Cho So-hyun (, ; born 24 June 1988) is a South Korean

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 le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

side

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and the South Korean national team. She is widely regarded as one of South Korea's finest ever players, and is their second most capped international player with 142 appearances. Cho was the number 1 pick in the

2009 WK-League The 2009 WK League was the inaugural season of the WK League, the South Korean women's football league. It began on 20 April 2009 with the first matches of the regular season and ended on 16 November 2009 with the return leg of the Championship ...

draft, signing for Suwon FMC. She has won multiple domestic league titles and was named Korean Women's Player of the Year in 2015.

Club career

Hyundai Steel Red Angels

On 20 November 2017, Cho scored twice in a 3–0 win over Hwacheon KSPO in the second leg of the

WK League The WK League (Hangul: WK리그) is a semi-professional women's football league, run by the Korea Football Association (KFA) and the Korea Women's Football Federation (KWFF), which represents the sport's highest level in South Korea. The regular ...

final. She finished the 2017 season with three goals and two assists in 27 appearances and won her fourth league title.

Loan to INAC Kobe Leonessa

On 29 January 2016, Cho joined

INAC Kobe Leonessa INAC Kobe is a Japanese football club from Kobe, founded in 2001. INAC stands for International Athletic Club while Leonessa means Lioness in Italian. In 2006 INAC Leonessa was promoted to the Nadeshiko.League, where it has played since 2020. ...

on loan and was given the number 16 shirt. On 26 March, she made her debut in a 3–1 win over

Konomiya Speranza Osaka-Takatsuki is a women's football team which plays in Japan's Nadeshiko League Division 1. It founded the league in 1990. From the 2019 season, the club has adopted the new name as "Speranza Osaka-Takatsuki".Nadeshiko League Cup The Nadeshiko League Cup (Japanese: なでしこリーグカップ) is a cup competition for women's football clubs in Japan. The competition began as the L.League Cup in 1996 and it was abolished after the 1999 edition. It reappeared on the occ ...

. On 25 December, she converted a penalty in INAC Kobe Leonessa's

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

win over

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. From 2023, Albirex will be playing on the J1 League, coming back to the fir ...

in the 2016 Empress's Cup Final, helping the club to its sixth

Empress's Cup , since 2018 renamed "Empress's Cup JFA Japan Women's Football Championship" ( ja, 皇后杯 JFA 全日本女子サッカー選手権大会) or The Empress's Cup, is a Japanese Women's football competition. As an elimination tournament, it can be ...

title. Cho finished the season with two goals in 27 appearances in all competitions. On 12 January 2017, it was announced that Cho had returned to Hyundai Steel Red Angels.

Avaldsnes IL

On 7 February 2018, Cho signed a one-year contract with

Avaldsnes IL Avaldsnes Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Avaldsnes, Karmøy, Rogaland. It was founded on 16 June 1937. The club has sections for football and handball. Women's football The women's team began play in 1989, winning the 1st Division of ...

, becoming the first South Korean woman to play in Norway. On 22 April 2018, she made her debut in a 3–0 loss to

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

. With Cho, Avaldsnes IL reached the round of 32 in the

2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 17th season of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the ninth since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League. The final was held at the Valeriy Lob ...

West Ham United

In December 2018, South Korean media reported that Cho had signed for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

of the English

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. Cho So-hyun was officially announced as a West Ham player on 13 January 2019 via the club website where she was quoted as saying "It's always been my ambition to play in England, so this is a very exciting time for me. It's a big league, and to be signing for a big club like West Ham with all the history, makes it even more special." Cho made her debut on the same day coming on as a second-half substitute against title challengers

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. In February 2019, Cho provided both assists for Alisha Lehmann as West Ham beat

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

2–1. Cho made her

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

debut on 3 February 2019 in a 3–1 home victory over

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

. On 14 April 2019 West Ham reached their first FA Cup final by defeating Reading after a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

. With the scoreline deadlocked at 1–1, Cho scored the decisive penalty to send West Ham to

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. On 6 July 2020, Cho signed a new two-year contract with West Ham.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 28 January 2021, Cho joined the FA WSL side

on loan for the remainder of the

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 b ...

season, with an option to make the loan permanent. With her men's counterpart

Son Heung-min Son Heung-min ( ko, 손흥민; ; born 8 July 1992) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the South Korea national team. Considered one of the best forwards in ...

already at the club, it gave Spurs the rare distinction of having both the men's and women's South Korean national team captains at one club. Spurs announced Cho had officially signed for the club on 2 July 2021. She scored her first goal for Spurs and her first ever goal in England on 17 November 2021 in their

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

tie against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

International career

Cho captained

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

at the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

in Canada. In their final group match Cho scored a vital equaliser against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. They would go on to win the match and finish second in their group which saw them qualify for the knockout stages. It was the first time South Korea had progressed to the round of 16. In 2015, she was named the KFA Footballer of the Year. In April 2018 Cho scored twice against the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

at the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup, a win which saw South Korea qualify for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

. On 17 May 2019, Cho was officially announced in the 2019 World Cup squad and would again captain the team. Despite South Korea losing their second group stage match to

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, Cho was statistically the best player on the pitch according to football analytics site Twelve Football. In September 2021 Cho scored twice in a 12–0 victory over

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

in the Asian Cup qualifiers. On 30 January 2022, Cho made her 137th appearance for South Korea in a 1–0 victory over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup and became the most capped South Korean footballer in the country's history. She scored her 23rd international goal on 3 February 2022, the opener in a 2–0 win over the Philippines. That victory saw South Korea reach the final of the AFC Women's Asian Cup for the first time in history.

Personal life

In an interview with British journalist Drew Diamond, Cho revealed that amongst her many ambitions in life is to become a

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of a women's football club in her native South Korea. Alongside fellow South Korean and Spurs footballer

, Cho is an ambassador for

AIA Group AIA Group Limited, often known as AIA (), is a Hong Kong-based American multinational insurance and finance corporation. It is the largest public listed life insurance and securities group in Asia-Pacific. It offers insurance and financial ser ...

where she promotes healthy living. Like Son, Cho also has a sponsorship deal with sportswear and equipment supplier

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Suwon FMC *

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels *WK League:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

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 ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

INAC Kobe Leonessa *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

West Ham United *

Finalist: 2018–19 South Korea *

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

Gold medal:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

Bronze medal:

* Four Nations Tournament runner-up:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

Finalist:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual * KFA Footballer of the Year: 2015

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, So-hyun 1988 births Living people Footballers from Seoul South Korean women's footballers South Korea women's under-17 international footballers South Korea women's under-20 international footballers South Korea women's international footballers Women's association football midfielders Suwon FC Women players Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels WFC players INAC Kobe Leonessa players West Ham United F.C. Women players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women players WK League players Nadeshiko League players Toppserien players Women's Super League players South Korean expatriate footballers South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate women's footballers in Japan South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Norway South Korean expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Universiade gold medalists for South Korea Universiade medalists in football FIFA Century Club Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade