Choi Soon-ho

In this Korean name, the family name is Choi.

Choi Soon-ho (Korean: 최순호; Hanja: 崔淳鎬; born 10 January 1962) is a South Korean football manager and former player.

Choi Soon-ho

Choi in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth	(1962-01-10) 10 January 1962 (age 63)
Place of birth	Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Striker, attacking midfielder
Youth career
	Cheongju Commercial High School
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1983[1]	Kwangwoon University
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980–1987	POSCO Atoms	55	(21)
1988–1990	Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso	28	(2)
1991	POSCO Atoms	16	(0)
1992–1993	Rodez	18	(2)
Total		117	(25)
International career
1979–1981	South Korea U20	10	(6)
1980–1991	South Korea	103	(30)
Managerial career
2000–2004	Pohang Steelers
2006–2008	Hyundai Mipo Dockyard
2009–2011	Gangwon FC
2016–2019	Pohang Steelers
Medal record Representing  South Korea Men's football Asian Games 1986 Seoul Team 1990 Beijing Team AFC Asian Cup 1980 Kuwait Team AFC Youth Championship 1980 Thailand Team[2]
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Choi Soon-ho
Hangul	최순호
Hanja	崔淳鎬
RR	Choe Sunho
MR	Ch'oe Sunho

International career

Choi was named in South Korean squad for the 1980 AFC Asian Cup. He scored seven goals including two goals against Kuwait, and a hat-trick against United Arab Emirates in the group stage. South Korea met Kuwait again in the final, but they lost this time. Choi became the youngest ever player to be the top scorer in the AFC Asian Cup at age 18.

In 1981, he led South Korean under-20 team to the 1980 AFC Youth Championship title by scoring four goals. He also played FIFA World Youth Championship matches as the Asian champion in the same year. He defeated Italy 4–1 in the first game by having two goals and two assists.^[3] However, South Korea was eliminated in the group stage after losing to Romania and Brazil.

Choi was selected for the South Korean squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He contributed to more than half of the team's 17 goals by having one goal and eight assists in eight games of the qualification.^[3] He scored a goal outside the penalty area in a group match against Italy.^[4] He finally provided two assists as well as scoring a goal in the World Cup, proving his abilities outside Asia.

Serie A club Juventus was interested in Choi after the World Youth Championship. Its interest lasted until the end of the 1986 World Cup, but his team POSCO consistently rejected its offer.^[5][6]

Style of play

Regarded as one of the most technically gifted forwards in South Korea, Choi was proficient at controlling the ball with various skills including shot, dribble, touch, and pass. He also showed good speed, wide vision and supple body, having hardly any weak point. He normally played as a striker, but he could also play as an attacking midfielder to create chances.^[3][5]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[7]

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Other		Total
		Division	Club	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
POSCO Atoms	1980	Semipro League	?	?	?[a]	?	—		?[b]	?	?	?
	1981	Semipro League	?	?	?[a]	?	—		?[b]	?	?	?
	1982	Semipro League	?	?	?[a]	?	—		?[b]	?	?	?
	1983	K League	2	2	?[a]	?	—		?[b]	?	2	2
	1984	K League	24	14	—		—		—		24	14
	1985	K League	5	2	—		—		—		5	2
	1986	K League	8	1	—		1	0	—		9	1
	1987	K League	16	2	—		—		—		16	2
	Total		55	21	?	?	1	0	—		56	21
Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso	1988	K League	11	1	?[a]	?	—		—		11	1
	1989	K League	9	0	?[a]	?	—		—		9	0
	1990	K League	8	1	—		—		—		8	1
	Total		28	2	?	?	—		—		28	2
POSCO Atoms	1991	K League	16	0	—		—		—		16	0
Rodez	1992–93	French Division 2	18	2	?[c]	?	—		—		18	2
Career total			117	25	?	?	1	0	?	?	118	25

1. Appearance(s) in Korean National Championship
2. Appearance(s) in Korean President's Cup
3. Appearance(s) in Coupe de France

International

The KFA is showing the list of Choi's 96 international appearances in its official website.^[8]

The RSSSF is claiming 103 appearances about Choi's international career by recognising eight more appearances against Malaysia B, Thailand B, Bahrain B (in 1980 Korea Cup), NIAC Mitra (in 1982 King's Cup), Indonesia (in 1983 Korea Cup), Czechoslovakia XI (in 1988 Korea Cup), the Soviet Union Olympic and Argentina Olympic (in 1988 Summer Olympics), and excluding one appearance against the United States (in 1983 Korea Cup).^[9]

The RSSSF recognised his appearances in the 1984 Summer Olympics qualification, but it is not recognising his two goals against Bahrain and New Zealand in the competition.^[9]

In 1999, Choi was inducted into the AFC Century Club, the selection of AFC players to win 100 or more caps, with 113 caps by the standard of the time.^[10]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
South Korea	1980	8	8
	1981	4	2
	1982	11	4
	1983	6	0
	1984	6	2
	1985	12	7
	1986	9	4
	1987	4	0
	1988	4	2
	1989	10	1
	1990	18	0
	1991	4	0
Career total		96	30

Appearances and goals by competition

Competition	Apps	Goals
Friendlies	14	2
Minor competitions	33	9
Asian Games	13	5
AFC Asian Cup	6	7
Afro-Asian Cup of Nations	1	0
Summer Olympics qualification	5	2
Summer Olympics	1	0
FIFA World Cup qualification	18	4
FIFA World Cup	5	1
Total	96	30

Results list South Korea's goal tally first.

List of international goals scored by Choi Soon-ho

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	25 August 1980	Chuncheon, South Korea	1	Indonesia	1–0	3–0	1980 Korea Cup
2	16 September 1980	Kuwait City, Kuwait	3	Malaysia	1–0	1–1	1980 AFC Asian Cup
3	19 September 1980	Kuwait City, Kuwait	4	Qatar	2–0	2–0	1980 AFC Asian Cup
4	21 September 1980	Kuwait City, Kuwait	5	Kuwait	2–0	3–0	1980 AFC Asian Cup
5					3–0
6	24 September 1980	Kuwait City, Kuwait	6	United Arab Emirates	1–0	4–1	1980 AFC Asian Cup
7					2–0
8					3–0
9	24 April 1981	Kuwait City, Kuwait	11	Thailand	1–0	5–1	1982 FIFA World Cup qualification
10					5–1
11	21 March 1982	Seoul, South Korea	16	Japan	2–0	3–0	Friendly
12	11 June 1982	Gwangyang, South Korea	20	Bahrain	3–0	3–0	1982 Korea Cup
13	21 November 1982	New Delhi, India	21	South Yemen	2–0	3–0	1982 Asian Games
14					3–0
15	19 April 1984	Singapore	31	Bahrain	1–0	1–0	1984 Summer Olympics qualification
16	22 April 1984	Singapore	32	New Zealand	2–0	2–0	1984 Summer Olympics qualification
17	6 June 1985	Daejeon, South Korea	40	Thailand	1–0	3–2	1985 Korea Cup
18	8 June 1985	Gwangju, South Korea	41	Bahrain	1–0	3–0	1985 Korea Cup
19					2–0
20	15 June 1985	Seoul, South Korea	42	Iraq	1–0	2–0	1985 Korea Cup
21					2–0
22	30 July 1985	Jakarta, Indonesia	44	Indonesia	2–0	4–1	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
23	14 December 1985	Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico	47	Algeria	2–0	2–0	1985 Mexico Tournament
24	10 June 1986	Puebla, Mexico	50	Italy	1–1	2–3	1986 FIFA World Cup
25	20 September 1986	Busan, South Korea	51	India	2–0	3–0	1986 Asian Games
26	3 October 1986	Seoul, South Korea	55	Indonesia	2–0	4–0	1986 Asian Games
27					4–0
28	19 June 1988	Suwon, South Korea	62	Zambia	2–0	4–0	1988 Korea Cup
29	26 October 1988	Tokyo, Japan	64	Japan	1–0	1–0	Friendly
30	27 May 1989	Seoul, South Korea	67	Malaysia	1–0	3–0	1990 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Player

POSCO Atoms

• K League 1: 1986^[11]
• Korean Semi-professional League: 1982^[11]
• Korean Semi-professional League (Autumn): 1981^[12]

Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso

• K League 1: 1990^[11]
• Korean National Championship: 1988^[11]

South Korea U20

• AFC Youth Championship: 1980^[13]

South Korea

• Asian Games: 1986^[14]
• AFC Asian Cup runner-up: 1980^[15]
• Dynasty Cup: 1990^[16]
• Afro-Asian Cup of Nations: 1987^[17]

Individual

• AFC Asian Cup top goalscorer: 1980^[18]
• AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament: 1980^[19]
• Korean FA Best XI: 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986^{[20][21][22][23]}
• AFC Youth Championship Most Valuable Player: 1980^[24]
• AFC Youth Championship top goalscorer: 1980^[25]
• K League 1 Best XI: 1984^[26]
• Korean FA Most Valuable Player: 1990^[27]
• K League All-Star: 1991^[28]
• K League '80s All-Star Team: 2003^[29]
• K League 30th Anniversary Best XI: 2013^[30]
• K League Hall of Fame: 2023^[31]

Manager

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard

• Korea National League: 2007, 2008^[32]
• Korean President's Cup: 2008^[33]

Individual

• K League All-Star: 2004^[34]
• Korea National League Manager of the Year: 2007, 2008^[35][36]
• Korean President's Cup Best Manager: 2008^[37]