Cho Gue-sung (; born 25 January 1998) is a South Korean professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as striker for

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region (), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform. The refo ...

and the

South Korea national team South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

Club career

Early career in South Korea

Cho played

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

during his youth career and freshman year at

Gwangju University Gwangju University () is a university in Gwangju, South Korea. It began in 1981 as a four-year college in Jinwol-dong, Nam-gu, Gwangju, named Gwangju Gyeongsang Jeonmun Daehak (). It now has three graduate schools and four colleges with more t ...

. However, Cho was not evaluated as a good midfielder by his university's head coach Lee Seung-won and changed his position to striker in 2017. In 2019, Cho joined

K League 2 The K League 2 () is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs and operates on a promotion and relegation system with K League 1. History In 2011, the or ...

side

FC Anyang FC Anyang () is a South Korean professional Association football, football club based in Anyang, Gyeonggi, Anyang that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. The club play their home games at Anyang Sports Complex. H ...

where he was a youth player before. He was selected for the K League 2 Best XI after becoming the third highest scorer in his first professional season, and transferred to

K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...

club

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Jeonbuk have won the K League a record nine times, including ...

the next year. Cho had difficulty proving his worth in his first season at Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. In 2021, he joined the military team

Gimcheon Sangmu Gimcheon Sangmu Football Club () is a South Korean professional football club based in Gimcheon that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Sangmu is the sports division of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. Sangmu' ...

to serve his mandatory duty and get a stable spot. As a result, he developed physically and technically while being trained at Gimcheon. He became the top goalscorer in the

2022 K League 1 The 2022 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 40th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea, and the tenth season of the K League 1. After progressing 33 regular rounds as ...

and led Jeonbuk to the

2022 Korean FA Cup The 2022 Korean FA Cup, known as the 2022 Hana 1Q FA Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Hana Bank, was the 27th edition of the Korean FA Cup. Defending champions Jeonnam Dragons were defeated by Busan Transportation Corporation in the round o ...

title. In January 2023, Jeonbuk received transfer bids for him from

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

and

Minnesota United Minnesota United Football Club, often shortened to MNUFC, is an American professional soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Th ...

. Cho was attracted to Mainz and Celtic but rejected their offers after judging that his body condition was not good enough to play in Europe.

Midtjylland

On 11 July 2023, Cho signed with

club

on a five-year contract for a fee reported to be around £2.6 million. On 22 July 2023, he made his Danish Superliga debut with Midtjylland, scoring in a 1–0 win over

Hvidovre Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center. It is the 2nd biggest suburb of Copenhagen, only beaten by Frederiksberg. History Hvidovre has ...

. Having a considerable presence at Midtjylland early on, he was selected for the Superliga Team of the Month in July and September. He won the most duels and aerial duels in the

2023–24 Danish Superliga The 2023–24 Danish Superliga (officially the 3F Superliga for sponsorship purposes) was the 34th season of the Danish Superliga. It began on 21 July 2023. Teams Vejle Boldklub won the 2022–23 Danish 1st Division and made an immediate retur ...

. He successfully performed the role of target man, while helping his team win the league title. Cho suffered knee pain for a long time, and removed his meniscus to prepare for the next season just after the 2023–24 season. Despite this decision, he had to be absent the next season due to unexpected complications.

International career

Cho made his senior debut for

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

on 7 September 2021 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. In November 2022, Cho was named to the 26-man squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. In Korea's second match at the tournament, he scored two goals against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

in an eventual 2–3 defeat, becoming the first South Korean player to ever score 2 or more goals in a single World Cup match. Despite losing that match, the goals proved decisive in ultimately sending Korea through to the

Round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

on goal difference, at the expense of

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. Due to his performance in 2022 FIFA World Cup, Cho proved to be one of the greatest players in the air in Qatar. The young Korean forward won 21 aerial duels, putting him second in terms of success in the air among all players at the World Cup, after Morocco's

Youssef En-Nesyri Youssef En-Nesyri (; pronounced ; born 1 June 1997) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe and the Morocco national team. After representing local youth teams, especially the King Mohamme ...

. Cho was called up for the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...

, and was expected to play as an influential striker for the South Korean national team during Hwang Ui-jo's absence. However, he disappointed Koreans by missing five big chances and winning only 35% of duels while scoring one goal in six matches (although he did score against Saudi Arabia as the Koreans would win on penalties). Especially, he received a yellow card after attempting a

dive Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

instead of a shot in front of

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

's goal when Jordan held a 2–0 lead in the 88th minute of the semi-final match.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list South Korea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cho goal.''

Honours

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Korean FA Cup The Korea Cup (), formerly the Korean FA Cup, is a national Association football, football cup knockout competition of South Korea, held annually by the Korea Football Association (KFA). Before the competition was established in 1996, two simil ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Gimcheon Sangmu *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Midtjylland *

: 2023–24 South Korea U23 *

AFC U-23 Championship The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship (in 2013) and AFC U-23 Championship (between 2016 and 2020), is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 n ...

South Korea *

EAFF Championship EAFF E-1 Football Championship, known as the East Asian Football Championship from 2003 to 2010, and the EAFF East Asian Cup for the 2013 and 2015 editions, is a men's international football competition in East Asia for member nations of the East ...

runner-up:

Individual * K League 2 Best XI:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

* Korean FA Goal of the Year: 2020 * K League All-Star: 2022 * K League 1 top goalscorer:

* K League 1 Best XI:

Most Valuable Player:

Notes

References

External links

*
Cho Gue-sung
at KFA
Gue-sung Cho
at

FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...

Gue-Sung Cho
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Gue-sung 1998 births Living people Men's association football forwards South Korean men's footballers South Korea men's under-23 international footballers South Korea men's international footballers FC Anyang players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Gimcheon Sangmu FC players FC Midtjylland players K League 1 players K League 2 players Danish Superliga players Sportspeople from Ansan Footballers from Gyeonggi Province South Korean expatriate men's footballers South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2023 AFC Asian Cup players 21st-century South Korean sportsmen