came from this soccer class and attended celebrities such as actors Lee Min-ho and Kwon Yul.