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Cho Won-hee

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Cho Won-hee
조원희
Personal information
Full name Cho Won-hee
Date of birth (1983-04-17) 17 April 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth Seoul, South Korea
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2004 Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i 1 (0)
2003–2004 → Gwangju Sangmu (army) 33 (2)
2005–2008 Suwon Samsung Bluewings 82 (1)
2009–2011 Wigan Athletic 5 (0)
2010 → Suwon Bluewings (loan) 20 (1)
2011–2012 Guangzhou Evergrande 47 (0)
2013–2014 Wuhan Zall 29 (0)
2014 → Gyeongnam FC (loan) 12 (0)
2014 Omiya Ardija 4 (0)
2015-2016 Seoul E-Land 37 (5)
2016–2019 Suwon Samsung Bluewings 60 (1)
2020 Suwon FC 2 (0)
Total 329 (10)
International career‡
2002–2003 South Korea U20 10 (1)
2006 South Korea U23 3 (0)
2005–2009 South Korea 36 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 31 March 2019
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 October 2012
Cho Won-hee
Hangul
조원희
Hanja
趙源熙
Revised RomanizationJo Won-hui
McCune–ReischauerCho Wŏn-hŭi
In this Korean name, the family name is Cho.

Cho Won-hee (Korean: 조원희, Korean pronunciation: [tɕo.wʌn.ɦi]; born 17 April 1983) is a South Korean former professional footballer, who played as a right-back or a defensive midfielder.[1] Aside of his considerably long playing time with several teams of the K League, he also experienced spells in England, China and Japan.

In his home-country, he's also known as an Internet sensation, as he runs a YouTube channel hosting special training sessions (sometimes in collaboration with fellow footballer and YouTuber Lee Min-a) and covering national and international football, as well as his own experiences as a player.[2]

Club career

Early starts

As a child and approaching the start of his senior career, Cho often played as a forward: for example, while representing South Korea in the U-20 squad, he was also sided as a left winger. In 2001, after his original plan to join a university club (a practice many Korean footballers do in order to focus on their development) failed, Cho signed with Ulsan Hyundai, one of the most successful clubs in the K League. After making his professional debut for the Horangi side, in 2003 Cho decided to join the army team Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix on a loan spell, so he could finish his military duty and play more regularly.

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

After a two-year duty at Gwangju, in 2005 Cho moved from Ulsan to Suwon Samsung Bluewings, becoming in the process one of the several prominent signings that made the team earn the nickname "Real Suwon" during the regular season of that year.

He originally played as a right wing-back or a right full-back at the Big Bird Stadium, competing for a regular spot with Song Chong-Gug: however, in 2007, due to a long-term injury of defensive midfielder Kim Nam-Il, he switched his position to replace his team-mate. Throughout that season, he didn't seem to be totally comfortable in his new position and many fans were especially concerned with his rough passing.

Nevertheless, the following season he showed great signs of improvement in his new role and became a first-team regular again, as Suwon experienced one of its best seasons to date, winning both the K League title and the Korean League Cup. At the end of the year, Cho was also featured in the Best XI of the championship (alongside team-mates Lee Woon-jae, Mato Neretljak and Edu).[3] He chose to not renew his contract with Suwon, becoming a free agent and starting figuring out an even more ambitious move.

Wigan Athletic

Following impressive performances for both Suwon and the South Korean national team, Cho was linked with several European clubs, including German side Schalke 04 and French side AS Monaco. After trialing with the latter team in January 2009,[4] Cho sought another trial with English Premier League side Wigan Athletic, since Monaco had actually all of their non-EU player slots filled. He impressed during his tests with the Tics and, after being granted a work permit, he was allowed to join Wigan on 6 March 2009, signing a two years, six months-long contract.[5]

Cho initially represented the club's reserve squad, playing his first game in a 2–2 draw against Liverpool, during which he notched an assist.[6] Some months later, he sustained a calf injury in an international friendly against Iraq: for this reason, he was supposed to miss the remainder of the season,[7] but eventually managed to fully recover so as to make his Premier League debut for Wigan in the final match of the 2008–09 season, against Stoke City.[8]

Overall, Cho's playing time at the English side was pretty limited, due to his injury and concurrence from other team-mates.

Loan back to Suwon Bluewings and departure from Wigan

In order to gain more playing time, Cho agreed to join Suwon Bluewings again, this time on a one-year loan spell, in January 2010.[9]

Nominated as captain of the team, he played twenty times and scored one goal, as the Blue Wings performed well in both national and international cups (they won the Korean FA Cup, reached the semi-finals of the K-League Cup and the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League), but finished seventh in K League.

At the end of his loan, he returned to England and then parted ways with Wigan, after the expiration of his contract: overall, he registered a modest total of five first-team appearances with the Tics, only one of which as a starter and four as a substitute.

Guangzhou Evergrande

On 13 February 2011, Cho joined Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande on a free transfer, which made him the second Korean player to play for the club after Park Ji-Ho.[10] He was the only player to appear in all of the 30 games for Guangzhou during the 2011 season.

On 30 May 2012, Cho suffered a rib fracture in the Round of 16 of the AFC Champions League, which saw Guangzhou beat Japanese side FC Tokyo 1–0. Failing to fully recover from that injury, he eventually lost his spot in the team to fellow Korean Kim Young-Gwon, who had completed a transfer move in August of the same year.

Nevertheless, Cho still managed to play his part in the win of two consecutive league titles in 2011 and 2012 with Guangzhou, as well as the national FA Cup and Super Cup in the latter year.

Wuhan Zall

On 28 November 2012, fellow Chinese club Wuhan Zall officially announced they had signed Cho on a free transfer.[11]

Despite being featured regularly and given the captain armband, the South Korean couldn't bring substantial help to the team throughout the 2013 season of the Super League, which saw Wuhan heavily struggle in their first top-tier season ever: eventually, the club finished in last place, thus being relegated to China League One after just a year from their promotion.[12]

Gyeongnam FC

In February 2014, Cho was loaned to Gyeongnam FC, thus returning to South Korea after four years from his latest experience at the time.

During his brief period of time at Changwon, he featured twelve times, but the club struggled in K League Classic, and then lost the promotion-relegation playoff to Gwangju FC.[13]

Omiya Ardija

On 4 July 2014, Cho moved to Japanese side Omiya Ardija until the end of the season.

However, it proved to be another unlucky experience for him, as he managed to make only four appearances due to fitness issues and couldn't provide the team with much help, as they finished sixteenth out of eighteen teams in J League 1, failing to stay in the top-tier for just a point: this way, the South Korean got involved in his third relegation in a row in just two years.[14]

Seoul E-Land FC

On 5 February 2015, Cho approached a new and definitive homecoming, as he accepted an offer from newly established Seoul E-Land, which was set to debut in K League Challenge.

After finally regaining full form, the South Korean took a considerable part in Seoul E-Land's season, as the team finished in fourth place before losing their playoff match to eventual winners Suwon FC, due to ranking rules. Still, Cho himself and fellow team-mates Kim Jae-sung and Joo Min-kyu were included in the Best XI of that year. Plus, he set new personal records, as he registered both his highest number of appearances (37) and goals (5) in a single season.

Third spell with Suwon Bluewings and first retirement

Following his restoring experience in the South Korean capital (which is also his birthplace), at the start of 2016 Cho decided to join Suwon Samsung for the third time in his career: he went on playing for the Blue Wings for almost three years, and even though he ended up featuring increasingly less throughout the time, his contributes helped the team win the Korean FA Cup in 2016 and reach the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League in 2018, between other achievements.

On a side note, this last chapter of his permanence at the club is also remembered for a curious episode of bad luck: at the 89th minute of the seventeenth match of the 2017 season, while playing against Gangwon FC, Cho tried to smother Im Chan-ul's attempt to cross into Suwon's penalty box, but his header curved the ball's trajectory unpredictably and eventually turned into a bizarre own-goal, setting the final score of the game into a 3–3 draw.[15] The episode is still well-remembered by football fans all across the country, with Cho himself being repeatedly invited to speak and joke on his error.[16]

On March 31, 2019, Cho announced his retirement from professional football through a special ceremony, hold at Suwon World Cup Stadium shortly before an official league match against Incheon United.[17]

A new experience with Suwon FC and definitive retirement

After a year and a half of inactivity, Cho unexpectedly came back in action and moved to the Gyeonggi city once more, although the final destination was different this time around: in fact, on 22 July 2020, it was officially announced that Cho would join Suwon FC, the city's second professional team, as a playing coach, thus re-uniting with main manager Kim Do-kyun (the two were team-mates when Cho started his senior career at Ulsan) and assisting him for the rest of the season in K League 2.

During his six-month spell with the Dashers, he played only twice: on August 1, he started the home match against Ansan Greeners, but he got a yellow card and he was eventually replaced with Lee Ji-hun at the 40th minute, while Suwon FC suffered a 1–2 loss; on October 24, he came from the bench as a substitute, replacing Lee himself, at the 77th minute of an away match against Jeju United, but couldn't help his side avoid a 2–0 loss. In both cases, he was used as a right-back, his original position. He also featured on the bench for other five consecutive matches, from September 21 to October 10. Suwon FC eventually had a successful season, finishing second in the championship and winning the final play-off against Gyeongnam to obtain their second promotion ever to the top-tier rank of the K League.[18]

In these circumstances, although Cho might have not left a very significant mark as an active player, he actually did it off the pitch: in fact, on January 4, 2021, he donated his entire incentive, consisting of 20-million won (roughly corresponding to $18,365), to the club for their sportive achievements in 2020, declaring that the special fee would be invested in their youth development sector. The following day (on January 5), he addressed his donation in a video for his own YouTube channel, explaining what had brought him to that particular decision: moreover, in the same occasion he announced his definitive retirement from professional football at 37 years old.[1][19]

Cho Won-hee's retirement closed an 18-year long career, with a total amount of 352 appearances and 10 goals distributed between South Korea, England, China and Japan.

International career

Under-20

During the initial phases of his career, Cho represented South Korea's national Under-20 team several times and was selected by manager Park Sung-hwa to take part in the FIFA World Youth Championship (original name of the U-20 World Cup) in 2003, where he played three out of four matches as his side made it through the group stage, being one of the four best third-place finishers, but eventually lost to Japan in the round of 16.

Senior team

Following his performances with the Sangmu and Suwon, Cho was taken in consideration for the senior national football team since 2005. Dutch manager Jo Bonfrère gave the Blue Wings affiliate his first senior call-up and made him start in an unofficial friendly against North Korea on August 14, 2005, as well as hosting him on the bench three days later, in a 0–1 loss against Saudi Arabia, a match regarding the final round of the Asian qualifications to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

However, as Bonfrére resigned shortly after the latter match, it was his successor and fellow Dutch Dick Advocaat who gifted Cho with his official international debut, in a friendly match against Iran on October 12, 2005.[20] On the same occasion, Cho also scored his first international goal: a shot attempted after just a few seconds from the start of the game deflected off an opposing defender and fell into the back of the net. This goal has been guessed to be the fastest one ever scored by the South Korean national team, without counting the games played during the 1950s and the 1960s (which have remained unrecorded): plus, it would eventually become the player's only goal for the Taeguk Warriors.

Cho played in the most part of the matches in preparation to the 2006 World Cup and also featured in South Korea's first match of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification (a 1–2 away win against Syria). Despite this and despite being selected by Advocaat in the 23-men squad heading to Germany, he ended up not making a single appearance in the world tournament, with his side being eliminated in the group stage and their manager resigning just a few moments after.[20][21]

Under another fellow Dutch manager, Pim Verbeek, Cho took part in other matches of qualification to the Asian Cup: however, the following year, due to either technical decisions and him having hard times at Suwon, Cho ended up missing the continental competition.

In 2008, following his return to form, Cho gained the attention of the new head coach Huh Jung-moo and got some new satisfactions at an international level: despite not always being a first choice in Huh's team, he featured in many of the matches regarding the World Cup qualifiers and became one of the protagonists in South Korea's success at the East Asian Football Championship in Chongqing.[22]

Cho kept competing for a starting spot in the national team, with Huh Jung-moo trusting him despite of some injury problems (one of which sustained during a friendly match against Iraq) and limited playing time at his new club Wigan: this way, the versatile player could help South Korea qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, Cho got eventually left out of the list for the world tournament, in which Huh's side made it through the group stage, but then suffered a 2–1 loss against Uruguay and got eliminated in the round of 16.

Cho played his last match for South Korea on November 18, 2009, an international friendly against Serbia that ended in a 0–1 loss: he closed his international career with 36 senior caps and one goal. He was mainly used in his natural position as a right-back, but Huh Jung-moo sided him as a defensive midfielder in sporadic occasions, following his successful transition to the role at Suwon.

International goals

Results list South Korea's goal tally first.
Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
12 October 2005 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea  Iran 1–0 2–0 Friendly

Club career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
South Korea League KFA Cup League Cup Asia Total
2002 Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i K League 1 1 0 0 0 - 1 0
2003 Gwangju Sangmu Bulsajo 23 2 0 0 - - 23 2
2004 10 0 0 0 11 0 - 21 0
2005 Suwon Bluewings 20 0 2 0 9 0 31 0
2006 23 0 2 0 4 0 - 29 0
2007 14 0 2 0 5 0 - 21 0
2008 25 1 1 0 10 0 - 36 1
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2008–09 Wigan Athletic Premier League 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 0
2009–10 4 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 0
South Korea League KFA Cup League Cup Asia Total
2010 Suwon Bluewings K League 1 20 1 6 0 - 26 1
China PR League FA Cup CSL Cup Asia Total
2011 Guangzhou Evergrande Chinese Super League 30 0 2 0 - - 32 0
2012 17 0 2 0 - 7 0 26 0
2013 Wuhan Zall 29 0 0 0 - - 29 0
South Korea League KFA Cup League Cup Asia Total
2014 Gyeongnam FC K League 1 12 0 0 0 - - 12 0
2014 Omiya Ardija J.League Division 1 4 0 0 0 - - 4 0
2015 Seoul E-Land FC K League 2 38 5 0 0 - - 37 5
2016 Suwon Bluewings K League 1 26 1 4 0 - 5 0 26 1
2017 Suwon Bluewings K League 1 11 0 1 0 - 3 0 11 0
2018 Suwon Bluewings K League 1 23 0 1 0 - 6 0
Retirement
2020 Suwon FC K League 2 2 0 0 0 - - 2 0
Total South Korea 248 10 13 0 45 0 14 0 320 10
England 5 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 0
China PR 76 0 4 0 0 0 7 0 87 0
Career total 329 10 17 0 45 0 21 0 412 10

Honours

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

Guangzhou Evergrande

South Korea

Individual

Filmography

Television shows

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2021 Golden Eleven 2 Consultant [23]
2021–Present Let's Play Soccer 2/Gentlemen's League 2 Cast member Commentator and defense coach
2022 Hole-in-One [24]

References

  1. ^ a b "Suwon FC midfielder Cho Wonhee donates his entire incentive (USD 18,365) for earning promotion to Suwon FC for the club's youth development. He also announces his retirement from professional football after six month spell in Suwon FC in K League 2". Twitter. 5 January 2021.
  2. ^ "이거해조 원희형 - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  3. ^ "이운재, MVP 영예...신인상은 이승렬, 감독상은 차범근 감독". sports.news.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  4. ^ Korea's Cho In Monaco Trial[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ "Cho Won-hee impresses Wigan". Sky Sports. 18 February 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  6. ^ "Cho gets Wigan green light". Sky Sports. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  7. ^ Wigan's Cho out for season
  8. ^ "Britannia given Potters treat". Sky Sports. 16 May 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  9. ^ "Cho agrees Korea return". Sky Sports. 4 January 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  10. ^ 恒大官方宣布签强力亚洲外援 前韩国国脚曾踢英超 (in Chinese). sina. 13 February 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  11. ^ 武汉卓尔宣布恒大名将加盟 两年合约锁定赵源熙 (in Chinese). sohu. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  12. ^ "积分射手_中超官网_新浪体育". csl.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  13. ^ "K LEAGUE". 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  14. ^ "J. League Data Site". data.j-league.or.jp. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  15. ^ "[TOP9] 뭔가 좀 역대급으로 특이한 득점 모음 / Most Strange Goals in K League - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  16. ^ "박지성이 조원희 레전드 자책골을 처음 보고 보인 리얼 반응ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 찐텐으로 놀랐음ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  17. ^ Ho Jung, Seo (31 March 2019). "현역 은퇴 조원희, "행복한 기억만 안고 떠난다"(Cho Won-hee, who retired from active duty, said, "I'm leaving with only happy memories.")". Goal.com.
  18. ^ Wilde, Todd (16 February 2021). "2021 Suwon FC Season Preview". K League United. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  19. ^ "보너스로 받은 2000만원 일시불로 FLEX 했습니다!! - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  20. ^ a b "KFA | 대한축구협회". www.kfa.or.kr. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  21. ^ Palmer, Justin (14 May 2008). "Soccer-Advocaat savours Zenit's UEFA Cup triumph". Reuters. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  22. ^ 이영호 (15 June 2017). "역대 한국 축구대표팀 감독 재임 기간 및 성적". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  23. ^ Ahn Tae-hyun (15 September 2021). "축구 유망주 발굴 '골든일레븐' 시즌2로 돌아온다" ['Golden Eleven' to discover soccer prospects returns with season 2]. NEWS1 (in Korean). Retrieved 15 September 2021 – via Naver.
  24. ^ Lee Yu-na (29 June 2022). "전설끼리 홀인원' 안정환∙이동국∙조원희vs허재∙현주엽∙문경은 빅매치 예고" [‘Hole-in-one between legends’ Ahn Jung-hwan, Lee Dong-guk, Cho Won-hee vs Heo Jae, Hyun Joo-yeop, and Mungyeong-eun Big Match Announcement] (in Korean). YTN. Retrieved 29 June 2022 – via Naver.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Suwon Samsung Bluewings captain
2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Wuhan Zall captain
2013 		Succeeded by
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