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Cha Sung-mi

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In this Korean name, the family name is Cha.
Cha Sung-mi
Personal information
Full name Cha Sung-mi
Date of birth (1975-11-23) 23 November 1975 (age 50)
Place of birth Seoul, South Korea
Height 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Position Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996-2003 INI Steel
2006 Ilhwa Chunma
International career
1992-2003 South Korea 57 (30)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Cha Sung-mi (Korean: 차성미, born 23 November 1975) is a South Korean football referee and former footballer and referee who played as a striker for INI Steel and the South Korea national team. Having played for the national team throughout the 1990s, Cha is one of the first generation of women's footballers in South Korea, and is considered as one of the country's greatest ever female strikers.[1][2]

Early life

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Cha was born in Seoul, but moved to Osan with her mother and younger brother after her father died when she was two years old.[3] Her mother ran a local restaurant. While attending Osan Girls' Middle School, Cha competed as a javelin thrower, but in her first year of high school a P.E. teacher suggested she try football, and she began playing for the national team less than a year later.[4][5] She continued playing at Ulsan College.[citation needed]

Club career

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Cha joined Hyundai Steel (later INI Steel), at the time the only women's works football team in South Korea, in 1996.[6] She was the top scorer in the Women's Korean League in all of her first three years at the club.[6] In the first edition of the 1999 tournament, Cha netted ten goals in Incheon's three matches.[7]

A knee injury forced Cha into early retirement, and a retirement ceremony was held for her at the 2003 National Sports Festival.[8] However, after a successful rehabilitation and working as a referee for two years, she returned to playing, joining Chungnam Ilhwa Chunma in 2006.[9][10] Cha became a core squad member at the newly established club, but struggled with injury and ultimately retired from football at the end of 2006.[11][12]

International career

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Cha was first called up to play for South Korea in 1992 and was considered the team's best striker throughout the 1990s.[12][13][14] At the 1999 AFC Women's Championship, she became the first ever Korean player to score two hat-tricks in the same tournament.[15]

Cha played at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, scoring a goal in South Korea's opening match against Vietnam.[16] She was part of the South Korean squad that finished in third at the 2003 AFC Women's Championship, earning the country its first ever appearance at a FIFA Women's World Cup.[17][18]

She retired from international football in 2003, and later expressed regret that she never had the opportunity to play in the World Cup.[8][10] Cha held the record as South Korea's top international goalscorer until 2014, when her total of 30 goals was surpassed by Ji So-yun.[19]

Refereeing career

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Even during her playing days, Cha had the ambition to become a referee.[12] She first trained as a referee in 2004, after a knee injury cut her playing career short.[10] After a brief return to football, Cha retired from playing and received her FIFA badge in late 2006, becoming the second female Korean former footballer to qualify as an international referee after Im Eun-ju.[2]

In 2007, Cha refereed at the 2007 AFC U-16 Women's Championship, where she oversaw three matches including the final.[citation needed] Later that year, Cha was the first female referee to officiate in an AFC men's tournament when she oversaw three matches in the qualification stages of the 2008 AFC U-16 Championship.[14] Cha was later selected for the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, where she refereed the semi-final between Germany and the U.S.A., with both assistant referees also hailing from South Korea.[20][21]

Cha won a scholarship to study in the United States for a year to improve her English skills and subsequently scored full marks in the English test during the referee selection process for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. Cha was one of two Korean match officials at the tournament, along with assistant referee Kim Kyoung-min.[22][23]

Style of play

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Known from a young age for her goalscoring ability, Cha has been called the 'Korean Mia Hamm' and the 'female Cha Bum-kun'.[4][24] Ahn Jong-goan, her manager at INI Steel, noted that Cha had excellent basic skills as well as physical strength and footballing intelligence, comparing her to Lee Dong-gook and Sun Wen.[6]

Honours

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INI Steel
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  • Queen's Cup
    • Winners: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003[25]
    • Runners-up: 1997, 2001
  • President's Cup
    • Winners: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
    • Runners-up: 2000
  • Korea Expressway Corporation National Women's Football Tournament
    • Winners: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
    • Runners-up: 1997, 2002
  • Korea Women's League
    • Winners: 1998-2, 1999-1, 1999-2, 2003-1
    • Runners-up: 1998-1, 2000-1, 2001, 2002-1, 2002-2
  • Unification Cup
    • Winners: 2002, 2003
  • National Sports Festival
    • Winners: 2001, 2002, 2003
Individual
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  • Korean women's football MVP: 1996[4]
  • Korea Women's League top goalscorer: 1997,1998, 1999[4][6]

References

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  1. ^ Kim, Hyun-hee (4 October 2019). "강원도 산골 마을의 '선생 곽미희' 이야기" [Conversation with Kwak Mi-hee in a village in rural Gangwon]. sports-g.com (in Korean). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  2. ^ a b Kim, Chang-geum; Park, Jong-sik (20 October 2019). "'칼같은 판정 재밌는 경기 이끌터'" ['Knife-like decision making makes for a fun match']. Hani (in Korean). Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  3. ^ Kim, Ho-sung (22 September 1999). "차성미, 땀으로 쓴 축구신화" [Cha Sung-mi, a football legend written in sweat]. Dong-a Ilbo (in Korean). p. 33. Retrieved 19 November 2025 – via Naver News Library.
  4. ^ a b c d Kwon, Oh-sang (22 July 1999). "파워 인터뷰 "여자축구팀 많았으면 좋겠어요" 여자코리안 1차리그 득점왕 차성미" [Power interview: "it would be good if there were more women's teams" women's Korean league top scorer Cha Sung-mi]. Hankyoreh. p. 31. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  5. ^ "오산정보고 축구부 전국대회 우승" [Osan I.C.T. High School football academy victorious at national tournament]. ihsnews.com. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d "차성미 여자축구 스타예감" [Cha Sung-mi tipped to be a star of women's football]. Incheon Ilbo (in Korean). 22 July 1999. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  7. ^ "인천제철 우승... 차성미 3게임서 10골" [Incheon Steel victory... Cha Sung-mi 10 goals in 3 games]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 21 July 1999. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  8. ^ a b "체전 이모저모 - 여자축구 차성미 은퇴식" [National Sports Festival - retirement ceremony for footballer Cha Sung-mi]. Incheon Ilbo (in Korean). 15 October 2003. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  9. ^ Lee, Kyung-taek (1 November 2007). "차성미 심판, AFC 남자대회 첫 주심" [Referee Cha Sung-mi to officiate AFC men's tournament for first time]. Munhwa Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  10. ^ a b c "은퇴 女축구 선수들의 재기 꿈" [Retired female soccer players dream of comeback]. KBS News (in Korean). 8 December 2005. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  11. ^ Shim, Jae-cheol (14 August 2006). "박희영 혼자서 두 골, 대교 캥거루스 우승!" [Daekyo Kangaroos victorious thanks to Park Hee-young's two goals!]. ohmynews.com (in Korean). Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  12. ^ a b c Kim, Yong-il (29 June 2011). "獨 여자 월드컵, 한국인 심판 차성미-김경민을 주목하라" [Attention on South Korea referees Cha Sung-mi and Kim Kyung-min at Women's World Cup]. The Fact (in Korean). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  13. ^ "스포츠 게시판" [Sports noticeboard]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 9 July 1992. p. 27. Retrieved 19 November 2025 – via Naver News Library.
  14. ^ a b "남자축구 첫 여자심판" [First woman referee in men's football]. Hani (in Korean). 31 October 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  15. ^ Kang, Tae-seob (28 August 2018). "황의조'1대회2해트트릭'한국 남자대표팀 최초" [Hwang Ui-jo first to score two hat-tricks in one tournament for Korea's men's team]. bsnews.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  16. ^ Zlotkowski, Andre (17 October 2006). "Asian Games 2002 (Women's Tournament)". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  17. ^ Oh, Seung-joo (22 June 2003). 여자축구 첫 월드컵진출 '기적의 헹가래' [Women's football team celebrate miraculous first qualification for World Cup]. Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean). Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  18. ^ "여자축구 대표팀 차성미, 2골..한국 3연승 이끌어" [Women's football: Cha Sung-mi scores 2, leading Korea to three consecutive wins]. KBS News (in Korean). 12 June 2003. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  19. ^ Jeon, Young-ji (12 November 2014). "'A매치 데뷔골'이정은 15분새 4골,지소연'32골'최다골...'여축 진기명기'" ['A match debut goal' Lee Jung-eun scores 4 in 15 minutes, Ji So-yun becomes women's football top goalscorer with 32 goals]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  20. ^ "Match Report". FIFA. 13 November 2008. Archived from the original on 15 January 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  21. ^ "북한-미국, U-17 여자축구월드컵 결승 격돌" [North Korea, U.S.A. clash in final of U-17 Women's World Cup]. Daily NK (in Korean). 13 November 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  22. ^ Bae, Jin-nam (15 April 2011). "차성미, 김경민, 2011 독일 여자월드컵 주.부심" [Cha Sung-mi, Kim Kyoung-min: referee, assistant referee at 2011 Germany Women's World Cup]. Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  23. ^ "Officials confirmed for Germany 2011". FIFA. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  24. ^ Jung, Hee-don (18 May 2000). "여자 차범근 차성미" [The female Cha Bum-kun, Cha Sung-mi]. SBS News (in Korean). Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  25. ^ "여왕기축구 - 인천제철, 대회 3연패" [Queen's Cup football - Incheon Steel, 3 consecutive titles]. Joongboo (in Korean). 20 April 2000. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
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