Kim Nam-il is a retired South Korean footballer who played as defensive midfielder.
Early life
Kim Nam-il began playing football in third grade of elementary school. His decision to play football was initially met with opposition from his parents because of his impressive academic performance, but he continued his football career during his schooldays. He played for South Korea under-20 for the 1996 AFC Youth Championship, and scored his first international goal against Iran in the group stage, but he wasn't selected as a member for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. However, he was selected for South Korea for the 1998 Asian Games by manager Huh Jung-moo, and made his senior international debut in the tournament.
Playing career
Under the next manager Guus Hiddink's management, Kim began to play for the national team in earnest. Formerly an unimpressive player in the K League, he was criticized early because of his poor basic skills, but he was completed as an irreplaceable defensive midfielder, who block counterattacks of the opponent team beforehand, in Hiddink's belief. Being strong on stamina and fierce tussle, he was nicknamed the "Vacuum Cleaner" due to his relentless play. He was named in the Best XI of the tournament at the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup, in which South Korea participated to prepare the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He appeared all five games until the quarter-finals at the 2002 World Cup, but he injured his ankle during the quarter-final match against Spain. South Korea lost to Germany in the semi-finals after he quit the tournament. The term "Kim Nam-il Syndrome" began to be coined by tabloids to describe Kim's superstardom status. During the 2002 World Cup, he gained an unusually large female fan base, led to sold-out matches and goodies, and caused a sudden increase in popularity of Jeonnam Dragons. Kim, a former unknown to the public, then became highly desirable by numerous endorsement companies that were eager to pay high amounts of money. Many TV programs had asked, or pressured at times for, Kim to appear, but he rejected their offers, and appeared only on interviews instead. In January 2003, Kim joined an Eredivisie club Feyenoordon loan, and was subleased to the satellite club Excelsior to be tested for five months, but he didn't make a strong impression, and had no choice but to come back to Jeonnam Dragons. He played for South Korea for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and didn't only contributed to team's defense, but also attack with long-range passes. However, he conceded a penalty kick against Nigeria at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and was blamed by some South Korean fans.
Kim is the youngest of the three brothers in his family, and is a close friend of Lee Kwan-woo and Lee Dong-gook. Since 2006, there had been rumours about his relationship with anchorwoman Kim Bo-min eventually leading to the possibility of his marriage. The question was raised once again when a netizen posted a picture of a woman whom he claimed was Kim Bo-min at Suwon World Cup Stadium. The woman was wearing a hat and a light green scarf that covered about half of her face. Both Kim Bo-min and Kim Nam-il neither confirmed nor denied the allegation. In an interview with a women's magazine, the footballer's parents have stated that they have heard from their son that they are romantically involved, but did not hear about marriage. In June 2007, the couple secretly became engaged and revealed that they had met three years ago. They are married and are having a son.
