Valeri Sarychev

Valeri Konstantinovich Sarychev (Russian: Валерий Константинович Сарычев; born 12 January 1960), also known as Shin Eui-son (Korean: 신의손), is a former Tajikistani footballer who played as a goalkeeper.^[1] He is regarded as one of the greatest K League goalkeepers of all time.^[2] In 2000, he gained South Korean nationality.

Valeri Sarychev
Shin Eui-son

Personal information
Full name	Valeri Konstantinovich Sarychev Shin Eui-son
Date of birth	(1960-01-12) 12 January 1960 (age 65)
Place of birth	Dushanbe, Tajik SSR
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1978–1981	Pamir Dushanbe	93	(0)
1981	CSKA Moscow	4	(0)
1982–1991	Torpedo Moscow	161	(0)
1992–1998	Ilhwa Chunma	157	(0)
2000–2004	Anyang LG Cheetahs	95	(0)
Total		510	(0)
International career
1997	Tajikistan	1	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Valeri Sarychev
Hangul	신의손
Hanja	申宜孫
RR	Sin Uison
MR	Sin Ŭison

Club career

Sarychev started his senior career in Pamir Dushanbe, the Soviet second division club. He spent his heyday in Torpedo Moscow and reached the Soviet Cup final five times with Torpedo. He received the Lev Yashin Prize [ru] in 1991,^[3] but he left for South Korea the next year after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He played for Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Anyang LG Cheetahs in South Korea's K League. Since 1999, the K League Federation made a new regulation which bans the use of foreign goalkeepers because the other clubs excessively employed foreign goalkeepers after watching his performances.^[1][2] He became a naturalized South Korean in 2000 and named his Korean name "Shin Eui-son" which is his nickname and means the "Hand of God".^[1][4] He had a retirement ceremony on 1 May 2005 and became a goalkeeper coach after retirement. He won one Asian Club Championship and four K Leagues in South Korea and was selected as the goalkeeper of the K League 30th Anniversary Best XI in 2013.^[5]

International career

In August 1997, the Tajikistani national team were to take 16 players to South Korea to face their national team, but due to missing passports, only 12 players traveled. As a result, the Tajikistan Football Federation called upon Sarychev, as well as Vitaliy Parakhnevych who were playing in the K League.^[6]

Personal life

He acquired Korean citizenship in the year 2000, after being encouraged to do so by Cho Kwang-rae, the then manager of FC Anyang (currently Executive Director of Daegu FC). He is married to Olga Sarycheva and has a daughter and a son. Shin neither drinks nor smokes, and his only hobby is listening to music. He has a collection of 700 LP records at home, including complete collections of the Beatles and Genesis albums.^[7]

After acquiring Korean citizenship he founded the Guri Shin clan.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[8][9]

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Pamir Dushanbe	1978	Soviet First League	14	0	1	0	—		—		—		15	0
	1979	Soviet First League	18	0	0	0	—		—		—		18	0
	1980	Soviet First League	38	0	2	0	—		—		—		40	0
	1981	Soviet First League	23	0	1	0	—		—		—		24	0
	Total		93	0	4	0	—		—		—		97	0
CSKA Moscow	1981	Soviet Top League	4	0	0	0	—		—		—		4	0
Torpedo Moscow	1982	Soviet Top League	1	0	0	0	—		—		—		1	0
	1983	Soviet Top League	2	0	0	0	—		—		—		2	0
	1984	Soviet Top League	26	0	2	0	—		—		—		28	0
	1985	Soviet Top League	26	0	2	0	—		—		—		28	0
	1986	Soviet Top League	6	0	4	0	3	0	0	0	—		13	0
	1987	Soviet Top League	3	0	0	0	5	0	—		0	0	8	0
	1988	Soviet Top League	26	0	6	0	4	0	1	0	—		37	0
	1989	Soviet Top League	30	0	6	0	4	0	4	0	—		44	0
	1990	Soviet Top League	24	0	6	0	—		6	0	—		36	0
	1991	Soviet Top League	17	0	4	0	—		3	0	—		24	0
	Total		161	0	30	0	16	0	14	0	0	0	221	0
Ilhwa Chunma	1992	K League	30	0	—		10	0	—		—		40	0
	1993	K League	30	0	—		5	0	—		—		35	0
	1994	K League	30	0	—		6	0			—		36	0
	1995	K League	27	0	—		7	0			—		34	0
	1996	K League	26	0	1	0	1	0			—		28	0
	1997	K League	9	0	0	0	7	0			—		16	0
	1998	K League	5	0	0	0	0	0	—		—		5	0
	Total		157	0	1	0	36	0			—		194	0
Anyang LG Cheetahs
	2000	K League	24	0	0	0	8	0			—		32	0
	2001	K League	27	0	2	0	8	0			1[a]	0	38	0
	2002	K League	26	0	0	0	9	0			—		35	0
	2003	K League	18	0	1	0	—		—		—		19	0
	2004	K League	0	0	0	0	7	0	—		—		7	0
	Total		95	0	3	0	32	0			1	0	131	0
Career total			510	0	38	0	84	0	14	0	1	0	647	0

1. Appearance in Korean Super Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Tajikistan	1997	1	0

Honours

Torpedo Moscow

• Soviet Cup: 1985–86

Ilhwa Chunma

• K League 1: 1993, 1994, 1995
• Korean League Cup: 1992
• Asian Club Championship: 1995
• Asian Super Cup: 1996
• Afro-Asian Club Championship: 1996

Anyang LG Cheetahs

• K League 1: 2000
• Korean Super Cup: 2001
• Asian Club Championship runner-up: 2001–02

Individual

• Ogoniok Goalkeeper of the Year (Lev Yashin Prize): 1991^[3]
• K League All-Star: 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002^{[10][11][12][13][14][15]}
• K League 1 Best Defender/Goalkeeper: 1992, 1994^[16][17]
• K League 1 Best XI: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001^{[16][17][18][19][20][21]}
• K League 30th Anniversary Best XI: 2013^[5]