Thai soccer player Sasalak Hyprakorn, who suffered racial discrimination on social network service (SNS) from Ulsan Hyundai players in the professional football K League 1, revealed his feelings for the first time.
On the 12th, Sasalak posted on social media, “I received a lot of criticism before I came here, but I didn’t care about them. Because I know that there are many people who love and wait for me. Only these people know what I fight for. I know, and I’m proud of myself.”메이저놀이터
“I’ve never said with my own mouth that I’ve done well until now, but I’m proud of myself for fighting until today,” he wrote, “Thank you to me and the fans. This is enough for me.”
Sasalak did not directly mention the racial discrimination incident, but posted a picture of his family wearing a Jeonbuk uniform and cheering him on in his hometown, suggesting that the message was about this incident.
Sasalak is a side defender from the Thai national team who played for Jeonbuk Hyundai in 2021. At that time, he digested two regular league games and returned to the Thai league in six months.
Ulsan players recently made racially discriminatory remarks towards Sasalak during a conversation on social media, incurring public outrage.
On Lee Myung-jae’s Instagram account in Ulsan, teammates Lee Kyu-seong, Jung Seung-hyun, and Park Yong-woo all of a sudden mentioned sasalak while continuing the conversation in comments.
They left comments such as ‘Southeast Asian Quarter’ and ‘Sassalak form is crazy’ toward Lee Myung-jae.
It seems that he was referring to Sasalak from Thailand to make fun of Lee Myung-jae’s dark skin color.
Lee Myeong-jae deleted the post, and Park Yong-woo wrote an apology, saying, “I apologize to Sasalak and all the fans and people around me who may have been hurt by my careless words and actions that compared my teammate’s play style and appearance.”
The Ulsan club also issued an apology and promised to devise measures to prevent recurrence, such as holding its own reward and punishment committee and training for all members of the club.
The Korea Professional Football Federation plans to review the case report submitted by Ulsan and decide whether to hold a reward or punishment committee.