KAZAN (Russia): South Korea international Hwang In-beom wants to take Rubin Kazan back into the UEFA Champions League after sealing his move to the Russian Premier League side from Vancouver Whitecaps earlier this week.
The 23-year-old completed the formalities of his transfer before embarking on an arduous trek from Canada to his new home on Thursday, where he will play his club football at the Kazan Arena, a venue made famous during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Kazan hosted six games during the tournament, and most significantly for Hwang’s fans in his homeland, it was the site of Korea Republic’s remarkable 2-0 win over Germany which eliminated the defending champions from the competition.
Now the former Daejon Citizen midfielder and 2018 Asian Games gold medallist is hoping he can help restore Rubin Kazan’s glory days and take the club back into European football’s premier competition.
“To be honest, before the negotiations I hadn’t heard anything about Kazan, but after they offered me I heard a lot of things, especially the 2018 World Cup (when) Korea played Germany and beat them 2-0,” he told the club’s official social media channel.
“So when Korean people think about Kazan it’s like a miracle city. That made me more comfortable to play here and come here. I heard about the city from Korean people who live in Kazan, they said it’s a really good city for Korean people and Asian people to live, so that made me more comfortable.
“Especially about Rubin Kazan as a team, I know how big a team Rubin Kazan was, especially 10 years ago because I saw the team in the Champions League. Now I’m here to go back to the path where they used to be. I want to help the team a lot so we can find our spot where we used to be.” (Source: AFC)
