A bizarre rule means that some of his teammates are now younger than they originally were
Jesse Lingard has finally found a club after signing for South Korean side FC Seoul.
Lingard has been without a club since leaving Nottingham Forest at the end of last season and had spent time training with West Ham United and Saudi Pro League side Al Ettifaq but was never offered a deal.
Reports claimed that Lingard had been offered to as many as 27 clubs but he opted to make the move to Asia and experience football in South Korea.
He’s signed a two-year deal at the club and becomes the seventh Englishman to play in South Korea.
Alongside him will also be teammates from Brazil, Germany, Serbia and Syria while the rest are all homegrown talent.
Why are some of Lingard’s teammates a year younger?
Thanks to a rule introduced in South Korea last June, all of the Lingard’s new teammates born in South Korea are a year younger.
Following a law that was passed in December, Korean’s no longer include the gestation period for all babies, meaning that they were all counted from one-years-old at birth.
Additionally, every Korean would then become a year older January 1 – even if they were born in December.
The new change will now follow the traditional international methods of age counting, with babies initially counted as zero before adding one every year.
In the UK, Spurs’ Son-Heung min has always been counted via the international method so will therefore remain as a 31-year-old but in his homeland he will now be 31 instead of 32.
Why did they change the way they count?
Explaining the decision Se-Woong Koo, a South Korean journalist, told Al Jazeera: “It’s tremendously confusing for many people; some people think of how old they are in terms of the Western way of counting, others do according to the Korean way of counting, and there is in fact more than one way of doing it the Korean way so to speak.
“Some people think your age increases with the Lunar New Year, not with the Solar New Year. Some people wonder if their birthday has anything to do with it.”
Lingard reveals why he chose Seoul
After confirmation of his signing earlier this week, Lingard met the media for the first time where he outlined his reasons for making a move that hardly anyone would’ve expected.
He said: “I’ve always wanted a different challenge and to create new memories in my career. I believe South Korea is the perfect place for that.
“FC Seoul showed me great passion, sending me a concrete offer on paper while other clubs were contacting me verbally. They also came to Manchester to check my physical condition as well.”
Seoul begin their K-League campaign on March 2.
Related links:
- Son Heung-min officially becomes a year younger
- Brest defender produces potential ‘career-ending’ tackle on Kylian Mbappe
- Football to introduce blue cards in major refereeing shake up
