Choe Myong-ho (

Chosŏn'gŭl The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...

: 최명호, born 3 July 1988) is a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er.

Career

Born in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

, Choe was one of the first native North Koreans to join a club abroad, Krylia Sovetov Samara of the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

and the first to play in Russia. He was selected as the 2005 AFC Youth Player of the Year. Before moving to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, Choe Myong-ho had played for the Ministry of Light Industry team ( Kyonggongop) in the DPR Korea League of his native country. Due to his remarkable skills and talent the player has been called the "North Korean Ronaldo". Despite moving to the Russian club in 2006, Choe only made his full debut for the first team on 27 June 2007, in the Russian Cup, as Krylia Sovetov lost to KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny, by a single goal. Choe wasn't registered by Krylia to play in the 2009 season.

International career

He was a member of his country's U-17 national team and took part in the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship (scoring three times in four games), as well as the

2006 AFC U-17 Championship The 2006 AFC U-17 Championship was the 12th competition of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup, AFC U-17 Championship organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which was held between 3 and 17 September 2006 in Singapore. Japan national under-17 foo ...

International goals

References

External links

* * 1988 births Living people Expatriate men's footballers in Russia PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players North Korean men's footballers North Korean expatriate men's footballers North Korean expatriate sportspeople in Russia Footballers from Pyongyang Pyongyang Sports Club players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players Kyonggongopsong Sports Club players National Defense Ministry FC players Visakha FC players Russian Premier League players Asian Young Footballer of the Year winners Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games Expatriate men's footballers in Cambodia North Korean expatriate sportspeople in Cambodia Men's association football midfielders Asian Games competitors for North Korea North Korea men's international footballers {{NorthKorea-footy-bio-stub