Ahn Jung-hwan Admits to 2002 Attitude Controversy, "I Thought I Was the Best and Acted Arrogantly"

On the September 12 broadcast of the MBC entertainment program ‘Hangout with Yoo’, the ‘Going to Italy for Anne’ episode was aired. Former footballer Ahn Jung-hwan, who appeared on this day, revealed the story of why he had not been able to visit Italy for 25 years since the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup and spoke about his past attitude controversy. Ahn Jung-hwan honestly admitted, “At that time, I thought I was the best and acted arrogantly,” adding, “I thought I was the only person who could save Korean football.”

Yoo Jae Suk shared an EPISODE of encountering Ahn Jung-hwan in Japan in the past. At that time, Ahn Jung-hwan was in a situation where he was being released by an Italian club along with an ankle injury, incurring a penalty fee debt of 3.8 billion won. Ahn Jung-hwan expressed his hardships at the time, saying, “If it were now, I would have gone to greet him even if I had to crawl.” Additionally, anecdotes about receiving death threats from the mafia after his golden goal in Italy and recent news such as his daughter Woni's employment were also shared.

This broadcast recorded a nationwide household rating of 4.5% and 4.3% in the metropolitan area, ranking first in the same time slot. The key indicator, the 2054 rating, reached 2.7%, achieving a triple crown, and the peak rating per minute soared to 5.9%. Meanwhile, in the youth football donation mission, a total of 10 million won was donated, combining Ahn Jung-hwan's personal funds of 6 million won and the 4 million won earned by Yoo Jae Suk and Haha.

‘Hangout with Yoo’ will be off the air for three weeks from September 19 to October 3 due to the broadcasting of the ‘2026 Aichi Nagoya Asian Games’, and is scheduled to resume broadcasting on October 10.

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