Park Ji-sung to retire in 2015, father says

Park Ji-sung of PSV Eindhoven, an icon of Korean football, will likely retire in 2015, said his father, Park Sung-jong.

Park’s father said in an interview with JTBC on Monday, “The time [of retirement] is near. He will only play a year and half at the most. There will be no more new signing for my son.”

Park is under contract with the U.K.’s Queens Park Rangers until June 2015 and is on loan to Eindhoven.

Regarding rumors that Park might join coach Hong Myung-bo’s squad for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, his father said, “Some people around my son recommended that he play in one more World Cup before he retires, but he told me that he has already done enough on the national team and said he doesn’t want to take a younger player’s chance to appear in the event.”

Park sustained a foot injury in September and missed about two months of football. He returned to the field in a match against FC Utrecht on Monday.

By Kwon Sang-soo