SEOL KI-HYEON

'Seol Ki-Hyeon' (Korean: 설기현, Hanja: 薛琦鉉) (born 8 January 1979 in Jeongseon, South Korea) is a professional footballer, currently playing for Fulham in the English Premier League. He is a strong, pacy, right-footed winger who can operate on the left or right.

Contents

Club career

Club career stats

International career

Honours

References

External links

Club career

Seol was born in Jeongseon, Gangwon-do, South Korea. At the end of his time as a college player in Korea, the young striker was advised to join the J League in Japan, but chose instead to try and establish his career in Europe.
After one successful season with Antwerp (2000-01), he moved to Anderlecht. He played in the UEFA Champions' League, and in the Belgian Super Cup he gained a hat-trick in the space of 12 minutes. In 2004 he moved to the English league, joining Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers. He made over 30 appearances by the end of the 2004-05 season, scoring a few goals too. The Wolverhampton coach at the time, Glenn Hoddle, preferred Seol as one of his first-choice strikers, using him in a wide, supporting role to the main strikers.
Disappointed with the failure of Wolves to win promotion from The Championship, Seol sought a move to the Premier League following the 2006 FIFA World Cup, despite having two years of his contract left. He was reported as saying ''"At this stage, I'm frustrated not to be in the Premiership. I think there will be some good news after the World Cup."''^[1]
Seol eventually joined newly promoted Premier League club Reading on 12 July 2006 for a fee of £1 million (rising to £1.5 million based on certain criteria).^[2] He scored his first Premiership goal as Reading won 2-1 at Sheffield United on 16 September 2006.^[3] He scored his second goal for Reading against West Ham United, proving to be only goal of the match.^[4] His third goal for Reading, his first at home, came on 18 November 2006 in the 2-0 win against Charlton Athletic.^[5] He scored his fourth goal against Blackburn, the last game of the season.
Seol left Reading for Fulham on 31 August 2007 for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract, with Liam Rosenior going the other way.^[6]

Club career stats

Last update: 23:26, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Season	Team	Country	Division	Apps	Goals
00–01	Antwerp	align="left"	1	25	10
01–02	Anderlecht	align="left"	1	20	3
02–03	Anderlecht	align="left"	1	32	12
03–04	Anderlecht	align="left"	1	19	3
04–05	Anderlecht	align="left"	1	1	0
04–05	Wolves	align="left"	2	37	4
05–06	Wolves	align="left"	2	32	4
06–07	Reading	align="left"	1	27	4
07–08	Reading	align="left"	1	3	0
07–08	Fulham	align="left"	1	0	0

International career

Seol plays for Korea Republic (South Korea) internationally. He played in his first World Cup in front of his home crowd, the Republic of Korea being co-hosts with Japan for the 2002 finals. Seol was a key member of the Korea Republic squad during the tournament, memorably scoring the equalising goal against Italy in the knockout stages. He was also the most tackled player of the 2002 World Cup.

Honours

Seol was voted by Reading Fans as the official Player of the Month for August^[7] and September 2006. Seol played in all three of the Royals Premiership games in August when he helped to create three of the four goals scored.

References

1. Seol Ki-hyun looking to Premier League
2. Royals complete the signing of Seol Ki-Hyeon for a fee of up to £1.5million
3. Sheff Utd 1-2 Reading
4. West Ham 0-1 Reading
5. Reading 2-0 Charlton
6. Rosenior signs as Seol departs
7. Seol wins official player of the month award after impressive opening games

External links

★

★ Seol Ki-Hyeon profile at readingfc.co.uk

★ Seol Ki-Hyeon profile on the KFA official site