National Service for Korean Players.

Had a look at a promising South Korean player in the Barcelona youth team, and noticed something I’d never seen before.

National Service Status, can anyone shed any light on this? Or has this always been there, and I’ve never noticed it?

edit: I just checked a few random South Korean players and it appears all of them have it.

IRL i believe all South Koreans have to do two years of National service before they're 30, however there may be some rule that prevents this for footballers because on the game, no one's ever been called up on my game, and there's never even been talk of Park Ji Sung getting called up so I wouldn't worry about it

There's a team they play for in the Korean top division that's the National Service team

IRL i believe all South Koreans have to do two years of National service before they're 30 ..

I think Germans also have compulsory national service (army, volunteer fire fighter etc.) but this isn’t on the German players profile. I’m not bothered by this Korean fella having this, as I currently have an abundance of midfielders (and Barcelona want a cheeky 54M for him), but I’d just like to know why SI implemented this, and if it even has any impact on the gameplay.

IRL i believe all South Koreans have to do two years of National service before they're 30, however there may be some rule that prevents this for footballers because on the game, no one's ever been called up on my game, and there's never even been talk of Park Ji Sung getting called up so I wouldn't worry about it

I've seen South Korean players get called up, although only players in the domestic league that I've noticed so far. What happens is that the player is transferred to the national service team (the name escapes me!) I imagine that the player can't be transferred out of that team until he's finished his service, but I haven't tried to buy one so I can't say for sure.

IRL, if South Korea wins the Asian Cup, then all the players on the squad are exempt from national service. Otherwise, he probably has to go before 30, since even actors in S. Korea need to do their mandatory service...

If they're gone for national service, it usually for 24 months, although there's has been talk of reducing that to 18.

It's the same thing in Finland IRL.

It's at least 180 days of military service before you turn 30. As far as I know, Shefki Kuqi is the only Finnish Footballer that has been given a permission not to do the service. But normally Finnish do the service at young age 18-20 years of age so that won't trouble them later on.

Don't they have to do it in Norway and Italy as well? I seem to remember John arne riise and Alessandro Del Piero doing national service years ago.

This is quite interesting. Are there any other restrictions anyone may know of (such as the South Korean national service, Finish military service etc.)?

Israel have compulsory national service too.

cyprus have at it aswell

It is easy to get out of the Norwegian one. Trust me . Some have served though, but normally they get to serve in the town where they are playing.

I think Germans also have compulsory national service (army, volunteer fire fighter etc.) but this isn’t on the German players profile.

The Wehrpflicht was abolished recently. No wait that's not quite right. Technically it's going to get adjourned indefinitly starting this summer. The last crop of guys was taken in this winter.

Also any person or athlete with half a brain or a decent advisor/agent who didn't want to go there didn't have to do it anyway. You wouldn't get selected for it, if you got your doctor(s) to attest your sports injuries or illnesses etc. I'll go out on a limp and say that the vast majority of professional athlets or people aspiring to become one would have had an injury bad enough to 'disqualify' them from the service by the time they would have had to do it. Even if they didn't have one if a club is backing them I doubt they would've been drafted. This is partly speaking from experience btw.

The Wehrpflicht was abolished recently. No wait that's not quite right. Technically it's going to get adjourned indefinitly starting this summer. The last crop of guys was taken in this winter.

Also any person or athlete with half a brain or a decent advisor/agent who didn't want to go there didn't have to do it anyway. You wouldn't get selected for it, if you got your doctor(s) to attest your sports injuries or illnesses etc. I'll go out on a limp and say that the vast majority of professional athlets or people aspiring to become one would have had an injury bad enough to 'disqualify' them from the service by the time they would have had to do it. Even if they didn't have one if a club is backing them I doubt they would've been drafted. This is partly speaking from experience btw.

I had a German friend (met him down at the local footy club) who had to go back to Germany because of this. If I recall correctly, he is able to complete his service on weekends over the next five or ten years (I think he said he does a Saturday a week unpaid fire fighting). I had another German friend who was in the Army for seven or so years, but I never had the chance to ask him about this. None of my experienced directly relate to sport/football though.

cyprus have at it aswell

Yeah, 25 months, a real pain.

How do you know this?

IRL i believe all South Koreans have to do two years of National service before they're 30, however there may be some rule that prevents this for footballers because on the game, no one's ever been called up on my game, and there's never even been talk of Park Ji Sung getting called up so I wouldn't worry about it

Because Park was considered a top athlete in South Korea he was exemped from National Service.

Short article about the Korean National Service http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/06/120_68239.html

Don't they have to do it in Norway and Italy as well? I seem to remember John arne riise and Alessandro Del Piero doing national service years ago.

Riise managed to avoid doing National Service as he was working abroad.

AS Roma and Norway full-back John Arne Riise managed to steer clear of military service as he was working abroad. He will never be drafted for service now that he has remained outside of the country past his 28th birthday.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/514006-celtics-ki-sung-yong-should-the-south-korea-star-do-military-service

Del Piero and Cannavaro have done National Service but it is no longer compulsary in Italy.

Don't they have to do it in Norway and Italy as well? I seem to remember John arne riise and Alessandro Del Piero doing national service years ago.

It's still there in Norway, while in Italy it has become volunteers-only since 2005 (no more conscription for those born from 1986 onwards).

Anyway in Italy it's always been far from popular (and from being a serious matter...). There were plenty of exceptions and people used every trick in the book to avoid the enlistment.

Also it was possible postponing the call for studying/working reasons, and celebrities have always had preferential treatment, meaning they either got turned down at the preliminary medicals, or just got an easy job.

And in the later years it was possible choosing the civil service as a legit alternative (while some decades ago "conscientious objection" was a felony).

So currently, no younger players from South Korea are exempt from their National Service?

It's still there in Norway, while in Italy it has become volunteers-only since 2005 (no more conscription for those born from 1986 onwards).

Anyway in Italy it's always been far from popular (and from being a serious matter...). There were plenty of exceptions and people used every trick in the book to avoid the enlistment.

Also it was possible postponing the call for studying/working reasons, and celebrities have always had preferential treatment, meaning they either got turned down at the preliminary medicals, or just got an easy job.

And in the later years it was possible choosing the civil service as a legit alternative (while some decades ago "conscientious objection" was a felony).

Nice one thanks for clearing that up. I checked to and Del Piero was called up for National service, I thought so as I remember there being a big thing about it as he was the highest paid player in Italy at that time.

Greece has it too.

So currently, no younger players from South Korea are exempt from their National Service?

Unless your really really well known, then you have to do national service. Most just leave it till they're 28 or so to complete their 24 months. My friend went back to Seoul to fulfill his national service. If you haven't realized, the North and the South are still at war.

You should check out Gwangju in the K-League. It is the Military side for the players. They would be an interesting team to manage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangju_Sangmu_Phoenix

Also any person or athlete with half a brain or a decent advisor/agent who didn't want to go there didn't have to do it anyway. You wouldn't get selected for it, if you got your doctor(s) to attest your sports injuries or illnesses etc. I'll go out on a limp and say that the vast majority of professional athlets or people aspiring to become one would have had an injury bad enough to 'disqualify' them from the service by the time they would have had to do it. Even if they didn't have one if a club is backing them I doubt they would've been drafted. This is partly speaking from experience btw.

This is really a same thing, or more likely a "similar" thing in finland. Every Finnish male has to take part in military service, which is at least 6 months. But for example Mikael Forsell did his time during the summer of 2009(or was it 2010, can't remember). And was able to practise with a local club, FC Lahti for the whole time. So for him, it was only doing his pre-season training in Finland rather than in Hannover.

And this same case it has been with Jarkko Nieminen (tennis player) and a host of finnish Veikkausliiga players.

But for us who did not play on any reasonable level, it was compulsory to go for at least 6 months

irl they get loaned to Sangju Sangmu Phoenix while they do national service, they actually came second in 2003.

Singapore has National Service too.

I never would have thought SI would have put this in. It’s quite an interesting bit of info, if you’d even call it a feature.

Us lazy brits seem to be the only people that dont do national service!!

Singapore has National Service too.

Never seen this before. Does this happen only if you manage in the S-League? What happens when they get called up?

Never seen this before. Does this happen only if you manage in the S-League? What happens when they get called up?

I've only seen this once, so I guess it's a rare thing.

I guess in game they'll simply be unavailable (like a suspension), but IRL they'll be drafted to one of the two uniformed teams in the S-League, SAFFC (army) or Home United (police).

Interesting. I thought Singapore players don't have their NS status listed in FM11. Will be cool if you are SAFFC or Home Utd and can draft in those players for 2 years after which they return to their former clubs. If they can do this and sort out some inaccuracies then I might be tempted to manage in the S-League.

Yeah, 25 months, a real pain.

How do you know this?

i read an article on marcos baghdatis and how he got let off from it until he was 32 or something

I guess the reason people don't see this feature often is that although it does exist in many countries there are very often easy ways out of it especially for professional athletes/those living abroad. Mostly due to it being a pointless and expensive excercise for the country in question which is why mainly national service programs have been abolished in europe in recent years.

A lot of 3rd world countries have some sort of national service.

Denmark has national service too, however the number of voluntaries is high, so basically no Danish men are forced into the military anymore. It might change when the financial crisis is over again though.

Didn't Emre have to do it in Turkey when he went back to play there? I'm sure they had that set at the start of one version of the game where he was unavailable.

Following Country do have conscript service of some kind

Algeria

Angola

Austria

Bhutan

Bolivia

Brazil

Burma/ Myanmar

People Republic of China

Cuba

Denmark

Egypt

El Salvador

Finland

Greece

Iran

Israel

Jordan

North Korea

South Korea

Kuwait

Libya

Mexico

Moldova

Russia

Seychelles

Singapore

Syria

Switzerland

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Thailand

Turkey

Venezuela

I would assume that professionals can be exemp from the rule provided they meet certain criteria, no idea what they would be but there must be some.

If you're a good club, playing near the top of your nations league system, then I reckon that you would be fine and your player won't be called up, but if you're way down the leagues, or a bunch of part timers, then the player will be called up at some point.

It would be an interesting save if we could manage one of those teams (if we can’t already). Wonder what the wage/transfer budgets would be, if any compensation would need to be paid to the parent club.

i read an article on marcos baghdatis and how he got let off from it until he was 32 or something

And Baghdatis still needs to do 25 months when he finished his career.

This military thing in the game will be very interesting if they ever get the cypriot league in FM (they should actually, 'cause the football here is rising, two teams in the UCL group stages the last three years, competitive league with loads of cash, good results by the NT and most importart for SI, a big FM community). In Cyprus all people of 18 years old need to do 25 months army duty right after they finish highschool. So we got a lot of talented 18 year old in Cyprus not being able to train, some even quite the game because of the army. This is actually one of the biggest problems in Cypriot football.

Estonia has military service, 8-11 months depending on battalion and your specialty you acquire during the service. However it's fairly easy to avoid it. Professional athletes are very rarely affected by it. One way is that it's settled that they participate only SBT (soldier base training), that's for 2,5 months (10 weeks). Other way around is that they serve full 8 months but are often and easily excused from service to participate in trainings and games.

The official application from national FA is necessary, though, to apply for such special treatment. Usually military service is filled in ages of 18-20, so in practice you have to be at least U-19 or U-21 level player to get support from FA in this matter.