By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff reporter
The achievement of reaching the first knockout stage at a World Cup on foreign soil is not likely to end in a nominal honor for the Taeguk Warriors. They are now each facing a sizeable sum of money in bonuses from the local football governing body.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) plans to pay up to 4.5 billion won ($3.7 million) for the three group stage matches and an extra bonus for reaching the top 16 to the 23 national team players in grades commensurate to their contribution at the tournament.
"Coaching staff members will submit the grade classification, and the rewards will be offered accordingly if there are no problems with the suggestion," a KFA official said.
Divided into four groups based on performance stats, the highest graded players will receive 170 million won each, with the players in the next grades each getting 140 million won, 110 million won and 70 million won.
The overall amount more than doubled as South Korea qualified for the second round. It would have come to only 1.6 billion won if the team had been eliminated in the group stage. Team manager Huh will be given a bonus of 300 million won.
Most full time first team members, including captain Park Ji-sung are expected to make the highest rank, while players who appeared as substitutes such as Kim Jae-sung, Kim Nam-il and Lee Dong-gook are estimated to be in the second and third grades.
For midfielder Kim Jung-woo, it is going to be a small fortune as he is currently doing his army service. As a private, the former Seongnam Ilhwa player, who is expected to be ranked highly within the squad, is now paid only 950,000 won ($773) in annual salary.
National team players have received bonuses for the past two World Cups. All members were equally given 300 million won after the 2002 tournament, while they were given sums ranging from 20 to 50 million won depending on performance grades four years later.
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