38-year-old 'People's Rooney' Dae-se Jeong, who also played in the K-League, retires from active duty

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Jeong Dae-se (38), a striker from the North Korean national football team, has finished his career as a player.

On the 28th, on the club's website, Jeong Dae-se's team, the Japanese professional soccer J2 (2nd division) league Machida Zelvia, announced on the club's website, "Jung Dae-se will retire from active duty at the end of the 2022 season."

Born to a father of Korean nationality and a mother who held Korean nationality before liberation, Jeong Dae-se ended his professional career that began in 2006 at the J-League Kawasaki Frontale in Japan in 17 seasons.

After playing for Kawasaki, Jeong Dae-se moved to Germany's Bundesliga 2nd division VFL Bochum in 2010 and succeeded in advancing to Europe.

After that, he went to FC Cologne in Germany and made his debut in the Korean professional soccer K-League in 2013 wearing the Suwon Samsung jersey.

Jeong Dae-se played for Suwon for two and a half years until the summer of 2015, playing in 72 K League matches, scoring 23 goals and providing 8 assists.

After returning to Japan on a contract with Shimizu S-Pulse in July 2015, he was also loaned to Albi Rex Niigata (2020), and has been playing for Machida since last year.

Born in 1984, Jeong Dae-se scored 6 goals in 34 league matches (10 starts) this season at the age of 38.

Nicknamed 'People's Rooney' among domestic fans, Jeong Dae-se also made his debut for the North Korean national team in June 2007, scoring 15 goals in 33 matches of his A match.

He also represented North Korea in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

In particular, before the group stage match against Brazil, during the national anthem, it became a topic of discussion by pouring out tears as if overflowing with emotion.

Through the Machida club, Jeong Dae-se said, "I received a lot from soccer and now my heart is full." "After 17 years of running hard on a stage that I could not have imagined, it is now over by blowing the whistle. I open my chest and take off my soccer boots." said.

(Photo=Machida Zelvia Club Twitter, Yonhap News)