A soccer field is a battlefield where players fight in their own blood. However, the field contains various stories and messages. The future also coexists.
On Sept. 13, a unique scene was staged at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan. Usually, 22 players join the team when a player enters the ground. They appear in partnership with the best 11 players of the two teams that will be starting players. At the match, a single escort appeared on the ground holding the hand of Ulsan HD captain Kim Ki-hee.
It has a special meaning. The campaign was prepared by the Korea Professional Football Federation (President Kwon Oh-gap) and HD Hyundai Oilbank (CEO Joo Young-min), who support the next generation’s dream. The campaign was designed to encourage people to pay attention to the future of Korea while suggesting problems of population cliff. The Korea Professional Football Federation and HD Hyundai Oilbank allowed a “single escort kid” to enter the stadium at the only moment when a child appears.
The problem of low birth rate is the biggest issue in our society that must be solved urgently. Since 2017, the number of children entering elementary school nationwide has also been decreasing due to a rapid decline in the birth rate. This year, 2017 will be the first year of elementary school. Youth soccer has also arrived at a time when it faces a population cliff in earnest. In some regions, it is difficult for one grade to even form a soccer team (11 students).
Seo Yun-ho, who participated as an escort kid on the day, is the only male student who entered an elementary school in Ulsan this year. A total of three new students, including two female students, entered the school this year. Seo Yun-ho cannot play soccer because he has no friends to play with.
Fans who visited the stadium and those who watched the game through the broadcast even sympathized with the problem, saying, “I can feel the population decline in person,” and “It’s a pity that it’s the current situation in Korea.” The professional federation did not stop at one-off but produced a separate video of the Escort Kid campaign and released it on HD Hyundai Oilbank’s official YouTube channel on the 7th. The video is receiving a lot of attention, recording about 340,000 cumulative views in four days after its release.
Like any sport, soccer is not irrelevant to population decline. Fewer children enjoy kicking balls affects the soccer community. Statistics also show that the number of babies born in elementary school will decrease 37.5% from 358,000 in 2017 to 230,000 in 2023. If this situation continues, a crisis could come to the soccer community due to players’ poor skills and international competitiveness. The “single escort kid” raised the alarm in our society.
The professional federation and HD Hyundai Oilbank have continued their support projects for future generations. The representative project is “K League Dream Assist,” a program that provides one-on-one mentoring for young players in the K-League and WK-League. The K-League Dream Assist, which took its first step in 2020, has been in operation for five years. Players who have grown up through the program are also making tangible results, such as being selected as national teams by age and youth teams under the K-League club. 토토사이트
To expand the base of soccer, the professional league is also running soccer classes in conjunction with clubs, sponsors, and government agencies starting this year, providing opportunities for students living in K-League clubs to access soccer. HD Hyundai is contributing to addressing population decline through the operation of “Dream Boat,” an in-house daycare center that employees can use for free, and policies to support childbirth and childcare. The K-League is also working together to solve Korean society’s problems.