Na Sang-ho, a striker who played for FC Seoul in professional soccer K League 1, moved to a promoted team in Japan’s J-League.Japanese professional soccer team Machida Zelvia officially announced on its website on the 4th that it had recruited Na Sang-ho.The Machida club, based in Machida City, Tokyo, Japan, won the second division last season and was promoted to the J1 league for the first time since its founding.It will compete in Division 1 starting in the 2024 season.Na Sang-ho, who played for FC Tokyo from 2019 to 2020, will return to the Japanese stage for the first time in four years. Na Sang-ho wore the Seoul uniform last season and led the team’s attack by scoring 12 goals and 4 assists.He performed impressively in the first half of the 2023 season, to the point where he was selected as the winner of the ‘Player of the Month’ award in April and July of last year.
Na Sang-ho, who entered the professional stage by joining Gwangju FC in 2017, played in Seongnam and Seoul in the K League.He appeared in 172 career games, scoring 54 goals and 15 assists.Under former coach Paulo Bento, he was consistently selected for the national team and played at the forefront.Na Sang-ho, who was used by former coach Bento, also appeared as a starter in the first group match against Uruguay at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar held in November last year.Since coach Jürgen Klinsmann took office, the team has been falling behind in the competition.Na Sang-ho, who was named to the national team call-up list during the international match period in March and June last year, has not been called up by coach Klinsmann since September.As European players such as Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) took over the position of side striker, Na Sang-ho’s position also decreased significantly.Klinsmann was unable to make the national team even ahead of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup, which aims to win the title for the first time in 64 years.Na Sang-ho played in 28 A matches 스포츠토토존 (games between national teams) in total and scored two goals.