Cho Deok-je (, born October 26, 1965) is a former

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager current assistant coach of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Playing career

After playing for Ajou University in his youth career, Cho signed for

Daewoo Royals Busan IPark ( ko, 부산 아이파크) is a South Korean professional association football, football club based in Busan that competes in K League 2, the second tier of the Football in South Korea, South Korean football pyramid. Its current home gr ...

in 1988. The midfielder played over 200 times for Daewoo and was selected in the

K League Best XI The K League Best XI is an award for the best eleven players in a K League season. K League 1 award (1983–present) Winners Players marked bold won the Most Valuable Player award in that respective year. Appearances by player Appeara ...

in 1989. While at Daewoo, the team won the Korean Super League (Now K League 1) in 1991.

Managerial career

Ajou University

After retiring from playing, Cho began coaching at

Ajou University Ajou University () is a private research university located in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It was founded in 1973 by an agreement between the governments of France and the Republic of Korea. Ajou University started as Ajou Engineeri ...

, a team he had played for during his youth career. He worked as a coach there between 1996 and 2001, before spending a year at the Barcelona Soccer School. In 2004, he took over as manager of Ajou University where he stayed for 7 years, before leaving to supervise all youth soccer in the city of

Suwon Suwon (, ) is the capital and largest city of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea's most populous province which surrounds Seoul, the national capital. Suwon lies about south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety". With a populati ...

Suwon FC

Cho Jeok-je took over as Suwon FC (then known as Suwon City FC) manager for the 2012 season. In his first season, they finished 9th in the

Korea National league The Korea National League was a South Korean semi-professional football league held annually from 2003 to 2019. It was considered the second-highest division of the South Korean football league system before the K League 2 was launched in 2013, ...

but won the mid-season

Korea National League Championship Korea National League Championship was a football league cup competition operated by the Korea National League The Korea National League was a South Korean semi-professional football league held annually from 2003 to 2019. It was considered th ...

cup competition, defeating Ulsan Hyundai Mipo in the final. As part of a league restructuring, Suwon FC were promoted to the

K League Challenge The K League 2 (Hangul: K리그2) is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the K League 1. Hi ...

for the 2013 season. After finishing 4th in 2013 and 6th in 2014, Suwon finished 3rd in 2015 before defeating

Daegu FC Daegu FC (Korean: 대구 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in Daegu. The club was founded as a community club at the end of 2002, and made their K League 1 debut in 2003. Daegu has played mostly in the K League 1 but was re ...

Seoul E-Land Seoul E-Land FC ( ko, 서울 이랜드 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul which plays in the K League 2. Seoul E-Land was announced as the league's second football club based in Seoul on 14 April 2014. The club is o ...

and

Busan IPark Busan IPark ( ko, 부산 아이파크) is a South Korean professional football club based in Busan that competes in K League 2, the second tier of the South Korean football pyramid. Its current home ground is Busan Gudeok Stadium. The club was o ...

in the Promotion/Relegation playoffs to be promoted to the

K League Classic The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1 ...

for the first time. Cho also won the 2015 K League Challenge Manager of the Year award after gaining promotion. In the 2016 season, Suwon FC finished 12th of 12 in their inaugural K League Classic season and were immediately relegated back to the K League Challenge. Cho Deok-je resigned towards the end of the 2017 season with Suwon outside of the playoffs. After leaving Suwon FC, Cho served as chairman of the Korean Football Association.

Busan IPark

On December 20, 2018 Cho was announced as the new manager of K League 2 side

replacing

Choi Yun-kyum Choi Yun-kyum is a South Korean football manager at K League 2 side joining recently from K3 League, Chungbuk Cheongju FC. He played in the K-League for Yukong Elephants from 1985 to 1992. After he retired, he moved into coaching, firstly as an ...

for the 2019 season. Cho Deok-je was already considered a club legend for Busan IPark after playing over 213 games over 8 years when they were known as Daewoo Royals.

References

External links

Profile at Suwon FC website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Duck-je 1965 births Living people Association football midfielders South Korean footballers Busan IPark players Suwon FC managers Busan IPark managers K League 1 players South Korean football managers