Kim Min-jae, who currently plays for Bayern Munich and is a member of the South Korean national football team, has made headlines for his admirable act of cleaning up the doping test room after a grueling match against Australia.
Despite playing for 120 minutes and undergoing a doping test that lasted over two hours, he voluntarily decided to tidy up the room, considering the reputation of S. Korea.
Kim played an important role in S. Korea’s 2-1 comeback win against Australia in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup at the Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar on the 3rd.
He played the entire 120 minutes of the match. After the match, Kim and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) were selected for doping tests. These tests included urine and blood samples and took more than two hours to complete.
After the Australian players had finished their tests, Kim Min-jae, who was the last to complete his, started cleaning the doping room. Although the national team officials were eager to leave for rest, Kim began picking up towels, leftover snacks, and water bottles scattered around the doping test room.
“I told Kim that there are people assigned to clean the locker room, However, he continued cleaning the locker room, stating that people might talk about Koreans leaving their mess behind. He suggested that it wouldn’t hurt to clean up a bit and avoid such talk while abroad,” said a Korea Football Association official present at the scene.
Eventually, Kim and the team officials cleaned not only their mess but also the snacks left by the Australian players before leaving the stadium. The official added that seeing Kim, who had given his all to the point of collapsing at the end of the match against Australia, still finding the strength to clean up despite being exhausted, made them think that a world-class act is different.
