Suk Hyun-jun (; or ; born 29 June 1991) 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 ...

who plays as a forward for Jeonju Citizen.

Club career

Ajax

After initially trialling with

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

side

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

, Suk signed 1.5-year contract with the Dutch club in October 2010. The contract effective from 1 January 2010 also included the option for Ajax to extend by another year. He made his debut in the first team in February as a substitute in a 4–0 home win against

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie ...

. He scored his first Ajax goal in a 2010–11 pre-season friendly win against Chelsea on 23 July 2010. He did not play in any official first-team matches during the 2010–11 season and his contract at Ajax was not renewed.

Groningen

On 27 June 2011, Suk signed a two-year contract with

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

including an option for a two-year extension. He scored five goals in his first season with Groningen including two goals against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, wh ...

, showing the potential for growth. However, he did not score in the next season and had to leave the club.

Marítimo

In January 2013, Suk signed with

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

club Marítimo. He netted his first goal for Marítimo in his third match, a 1–0 win against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

. He scored his second goal in a 1–1 draw with

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

. He moved to Saudi club Al-Ahli after making four goals for half a year in Marítimo. Vítor Pereira, the new Al-Ahli manager and previous Porto manager, was interested in Suk's performance in Portugal.

Vitória de Setúbal

Suk joined Nacional after having an unsuccessful time in Al-Ahli due to a toe injury. However, he also failed to settle in Nacional, and transferred to another Portuguese club Vitória de Setúbal on 12 January 2015. During the 2014–15 season, he achieved double-digit goals in a season for the first time by scoring five goals for Vitória in addition to five goals for Nacional. In the next season, he spent his prime by scoring 11 goals during the first half of the season. His long-range goal against Académica was named Primeira Liga Goal of the Month for August and September 2015. On 2 January 2016, he scored an unstoppable free-kick only four minutes into a match against

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (i ...

Porto

Suk moved to

on 15 January 2016 after his great performances in Setúbal. However, his transfer to Porto was not good choice as a result. His flow was stopped for the rest of the season, and he moved to

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

on 11 August 2016 on a one-year loan with an option to sign permanently. According to Trabzonspor's stock market report the fee paid to Porto by Trabzonspor was €750,000 and Suk was going to make more than €1 million a year. On 31 January 2017, after half a season at Trabzonspor and not finding much success, Suk's loan was cut short. The same day, a move to

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-hi ...

broke down although a loan agreement with Porto had been signed. The reason given by Bastia was that administrative documents had not been transferred in time. On 14 February 2017, Suk joined Hungarian side

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

on loan for the rest of the season.

Troyes

On 30 August 2017, Suk was again sent on loan, joining

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

club

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...

for 2017–18 season. Suk made his first goal for Troyes in his fifth Ligue 1 appearance against Strasbourg. Afterwards, he scored in subsequent two league matches, starting the season strong. On 9 December, he scored two goals against

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...

with his concentration on the ball. However, in a league match against

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

on 17 January 2018, he suffered an ankle injury that saw him sidelined for over a month. He eventually lost his previous form after the injury, adding only one goal for the remainder of the season. In June 2018, after being relegated to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligu ...

, Troyes signed Suk permanently. He played the first league match of the season. In August 2018, Suk moved to

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded ...

, who had been promoted to Ligue 1 for the 2018–19 season. Reims paid Troyes a transfer fee of €2.75 million plus €4 million in potential bonuses. However, Suk returned to Troyes in January 2020 after disappointing Reims. In July 2022, his contract with the club was terminated.

Jeonju Citizen

Suk was largely criticised for trying to evade his mandatory military service since April 2019. He was on the list of draft dodgers of the

Military Manpower Administration The Military Manpower Administration () is one of a military organizations in South Korea and is run under the Ministry of National Defense. The headquarters are in Seo District, Daejeon. History *July 17, 1948: Assignment of military af ...

in December 2020 by rejecting their demand for his return. After he left from Troyes, he returned to South Korea and started to stand trial. On 24 February 2023, Suk joined K4 League club Jeonju Citizen during the trial. He could play for Jeonju Citizen before the court judgement, and could continue to play as a social service agent if the court did not disallow his alternative service. However, Jeonju Citizen cancelled his registration on the list of its players.

International career

In November 2009, Suk took part in the

2010 AFC U-19 Championship qualification The Qualification Competition for the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship. The Draw The draw for the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship (Qualifiers) will take place at AFC House on 20 February 2009. A total of 42 teams will come out of the pots. In the West Zo ...

. On 7 September 2010, Suk made his senior international debut in a friendly against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

. Suk played for South Korean under-23 team as an over-aged player in the 2016 Summer Olympics. He scored twice against Fiji, and once against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Personal life

Suk is a devout

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. Some people have mistakenly thought that Suk was Muslim due to his goal celebration resembling the

Salat (, plural , romanized: or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːh, ( or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːtʰin construct state) ), also known as ( fa, نماز) and also spelled , are prayers performed by Muslims. Facing the , the direction of the Kaaba wit ...

. However, Suk himself said this was not true and that his celebration was modeled after Kaká's. Suk's tendency to visibly pray in matches has occasionally been criticized by Korean pundits and fans. Suk also has two visible sleeve tattoos on his arms. During his time at Porto, Suk became good friends with Spanish goalkeeping legend

Iker Casillas Iker Casillas Fernández (; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "''San Iker''" ("Saint Iker") for his ability to produce specta ...

. On 13 March 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, it was confirmed that Suk had tested positive for the coronavirus in Italy.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Ajax *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. O ...

: 2009–10 Al-Ahli *

King Cup The King Cup (sometimes spelled King's), officially known as The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Cup ( ar, كأس خادم الحرمين الشريفين), is the Saudi Arabian football knockout cup competition, run by the Saudi Arabian Foot ...

runner-up:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Porto *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seas ...

runner-up: 2015–16 Troyes *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

*
Suk Hyun-jun – National Team Stats
at KFA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suk, Hyun-Jun 1991 births Living people People from Chungju Association football forwards South Korean footballers South Korea international footballers Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of South Korea AFC Ajax players FC Groningen players C.S. Marítimo players Al Ahli Saudi FC players C.D. Nacional players Vitória F.C. players FC Porto players Trabzonspor footballers Debreceni VSC players ES Troyes AC players Stade de Reims players Eredivisie players Primeira Liga players Süper Lig players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players K4 League players Saudi Professional League players South Korean expatriate footballers South Korean expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Expatriate footballers in Hungary South Korean expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France South Korean Christians Chungju Seok clan Sportspeople from North Chungcheong Province