Song Jin-hyung (; born 13 August 1987) is a South Korean football player who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Song started his professional career at Brazilian club

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

, before moving back to his homeland South Korea to play for one of the powerhouses of Korean and Asian football FC Seoul. After a stint with FC Seoul, Song went to Australia in the hope of securing an A-League contract. After trialling with Newcastle United Jets, he impressed coach

Gary van Egmond Gary Rudy Peter van Egmond (born 29 June 1965) is an Australian former soccer player and former head coach of Newcastle Jets in the A-League. Playing career Van Egmond began his playing career with APIA Leichhardt in 1982. It was not until h ...

enough to earn a contract with the club. Newcastle's management immediately secured his visa and arranged his contract, a two-year deal signed on 18 January 2008. Song made his debut for the club in the away leg of their semi-final clash with rivals,

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League, A-League Men, under ...

, which Newcastle lost 3–0. He played a starring role in their subsequent grand final victory over Central Coast, constantly proving a menacing threat for the Mariners' defence. Song's first senior career goal came on 19 December 2008 against

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victor ...

. Song threaded through a sublime ball through to Jets' striker

Joel Griffiths Joel Griffiths (born 21 August 1979) is an Australian professional football manager who currently serves as the manager of Newcastle Olympic FC for National Premier Leagues Northern NSW and retired professional footballer striker. Biography ...

, who squared the ball back to Song to fire into the bottom corner of the net, securing three points for the Jets. Song made it clear that his preference was to play in Europe, although he didn't ruled out the possibility of re-signing with the Jets. On 29 March 2010, it was announced that he would trial at

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

, the former club of fellow Koreans

Park Ji-Sung Park Ji-sung (; ; born 30 March 1981) is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in the South Korean capital Seoul, Park is the most successful Asian player in football history, having won 19 trophies in ...

and

Lee Young-Pyo Lee Young-pyo ( ko, 이영표; ; born 23 April 1977) is a retired South Korean professional footballer who played as a right-footed left back. Lee was recognized for his speed and dribbling skills. His former manager Martin Jol once called h ...

. On 28 June 2010 the 22-year-old Korean attacking midfielder signed a two-year contract with

Tours FC Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), is a French association football club based in Tours, the capital city of the Indre-et-Loire department. The club was formed in 1919 and currently play at the fifth level of French ...

of the French Ligue 2. In January 2012, he returned to South Korea from the French side for

K-League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National ...

outfit

Jeju United Jeju United Football Club (Hangul: 제주 유나이티드) is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeju Province that competes in the K League 1, the top division in South Korea. In the past, the club has been known as the ''Yukon ...

. On 31 January 2012, Song signed a three-year contract with Jeju on a free transfer. In September 2016, he transferred to Al-Sharjah SCC.

International career

Song played for South Korea U-20 at the

2006 AFC Youth Championship The 2006 AFC Youth Championship was the 34th instance of the AFC Youth Championship. It was held from 29 October to 12 November 2006 in India. It was the first time for India to host this tournament. Sixteen teams from the AFC qualified to the f ...

and at the subsequent 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He scored two goals against Australia to knock them out of the

Career statistics

Club

Honours

FC Seoul *

Korean League Cup The Korean League Cup was a professional football competition in South Korean football. It was held by the K League Federation from 1986 to 2012. Sponsorship Champions List of finals Titles by club K League's principle of official statis ...

: 2006

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian ...

* A-League

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

: 2007–2008

References

External links

*
Song Jin-hyung – National Team Stats
at KFA * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Jin-hyung 1987 births Living people Footballers from Seoul Men's association football midfielders South Korean men's footballers South Korea men's under-20 international footballers South Korea men's international footballers FC Seoul players Newcastle Jets FC players Tours FC players Jeju United FC players Sharjah FC players K League 1 players A-League Men players Ligue 2 players UAE Pro League players South Korean expatriate men's footballers South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Brazil South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Australia South Korean expatriate sportspeople in France South Korean expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates