The Celebration That Outlasted Choi Yong-soo’s Goal

An awkward moment that stayed with fans

Korean Football Before and After 2002

The 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, marks a dividing line for many Korean football fans. The run to the semifinals changed what seemed possible for the national team. In the years that followed, a move to a European club became more familiar, and former players stayed in public view as coaches, commentators and television personalities.

The team that made that run had taken years to build. Along the way came qualifiers, friendlies and the occasional scene that stuck in the memory. One of those was Choi Yong-soo’s attempt to celebrate on top of an advertising board.

On the Way to the 1998 World Cup

A home match against Kazakhstan

Choi was part of the 2002 World Cup squad, but he was already a central figure in the campaign to reach France in 1998. On September 6, 1997, South Korea hosted Kazakhstan at Seoul’s Jamsil Olympic Stadium in the final round of Asian qualifying.

Kazakhstan now competes in UEFA. At the time it was still in the Asian Football Confederation and faced South Korea for a place in France. The home side won 3–0.

The score tells you how the match went. To see why people bring it up today, watch what happened as soon as the first goal went in.

The Eagle and the Advertising Board

Known as the Eagle, Choi was a strong presence in the air and near goal. He opened the scoring with a header and finished the match with all three goals.

Then there was the celebration.

He ran toward the perimeter and tried to get on top of an advertising board. The celebration was improvised, and the board didn’t give him the footing he expected. Almost as soon as he was up, he slipped and fell.

What might have been a memorable pose became a moment of embarrassment. For the people watching, it was hard to keep a straight face.

What People Still Replay

Plenty of fans would have trouble describing the goal in detail. The fall has circulated in highlights, entertainment shows and interviews, often with the setup left out.

It became a reliable way for television hosts to tease Choi. Over the years he grew comfortable enough to tell the story and laugh at it himself. That became part of what people remembered about him, too.

The clip belongs to an era of Korean football that can look less polished now. There’s something familiar in seeing an elite striker come up with an idea in a rush of joy and get it spectacularly wrong.

Embarrassment Makes the Archive, Too

From a distance, it was a small incident. In the archive, scenes like this give some texture to the years of qualifiers and friendlies that built the team.

For people who followed the team at the time, a few seconds of Choi and the board can bring the old national side back to mind.

Goals blur together. The sight of Choi trying to keep his balance has kept its place in the story of Korean football.