What would it look like if legendary basketball players, marathoners, speed skaters and even swimmers formed a football team?

That’s the question JTBC variety show “The Gentlemen's League” tried to answer.


“We still remember our first match against a proper football club,” said Sung Chi-kyong, chief producer of the program in a recent interview with Ilgan Sports, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily. “We lost 11 to 0.”

“We thought that it could be fun if we put together a football team consisting of legendary athletes,” said Mo Eun-seol, writer of the TV program. “It was fun initially to watch players, for whom football was not their sport of expertise, train and play in matches together.”

It’s been a year since the program launched in June 2019, and the show airs every Sunday from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Members of the program include legendary basketball player Hur Jae, marathoner Lee Bong-ju, baseball outfielder Yang Joon-hyuk, tennis player Lee Hyung-taik, speed skater Mo Tae-bum and swimmer Park Tae-hwan. The team is coached by Ahn Jung-hwan, football player beloved for his goal against Italy during the 2002 FIFA World Cup — the match that led South Korea to the quarter-finals.

The team has had four wins, two ties and 22 losses.

Sung and Mo spoke to Ilgan Sports recently to look back on the year and recount the team’s failures and successes. The following are edited excerpts of the interview.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]