Choi Soon-ho

Choi Soon-ho

Choi in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth	(1962-01-10) 10 January 1962 (age 64)
Place of birth	Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Positions	Striker attacking midfielder
Youth career
	Cheongju Commercial High School
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1983	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	98	(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 1990 Beijing AFC Asian Cup Runner-up 1980 Kuwait AFC Youth Championship Winner 1980 Thailand
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

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

International career

At the age of 18, Choi was named in the South Korea squad for the 1980 AFC Asian Cup, where he became the tournament's youngest ever top goalscorer with seven goals. He scored two goals when his country defeated hosts Kuwait 3–0 in the group stage, but he failed to score in their 3–0 final loss, where they met Kuwait again.

Choi participated at the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship after leading the South Korea under-20 team to win the 1980 AFC Youth Championship title. He had two goals and two assists in a 4–1 win over Italy, but scored no goals in two losses to Romania and Brazil.

Until South Korea qualified for the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Choi contributed to more than half of their 17 goals by having one goal and eight assists in eight qualifiers. During the tournament, he assisted Park Chang-sun's goal, which is South Korea's first-ever goal at the World Cup, in a 3–1 loss to Argentina, and then scored a goal outside the penalty area in a 3–2 loss to Italy, where he also assisted Huh Jung-moo's goal.

According to several South Korean media outlets, Serie A club Juventus was interested in Choi after watching his performance against Italy at the World Youth Championship. Their interest lasted until the end of the 1986 World Cup, but his transfer faced strong opposition from his team POSCO.

Style of play

Regarded as one of the most technically gifted forwards in South Korea, Choi was proficient in controlling the ball in most situations. He also had outstanding pace, field of view and physique. He played in all outfield positions thanks to his various merits during his schooldays, and settled as a striker or attacking midfielder after becoming a professional player.

Career statistics

International

As of 17 September 2026

The Korea Football Association is showing the list of Choi's 98 international caps in its official website. It originally recognised his 96 caps, but later added two more caps against the Soviet Union Olympic and Argentina Olympic at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

The RSSSF is claiming 103 caps about Choi's international career by recognising six more caps against Malaysia B, Thailand B, Bahrain B (at the 1980 Korea Cup), NIAC Mitra (at the 1982 King's Cup), Indonesia (at the 1983 Korea Cup) and Czechoslovakia XI (at the 1988 Korea Cup), and excluding one cap against the United States (at the 1983 Korea Cup). It recognised his caps in the 1984 Summer Olympics qualifiers, but omitted his two goals against Bahrain and New Zealand at the competition.

FIFA has excluded Choi from its Century Club, which collects players with 100 or more international caps. In 1999, Choi was inducted into the AFC Century Club with 113 caps by the standard of the time.

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	6	2
	1989	10	1
	1990	18	0
	1991	4	0
Career total		98	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	3	0
FIFA World Cup qualification	18	4
FIFA World Cup	5	1
Total	98	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	66	Japan	1–0	1–0	Friendly
30	27 May 1989	Seoul, South Korea	69	Malaysia	1–0	3–0	1990 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

References

External links

• Choi Soon-ho – K League stats at kleague.com (in Korean and English)
• Choi Soon-ho – National Team Stats Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine at KFA (in Korean)
• Choi Soon-ho – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Choi Soon-ho at National-Football-Teams.com
• International Appearances & Goals