Hwang Ui-jo ( ko, 황의조; born 28 August 1992) 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 le ...

who plays as

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

K League 1 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 ...

club

FC Seoul FC Seoul ( ko, FC 서울) is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul that competes in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The club is owned by GS Sports, a subsidiary of GS Group. They play their home games ...

, on loan from

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and the South Korea national team.

Club career

Seongnam FC

Hwang was selected by

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential city ...

in 2013 K League 1 draft. He scored his debut goal against

Suwon Samsung Bluewings ''(The Blue, White and Reds)''Tricolor'' , short name = SSB , image = , caption = , founded = , ground = Suwon World Cup Stadium , capacity = 44,031 , owner = Cheil Worldwide(Samsung's subsidiary) , chairma ...

on 3 March 2013. During the 2015 season, he showed outstanding performances with 15 goals in the K League 1, and made his debut in the South Korean national team. He also scored three goals in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

. In 2016, however, Seongnam left poor results, and Hwang also underperformed at the time. They finished the league in 11th place among 12 clubs, and were eventually relegated to the

K League 2 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 ...

after the promotion-relegation playoffs.

Gamba Osaka

In June 2017, Hwang signed a two-year contract with

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

club Gamba Osaka. In the 2018 season, he played a vital role for Gamba to avoid relegation, and finished the season as the team's top scorer with 21 goals. He was selected for the

J.League Best XI The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only in two occasions there was a full-Japanese Best XI (200 ...

and was named Gamba's Player of the Year.

Bordeaux

On 15 July 2019, Hwang moved to

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. A ...

club

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, signing a four-year deal worth €1.8 million per year. He originally played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for the South Korean national team and Gamba Osaka, but the Bordeaux manager

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting CP in his countr ...

usually used him as a winger. Under Sousa, Hwang scored only six goals including a header scored against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. Hwang was continuously deployed as a winger early next season, although Sousa was replaced by

Jean-Louis Gasset Jean-Louis Gasset (born 9 December 1953) is a French former midfielder and current manager of Ivory Coast national football team, Ivory Coast. Football career Born in Montpellier, Gasset played his whole career with hometown club Montpellier HSC ...

. However, he failed to score in 12 consecutive games, and scored his first goal of the season on 16 December. He was eventually returned to the striker position by Gasset, and successfully spent the remainder of the season by adding 11 goals. On 23 January 2022, Hwang scored his first hat-trick of his Bordeaux's career, as the club won 4–3 against

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

Nottingham Forest

Loan to Olympiacos

On 26 August 2022,

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

announced the signing of Hwang. He was immediately loaned out to Greek club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

Loan to FC Seoul

On 3 February 2023, Hwang Ui-jo was loaned out to South Korean club

for 5 months until the summer.

International career

On 13 October 2015, Hwang scored his first international goal against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. Hwang participated in the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

as an over-aged player of the South Korean under-23 team. On 15 August, He scored a hat-trick in the first group-stage match against

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. In the quarter-finals against

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

, he once again showed his explosive hat-trick, leading South Korea to a 4–3 victory. He scored nine goals out of seven matches, and his overwhelming performance greatly contributed to South Korea's gold medal. He was named the Korean FA Player of the Year after showing his worth in Asian Games and J1 League. Hwang played for South Korea in the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

, scoring against

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 ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Hwang was also selected as an over-aged player for the under-23 team for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. During the competition, he scored four goals, but failed to show great influence. South Korea was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Seongnam FC *

Korean FA Cup The Korean FA Cup is a national football cup knockout competition of South Korea, held annually by the Korea Football Association (KFA). Before the FA Cup was established in 1996, two predecessor competitions named All Joseon Football Tournament ...

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 ...

South Korea U23 *

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 ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *

top goalscorer:

* Korean FA Player of the Year: 2018 *

* Korean FA Goal of the Year: 2019

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hwang, Ui-jo 1992 births Living people Yonsei University alumni People from Seongnam Men's association football forwards South Korean footballers South Korea men's youth international footballers South Korea men's under-23 international footballers South Korea men's international footballers Seongnam FC players Gamba Osaka players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players FC Seoul players J1 League players K League 1 players K League 2 players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Premier League players Super League Greece players Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in football Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games 2019 AFC Asian Cup players South Korean expatriate footballers South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate footballers in Japan South Korean expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France South Korean expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for South Korea Footballers from Gyeonggi Province 2022 FIFA World Cup players