Hwang Sun-hong (born 14 July 1968) is a

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

n former football player and current head coach of the

South Korea national under-23 football team The South Korea national under-23 football team (; recognized as Korea Republic by FIFA, and Republic of Korea by IOC) represents South Korea at football in the Olympic Games and Asian Games. It was founded when the Olympic football was chan ...

. He was the most notable South Korean striker in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Club career

After graduating from

Konkuk University Konkuk University () is a South Korean private university founded in 1946. The university was founded based on three virtues: sincerity, fidelity, and righteousness. Konkuk University gives comprehensive education in agricultural and life scien ...

, Hwang decided not to enter the K League and left for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to begin his professional career. During a season, he played for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

, scoring 16 goals in the Oberliga Nordrhein, Germany's third division at the time. Next season, Hwang joined

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side

Wuppertaler SV Wuppertaler SV is a German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in 1929 out of the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg and Ronsdorf – e ...

, but he appeared only nine games due to a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury. Hwang joined

POSCO Atoms The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The Steelers were founded on 1 A ...

(currently Pohang Steelers) after returning to South Korea in June 1993. He won two

Asian Club Championship 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 competitio ...

s with Pohang, although he failed to win the K League title. He also scored in eight consecutive matches in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, setting a record in the K League. Hwang spent much of his career in the J1 League and enjoyed his most prolific season with Cerezo Osaka. In the 1999 J1 League, he scored 24 goals during 25 appearances, becoming the top goalscorer. He is the first South Korean footballer to become the top scorer in a foreign league. He was also nominated for the Asian Footballer of the Year award in that year. In late 2003, having finally retired, Hwang has now turned his attention to coaching.

International career

1990 World Cup

An unknown college player, Hwang was suddenly selected for the

South Korea national football team The South Korea national football team (; recognized as Korea Republic by FIFA) represents South Korea in men's international football and is governed by the Korea Football Association. South Korea has emerged as a major football power in Asia ...

for the

1988 AFC Asian Cup The 1988 AFC Asian Cup was the 9th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar between 2 December and 18 Decembe ...

by the manager

Lee Hoe-taik Lee Hoe-taik (이회택, born 11 October 1946) is a former South Korean Association football, football player and manager. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest South Korean forwards of all time. He is also one of four players inducted i ...

. He scored his first and second goal against Japan and

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 Turkmeni ...

respectively in the tournament. Hwang was included in the national team for the 1990 FIFA World Cup after his outstanding performances including seven goals in qualifying campaign. In the competition, however, he had difficulty in showing teamwork, and couldn't prevent South Korea's three defeats.

1994 World Cup

Hwang showed poor performance by scoring only one goal in qualifiers of the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

, but his form was regained in the friendly matches just before the World Cup. However, his left knee was injured in the last friendly against Honduras before the tournament, worrying his manager

Kim Ho Kim Ho (; born 24 November 1944) is a South Korean former football player and manager. Early life Kim was born in Tongyeong, a coastal city of South Korea, and started football in his hometown. He originally joined Tongyeong High School whe ...

. In the first game 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 ...

, he had two chances to score, but missed both. He apologized to his teammates after the first game, but his poor performance was continued by missing several opportunities against Bolivia. He scored a goal in the last group game against the defending champions

, but the game ended in a 3–2 defeat. He was severely blamed for his inexact shots against Bolivia by South Korean fans, and suffered from

social anxiety disorder Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by sentiments of fear and anxiety in social situations, causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some aspects o ...

after South Korea was eliminated in the group stage.

1996 Summer Olympics

In contrast with fans' criticism, Hwang was consistently chosen as a striker of the national team by managers. In the

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games ( ja, 1994年アジア競技大会, ''Senkyūhyakukyūjūyon-nen Ajia kyōgi taikai''), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games ( ja, 第12回アジア競技大会, Daijūni-kai Ajia kyōgi taikai), were held from ...

, he scored eleven goals in five games, becoming the top goalscorer of the tournament. Hwang also played for the South Korean under-23 team as an over-aged player in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. He contributed to a victory by winning a crucial penalty in the first game against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, but he quit the tournament due to his injury during the first half of the second game. Hwang looked forward to the 1998 FIFA World Cup to make up for his failure in the 1994 World Cup, but he was injured by a Chinese goalkeeper

Jiang Jin Jiang Jin (; born October 17, 1968 in Tianjin) is a former Chinese international football goalkeeper. He was the first-choice goalkeeper for China during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Along with his older brother Jiang Hong he also became a goalke ...

in a friendly just before the World Cup. He was disappointed to be excluded from the line-up during the tournament.

2002 World Cup

In the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup, Hwang won the Bronze Shoe award after scoring in two victories against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Australia. Hwang was still an important part of South Korea even at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

, although he approached his mid-30s. He scored the winning goal in the first match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, helping South Korea to achieve their first-ever victory in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. In the second match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, his head was injured, but he won a penalty after wrapping a bandage around his head. In the penalty shoot-out of the quarter-final match against Spain, he came forward as South Korea's first kicker, and succeeded in scoring. Hwang made 103 appearances and 50 goals for South Korea alongside six operations due to injuries. He ended his international career after the 2002 World Cup.

Managerial career

In 2005, Hwang was appointed as assistant coach of

Jeonnam Dragons The Jeonnam Dragons (Korean: 전남 드래곤즈) are a South Korean professional football club based in the city of Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. The Dragons play thei ...

and started his coaching career. He received Best Coach Award from the

2006 Korean FA Cup The 2006 Korean FA Cup, known as the 2006 Hana Bank FA Cup, was the eleventh edition of the Korean FA Cup. Qualifying round First round Final rounds Bracket Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarter-finals Semi- ...

. On 4 December 2007, he signed a three-year contract with Busan IPark and became manager of Busan. On 9 November 2010, he returned to his former team Pohang Steelers as manager. In first coaching year at the Pohang, he guided the team to the second place in the regular season. A sound knowledge of coaching, player training, and club training analysis and observation - as a coach, the Pohang Steelers became the FA Cup champions in 2012. The success of the organization under the careful, meticulous, and successful guidance of Hwang continued as the Pohang defended their FA Cup title for another year in 2013 and became

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 ...

champions in that year. He received the K League Manager of the Year Award. On 21 June 2016, he was appointed as manager of FC Seoul. On 30 April 2018, he resigned as Seoul manager with responsibility for poor performance. On 14 December 2018, Hwang was appointed as manager of

Yanbian Funde Yanbian Funde F.C. () was a Chinese football club. The team was based in Yanji, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin province where their home stadium is the Yanji Nationwide Fitness Centre Stadium that has a seating capacity of 30,000 ...

. However, he left the club after Yanbian Funde was disqualified for the 2019 China League One due to owing taxes in February 2019.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Results list South Korea's goal tally first.''

Honours

Player

Pohang Steelers *

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 ...

: 1996 *

Korean League Cup The Korean League Cup was a professional football competition in South Korean football. It was held by the K League Federation from 1986 to 2012. Sponsorship Champions List of finals Titles by club K League's principle of official statis ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

: 1996–97, 1997–98 South Korea *

fourth place: 2002 * AFC Asian Cup runner-up:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

* Asian Games bronze medal:

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

* Dynasty Cup:

Individual * Korean FA Best XI: 1988 * Asian Games top goalscorer:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

* K League 1 Best XI:

* J1 League top goalscorer:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

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 (20 ...

* FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Shoe: 2001 * K League 30th Anniversary Best XI: 2013

Manager

Busan IPark *

runner-up: 2010 *

runner-up: 2009 Pohang Steelers *

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 fa ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

FC Seoul *

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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

runner-up:

Individual *

Best Manager:

* K League 1 Manager of the Year:

References

External links

*
Hwang Sun-hong – National Team Stats
at KFA * * *
International Appearances & Goals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hwang, Sun-Hong 1968 births Living people People from Yesan County Association football forwards South Korean footballers South Korean expatriate footballers South Korea international footballers South Korean football managers Wuppertaler SV players 2. Bundesliga players Pohang Steelers players J1 League players Cerezo Osaka players Suwon Samsung Bluewings players Kashiwa Reysol players Jeonnam Dragons players Busan IPark managers Pohang Steelers managers FC Seoul managers K League 1 managers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Japan 1988 AFC Asian Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of South Korea FIFA Century Club South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Germany South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Japan Konkuk University alumni Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Pyeonghae Hwang clan Yanbian Funde F.C. managers Expatriate football managers in China Daejeon Hana Citizen FC managers Sportspeople from South Chungcheong Province