My Girlfriend Wants Victory

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One peaceful day while training in Dortmund.

“Ah! Jinho! DFB wants to meet you; are you willing to meet them?”

I heard that the German Football Association was hoping to meet me through Dortmund.

As soon as I received this news, I could roughly guess the reason they wanted to talk to me.

The DFB, which is like the South Korea Football Association back home, would want to meet me for what?

It’s 100% about naturalization issues.

“From the DFB?”

But I played dumb and asked innocently.

Usually, people like sharp-minded folks but still show signs of caution.

“Uh, maybe…”

A Dortmund representative answered carefully.

“I think they’ll want to talk about Jinho’s naturalization.”

I nodded at that. Well, nationality is indeed a sensitive issue.

Especially since Germany does not permit dual nationality for non-European Union foreigners, so they might be a bit more cautious.

“But then, Korea doesn’t allow dual nationality either.”

Well, it’s not my business, but how would the Dortmund representative know all that?

After thanking them for the information, I promptly contacted my agent, Mino Raiola.

– Mino Raiola: I’m on my way.

The transfer market hasn’t closed yet, but perhaps there wasn’t anything urgent. Mino Raiola flew straight to Dortmund.

“Jinho! You’ve grown a lot!”

“We saw each other just a month ago.”

“Must be because you’re in your growth period, huh.”

Mino Raiola lightly patted my shoulder and continued.

“Anyway… let’s go.”

What kind of proposal did the German Football Association bring to persuade me?

“Jinho, nice to meet you.”

It was a moment filled with a little bit of expectation.

—

The conversation with the DFB executives was somewhat disappointing.

“Jinho, if you naturalize to Germany, you won’t have to go to the military.”

“I’m an orphan, so I don’t have to go to the military.”

From the first impression of the association executives, I didn’t like it; they seemed a bit arrogant.

What should I say? It felt like they were saying, ‘We are the German national team; you should feel honored just to receive a naturalization offer from us.’

“Well, Germany is better than Korean nationality, isn’t it?”

Maybe this association executive is mistakenly thinking my home is North Korea instead of South Korea.

Their attitude seems to suggest, ‘Your country is a developing country, so of course, you’ll accept the offer from the developed country, Germany?’ Is it just a misunderstanding?

‘It doesn’t seem like a misunderstanding…’

The association executive might not realize it, but I could see Mino Raiola’s lips twitching beside me, so I thought my feelings were correct.

“We’ll fully support you until you become a national player.”

Wasn’t that enough? When the German association executive finished speaking with a feel of ‘this should be good enough,’ I made eye contact with Mino Raiola for a brief moment and nodded.

Mino Raiola’s shoe flew toward the association executive.

“How dare you, you pig! You look down on my friend Jinho!”

Still, it seems he restrained himself from throwing a chair, trying not to ruin relations with the DFB.

“It looks like there’s a misunderstanding! Calm down!”

I looked at Mino Raiola calming down the German national team director Bierhoff with a flustered expression and fell into thought.

Well… at this time in Germany, players with outstanding talents were emerging like Mesut Özil, who had changed positions to midfielder in the 09/10 season and was performing fantastically, Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was still establishing himself but had already received huge praise as a promising attacking midfielder from the Bayern legends, Toni Kroos, who was considered Michael Ballack’s successor and was currently playing for Real Madrid, and Sami Khedira, who was playing for esteemed clubs. They were growing and doing well in the midfield position, so there was no need to rush.

The proposal for my naturalization from the DFB might be more about looking at the future after those players retire rather than needing me now.

Therefore, didn’t the association executive adopt an attitude like, ‘We don’t need you; excellent players will keep coming out in the future? We are Germany?’

‘Perhaps it would have been different if it had come from the West Association instead of the DFB.’

Suddenly, I wondered how things would have been if the offer for naturalization had come from the West Football Sports Association (WFV) to which Dortmund belongs.

But I think it wouldn’t have changed much. The WFV, being merely a regional association, would have less power than the DFB.

And to begin with…

[Bierhoff: “In any case, only players related to Germany can become national team players.” ]

With the upcoming World Cup to be held in the country in 2005, Bierhoff’s interview regarding opposition to calling up naturalized players instead of those raised in Germany gives a good insight into how conservative German football is. Players such as Jerome Boateng, Sami Khedira, Mesut Özil, Emre Can, Lukas Podolski, and Miroslav Klose were all born in Germany or had German parents.

In such a conservative football environment, the simple offer of naturalization with the condition that ‘they will support me fully until I become a national team player’ tells how highly they regard me.

‘If you want to naturalize, perhaps you should change your attitude…’

Well, I know that the attitude of the association executive has overshadowed all that.

“That rotten jerk should never appear again in front of Jinho and me!”

Anyway, as Mino Raiola protested to Bierhoff and the DFB regarding the association executive’s attitude,

“Then how about naturalization…”

“Even if I naturalize, won’t it be five more years before I’m eligible for selection anyway? I would like a bit more time to think about it.”

I neither accepted nor rejected the naturalization proposal from the German Football Association.

Accepting a naturalization offer just because it sounds good doesn’t look good from the outside…

Moreover, naturalization was a matter to approach carefully. Most people reveal feelings of betrayal when it comes to giving up their nationality, not only back home but also in other countries.

Especially in Asia, which is more conservative than Europe or South America, merely hearing that I naturalized could turn some people into anti-fans.

‘Some might cheer for me, but Korea would absolutely turn into a den of anti-fans.’

Even if I have no intention of doing so, the media would stir it up like that. Didn’t Argentina tear apart Messi when he grew up in Spain and not in his homeland?

‘Then when Messi announced his retirement, didn’t the entire nation flood in support?’

And not only that but I had to consider life in Germany and the racial aspect.

I’m Asian. I wasn’t born in Germany, nor do I have German parents.

In fact, I hadn’t even lived in Germany since childhood. Including my past life, I had lived in Korea for over 30 years.

My thoughts, mindset, and values are all Korean.

I would get furious if public transport strikes occurred, and I would be driven mad by slow administrative processes.

I’m this native Korean who refreshes the page by hitting F5 the moment the internet screen hesitates a bit! Would the Germans accept me as one of their own?

They’d probably see me as just a foreigner or a brown-skinned mercenary.

Even though Özil’s parents are both Turkish, he once mentioned, “When I win, they see me as German; when I lose, they see me as Turkish” after retiring from the national team due to feeling so awful.

And he was a member of the World Cup-winning team but still heard German crowds shouting, “Turkish pig, get lost!”

‘Well, Özil’s situation wasn’t exactly great due to his photos with Erdoğan, the dictator of Turkey, on social media…’

Still, the way the football association treated naturalized players could lead to controversy.

‘And I need to consider the existence of racism in German society too.’

Unlike neighboring countries, Germany often apologizes for its historical issues, so people tend to think racism isn’t serious there.

However, the fact that Özil, despite showing exceptional talent in his youth, was rejected multiple times by clubs due to his immigrant background suggests that racism is more prevalent in Germany than it seems.

And considering the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe over time,

It was certain that I would be scrutinized by German politics.

‘Or maybe… they might pit Asian immigrants against those from other countries, just like in America.’

One single decision of mine could affect not only the Koreans residing in Germany but also my precious ones like my father-in-law and mother-in-law, as well as Gyeouri Hwang Geum-soon, making it undeniably an issue that needed careful consideration.

‘And most importantly, I need to ask Gyeouri’s opinion.’

My goal in this life isn’t to become the best football player but to be happily lovey-dovey with Gyeouri.

‘Ah! It just struck me; Gi-hyun Choi could also become an issue.’

I thought about how it seemed there were many things I would lose, so I considered just rejecting naturalization.

[Shock! Insider Exposé: Former coach Park Kwang-rae, there’s a faction controversy within the national team! “Separated training and meals for overseas and domestic players!”]

[Coach Park Kwang-rae reacts angrily to media reports. “We had separate training, but we did not separate meals! Get your facts straight!”]

[Coach Park Kwang-rae claims, “There was external pressure from the association regarding player selection! Jo Yeon-jong blocked Son Jinho’s call-up!”]

[South Korea Football Association reaches a decision to appoint Jeonbuk’s Chae Kang-hee as the national team coach.]

[Jeonbuk’s Chae Kang-hee declines the national team coach position. “It’s too overwhelming for me to take on.”]

[Seoul Police Intelligence Crime Investigation Team files charges against Jo Yeon-jong and senior officials of the football association for breach of trust.]

[Empty coaching position due to internal and external conflicts? When will the next coach be appointed?]

Currently, the South Korea Football Association had become a bigger mess than ever, making decision-making quite difficult.

‘Crazy… are we really going to fail to qualify for the Brazil World Cup?’

The atmosphere within the South Korea Football Association was truly concerning.