Choe Song-hyok (, born February 8, 1998) 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 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 a winger for

April 25 Events Pre-1600 * 404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion. * 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against th ...

and the North Korean national team.

Club career

Youth career

Choe started out with Chobyong, a North Korean academy known for developing young talent. Choe signed with Italian club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

in February 2016, joining the Primavera (under-19) squad. On March 5, he made his debut for Fiorentina Primavera, during a 4–2 victory over Virtus Entella U19. In doing so, he became the first North Korean footballer to ever make an appearance for an Italian club at any level. However, problems related to his nationality quickly began arising, and he only made three more appearances with the team. It was reported that the North Korean regime had placed strict restrictions on him during his time abroad. In addition to them keeping his travel documents, he was not allowed to use the internet, nor have relations with the media or teammates, unless directly related to football. Additionally, it was rumored that his signing bonus and 70% of his future salary would be repatriated to his home country. For this reason, in May, the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

requested that the government review the contract. The following month, Fiorentina decided to terminate his contract. Choe took the matter to court, and the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation (, ; FIGC ), known colloquially as (), is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano, the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It manages a ...

ruled that the club was obligated to continue honoring the contract. Subsequently, Fiorentina appealed to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

, arguing that the contract should be invalidated because they were not aware that it violated international sanctions at the time of its signing.

Professional career

In July 2017, Choe signed a three-year deal with

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. After only two appearances with the club (both with the under-19 squad), Choe was loaned out to fellow Serie C side

Olbia Olbia (, ; ; ) is a city and communes of Italy, commune of 61,000 inhabitants in the Italy, Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle ...

in January 2018. He made his long-awaited professional debut on February 25, replacing Roberto Biancu in the late minutes of a 1–0 defeat to

Robur Siena Siena Football Club Società Sportiva Dilettantistica, commonly referred to as Siena, is an Italian football club based in Siena, Tuscany. The club was re-incorporated in 2020 after the bankruptcy of the previous legal entity Robur Siena, whic ...

. On 13 July 2018, he signed with another

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

. He made just 2 appearances in the league (16 minutes of field time) in the next 1.5-years, and on 31 January 2020, his Arezzo contract was terminated by mutual consent. In April 2025, ''

The Pyongyang Times ''The Pyongyang Times'' is a weekly state-controlled English and French-language newspaper published in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, by the Foreign Languages Publishing House. It is the foreign-language edition of the '' Pyongyang Sin ...

'' reported that Choe is playing for

International career

Choe gained prominence by leading the North Korea U16s to a first-place finish at the

2014 AFC U-16 Championship The 2014 AFC U-16 Championship was the 16th edition of the biennial international youth association football, football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for players aged 16 and below. Thailand were approved as hosts of ...

, scoring the game-winning strike against

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 ...

in the final. Choe was also named to the North Korea U17 squad at the

2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the sixteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, held in Chile from 17 October to 8 November 2015. Host selection The following four countries bid to host the tournament: * * * * Venues Along with proposing ...

, where he made four appearances. However, North Korea was knocked off in the round of 16 by

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. He earned two caps for the national under-19 team at the

2016 AFC U-19 Championship The 2016 AFC U-19 Championship was the 39th edition of the AFC U-19 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-19 national teams of Asia. The tournam ...

, and two more at the

2018 AFC U-23 Championship The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2018 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the third edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) f ...

. Choe made his debut for the senior national squad on 25 December 2018 in a friendly against

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Honours

International

North Korea U16 *

AFC U-16 Championship The AFC U-17 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC U-16 Championship and AFC U-17 Championship, is a football competition, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held once every two years for Asian under-17 teams that also serves as a q ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Choe, Song-hyok Living people North Korean men's footballers North Korea men's youth international footballers North Korea men's international footballers North Korean expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Olbia Calcio 1905 players SS Arezzo players Serie C players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players North Korean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Footballers from Pyongyang 1998 births