Interview: K League legend Dejan Damjanović returns to Korea for two new projects | OneFootball

Dejan Damjanović visited Korea this autumn but it wasn't just about checking in some of the K League stadiums and clubs he'd called home, he was back with a couple of post-retirement projects.

Retirement for Dejan came in early 2023 after a hugely successful and trophy-laden spell with Hong Kong Premier League side Kitchee SC. This ended a playing career that yielded three K League titles and a K League Cup with FC Seoul, an FA Cup with Suwon Bluewings, not to mention golden boots in K League and Hong Kong. For any successful play after retirement, the question is always 'What's next?' Dejan has said previously he doesn't see himself in management.

His recent visit to South Korea, and primarily Seoul, was the first since deciding to hang up his boots. K League United caught up Dejan in the Itaewon neighbourhood of Seoul on an unusually warm November morning, an area frequented by foreigners residing in the capital, Dejan being no exception over the years.

For Dejan, there's a sense of familiarity while strolling through the Itaewon streets but at the same time, there's something different. Nothing stays the same in Seoul, there's always something new and many lament the gentrification of areas like Itaewon but it continues to evolve. That time has come now for Dejan in his post-playing life. So what's he been working on?

Rise Soccer Academy

The first is Dejan's new academy. It's called Rise Soccer Academy where Dejan hopes to give something back to a country that gave him so much. It's a joint venture with a childhood friend called Alex who has dedicated the last 10 years to football education of young players with a focus on technique. With Dejan's experience at the top level in Asian football, and Alex's expertise in helping budding stars hone their skills, the partnership can be seen as the ideal combination, a strike partnership that compliments each much in the same way as Dejan and Mauricio Molina circa 2012.

Rise is a bit different from other academies, not just in the format, but also because the K League legend opted not to use his own name when thinking of what to call it.

"It was something me and my partner, Alex, and my friend from childhood we were thinking - what kind of name we can put and to be likable, to be recognized, to have some meaning in this way of Rise Academy, what we are doing now. I think after a couple of tries, I think we agree this Rise is something that fits us really nice. First, we are starting now so we are rising with this academy. We are trying to make the young generation in a proper way with our project and our idea; they can rise, they can do better, they can improve themselves in those first steps of football, and when we made the logo, and how it sounds, 'Rise Football Academy,' 'Rise Soccer Academy,' it's really likable if you ask me. It means something to us and I think the meaning of a name, the word 'rise' really fits us.

"We were thinking maybe we can do like this (Dejan Damjanović Academy). But I think, when they check, they will see that collaboration is with Dejan and I'm one of the guys who is doing everything in this project, especially for the first part, when we are doing the elements, the basic element techniques. We have 127 technical elements and I did all of them (videos), so they will see that I am part of this project, and I am one of the guys who wanted this idea, finally, to be published, to succeed. And now when they will see in the future when promo videos are coming and everything else, what is coming - I'm part of that. I'm the guy who is responsible, who is using my name, my career, my credibility, to show the young generation what I was doing when I was in their age."

The format is different from the academies of Dejan's contemporaries, ex-players, and managers who have launched their own academies. It is all online, at least initially.

"Subscribe and then download videos. I saw that many football academies here now in Korea, and everybody's trying to help the young kids enjoy football and learn something, of course, especially in these first steps. But what I think is the most important on football, we are now trying to just show them and offer them just online technical elements and they will get all 127 elements, what I did.

But it's not just a video of Dejan on an empty training pitch, re-creating a moment from his playing days. There's footage from actual K League games that will show students of the Rise Academy that this is a technical element, it is important, and it is something that can be used in a real match.

"They will see me, how I'm doing them, and next to that, they will really be happy to see every technical element used on the game, my game from K League and the time when I was playing in K League so that they can understand the value and importance of that element. Even if it's a simple one like chest trapping or heading or just simple passing or dropping the ball, they must understand that that's the most important technique in football, that basic element technique. So they will see the video that it's workable, it's very efficient, and it's very important. Next to that, we're going to offer a set of trainings. So that means, for special positions in the team, for example, defender. They can get a set of four trainings, or a set of eight trainings, or a set of 12 trainings. We're going to shoot them and give you the specifications."

Being online means the course will be a lot cheaper, which is important if a parent might have to choose between sending their child to a maths or English cram school, or a relative luxury of an extracurricular activity such as football.

"Everything will be much, much, much cheaper and much, much easier to afford than here. I think everybody knows football academies are really expensive. We're going to be much cheaper. We are still speaking about (how much exactly), but I think it's going to be minimum three times cheaper. I just want to offer this to everyone. It's not now about money. Now it's just people checking it, and I hope so, and I'm sure they will like it, and they will like what they can see, what they can learn."

But it's not going to be just a case of kids watching videos and trying to emulate technical elements without any feedback, there will be some coaching involved. Parents will be able to upload videos of their child practicing for Dejan or a coach to give feedback.

"We can always have one week feedback that we're gonna send the videos how they're doing from the first training to the last of the week, and then we can give the feedback what they're doing well, what they're not doing well, what we think they need to focus and we're gonna give like an honest response, and that parents and kids can have like the idea how it is going, and, of course, to see if they like it."

Watch this space with the Rise Academy, because eventually, the plan is to open a physical academy with pitches and training facilities.

"That's really something what I'm thinking about, and that's something in the near future will happen. I'm trying to give back something to Korean football, because they gave me a lot to me, to my family. I feel like I'm part of Korea so if I can help in some way, I will. I will start with this, this is my first step, to give them online trainings and then in the close future, to open an academy here in Seoul. I want to be a little bit different than others. Because I will prefer to have a couple of English-speaking coaches so they can learn English, they can upgrade themselves. They can learn different cultures, different approaches."

It's something that's been on the docket for a while but when to launch has been something left undecided. Being back in Korea for a different project (more on that in just a moment), and seeing that he's still remembered fondly, has pushed the launch date forward a bit:

"I didn't know when I can come to Korea to have like a really nice time here. And then finally, this Shooting Star project came, and I was here two months, and I saw that people still remember me and still have really nice memories of me. And I thought, now is a good moment. So we were planning last few months to do that, maybe even more, maybe five months, six months, but when I saw that, I think the reaction is still the same as when I was a player, I want try to offer them now, I think it's a good moment to offer this. I think kids and parents of these young students will be really happy to see that Dejan can teach them something, because probably those parents were watching our games."

YouTube

Shooting Star

As Dejan has already alluded to, his visit to Korea was also to take part in a Coupang Play reality TV show called "Shooting Star." Shooting began in September and continued, albeit with a short break in October, into mid-November. The premise of the show is to see how a team of ex-professionals perform against semi-professional K4 teams.

Park Ji-sung is the general manager with Choi Yong-soo as head coach, helped by Seol Ki-hyeon - three legends who are all part of the 2002 World Cup Squad. In the Shooting Star playing squad, the two goalkeepers are Kim Young-kwang and Lee Bum-young, defenders Kim Chang-soo, Shin Se-gye, Kim Keun-hwan, and Kang Min-su, midfielders Go Yo-han, Kwon Soon-hyung, Kim Sung-hwan, Ha Sung-min, Yeom Ki-hun, and Kim Ho-nam and forwards Dejan, Lee Jong-ho, Park Gi-dong, and Kim Dong-seop.

"I knew a lot of players because many of them were teammates or players who I played against all through my career. Many legendary players in one locker room. But I must tell you that people will be very happy and very entertained about this project. I told them now, personally, we had one meeting because yesterday was our last training. So we had, like, a little meeting. I told them that now I know why they are all legends, (because of) how they behave, how they perform, how they speak. You know, the character, personality, on the game, on the training, they are really legends, how they sacrifice themselves in this kind of program. I told them, I'm happy to be a part of it and I'm really happy that I accepted and came here for this project."

But, even with thousands of K League appearances between them, multiple league titles, cups, and intercontinental glory, it hasn't been plain sailing for this team of legends.

"It's a really, really tough thing to play against young boys from K4, young players 20 to 22, 23 years old, who want to compete against us, even we are 30 plus, 35 plus or 38 plus. Everybody wants to check themselves and compete against us, even though we are now outside of professional football life, and it's a really nice experience. And I'm sure the Coupang Play will have a great, great impact with this entertainment show. Everybody will be satisfied soon. The episodes are coming out, and they will they will see what we can offer."

Dejan was impressed with the level of some of these K4 teams: "Unbelievable, honestly. You know, we must be honest, five years ago, it's going to be really acceptable when we were all professional players. Probably these games will be much easier for us in the way play against them. I'm not saying we're going to win, but, you know, physically, we can overcome that kind of tiredness very easily. But now, when you are not professional anymore, it was really tough. The boys are running. The boys know how to play football. The boys are really competitive against us. So it was really tough, and the games were really interesting, and everything else, I cannot say. You will enjoy while watching the show.

"But people will be very happy to see how we recorded it, the level of professionalism from Coupang and the staff who helped us to do that, and it was really, really like we played the Champions League. That's how I feel. I said to them, this feels like I'm playing in K League or Champions League games. That's the level of how we compete, and how we are motivated and how we fight in the game. Simply, they gave us back moments when I was a professional football player. I told them that - thank you for making me feel I'm again a professional football player."

Who, then, does Dejan think could still play professionally?

"I told them, a couple of them, a minimum of four or five players, still they could play K League, if not K League 1, K League 2 for sure. The level of physical what they have and, of course, football quality. You know, they showed during their careers that they have quality and they have credibility. From defense,(Kim) Chang-soo and (Shin) Se-gye (Kim) Min-soo the defender from Ulsan. (Park) Gi-dong my partner from Suwon - I don't know why he's not playing still. Go Yo-han, I know that he had this injury problem, but he's a machine still. (Kwon) Soon-hyung and the winger (Kim) Sung-hwan the fast guy, my God a lot of players who can still play, believe me. They'd just need to pass pre-season. The guys are really, really professional, really good characters, and really serious about this. So with that kind of attitude, we can compete even now."

Starting November 22nd, there'll be new episodes every week and it will follow the journey of Shooting Star FC getting ready to and then taking on K4 teams. After two friendly games, the real matches start in a sort of mini-league.