Song Ui-young

Song Ui-young (Hangul: 송의영, born 8 November 1993) is a South Korean professional footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for S.League club Home United. Song started off playing primarily as a striker in his youth career, but was subsequently converted to be a defensive midfielder. Song is also well known as a footballer for his high work rate and excellent technical ability.^[5]

Early life

Song was born in Incheon, South Korea, and spent most of his childhood divided between school and football. Song was known as a quiet child during his schooling days, but stood out for his footballing skills and passion for the sport. He was scouted during his last year of elementary school to join Cheong Wang Middle School, a school renowned for its footballing programme. Song had to leave home and move to the school dormitory as the school premises were situated in the Gyeonggi-do province, away from Incheon where he had grown up in.^[6]

Youth career

At the age of 13, Song began training with the school team of Cheong Wang Middle School. In the final year of middle school, Song was made the captain of the school team. His head coach then, also put in a recommendation during his graduation for him to attend his high school education at Yeouido High School, which was known for its affiliations with K.League Classic club Suwon Samsung Bluewings.^[6]

By the recommendation of his coach from Yeouido High School, Song left South Korea at the age of 19 to pursue footballing opportunities in Singapore. Song's move to Singapore was eased by the presence of Home United's assistant coach Baek Jong-seok, whom he shared an apartment with. Song subsequently joined Home United's youth team, which participates in the Prime League.^[6]

Club career

Roasso Kumamoto

Song briefly joined J.League Division 2 side Roasso Kumamoto in 2011. During his one season stint with the Japanese side, he made a total of 18 competitive appearances for the team, with 15 of the 18 appearances coming off the bench.

Suwon City

Following his short spell with Roasso Kumamoto, Song returned to South Korea, where he joined Suwon City to partake in the K.League Challenge league for the 2012 season. Song made a total of 11 competitive appearances, scoring 2 decisive goals against Cheonan City and Chungju Hummel to secure a 1–2 and 2–1 win respectively for his side.^[7]

Home United

After Song's move abroad to join Home United's youth team in the Prime League, he was quickly promoted to join the first team which competes in the S.League, Singapore's top tier of competitive football. On 12 July 2012, Song made his debut appearance for the Protectors in the uniformed derby against Warriors FC. He played a total of 46 minutes in his first competitive match for the club, which subsequently ended in a 0–3 loss for his side.

Home United coach, Philippe Aw, was chosen to manage the Singapore Selection side for the 2016 Sultan of Selangor Cup. Song was selected in the 18-man squad for the cup tie that took place at the Shah Alam Stadium on 7 May 2016. He came on as a substitute in the 56th minute, and played the remainder of the match which eventually ended 1-1 (3-4 on penalties) in a win for the Singapore Selection team.^[8]

International career

During an interview conducted with Song in 2016, he stated that he was open to the idea of representing Singapore internationally. Song is a S Pass holder, and will meet the residency requirements of five years set by FIFA by the end of 2016 for him to become a naturalized Singapore citizen. Ex-Singapore national team coach Bernd Stange, also rated Song as one of the foreign players plying their trade in the S.League that can improve the national football team if they were to be naturalized.^[5]

Career statistics

Career statistics accurate as of 27 May 2016^[7]

Honours

Club

Home United

• S.League
  • Runner-up: 2013
• Singapore Cup
  • Winner: 2013
  • Runner-up: 2014, 2015

References

External links

• Song Ui-young profile at Soccerway
• Song Ui-young - Facebook Profile