Choi Yong-soo

{{Infobox football biography

|name=Choi Yong-soo

|image=

|image_size =

|fullname=Choi Yong-soo

|birth_date ={{birth date and age|1973|9|10|df=y}}

|birth_place=Busan, South Korea

|height={{height|m=1.84}}

|currentclub=

|position= Striker

| collegeyears1 = 1990–1993 | college1 = Yonsei University

| years1 = 1994–2000 | clubs1 = Anyang LG Cheetahs | caps1 = 111 | goals1 = 44

| years2 = 1997–1998 | clubs2 = → Sangmu FC (draft) | caps2 = | goals2 =

| years3 = 2001–2004 | clubs3 = JEF United Ichihara | caps3 = 73 | goals3 = 54

| years4 = 2004 | clubs4 = → Kyoto Purple Sanga (loan) | caps4 = 33 | goals4 = 20

| years5 = 2005 | clubs5 = Júbilo Iwata | caps5 = 15 | goals5 = 1

| years6 = 2006 | clubs6 = FC Seoul | caps6 = 2 | goals6 = 0

| totalcaps = 234 | totalgoals = 119

| nationalyears1 = 1992–1993 | nationalteam1 = South Korea U20

| nationalcaps1 = 9 | nationalgoals1 = 4

| nationalyears2 = 1994–1996 | nationalteam2 = South Korea U23

| nationalcaps2 = 41{{efn-lg|Includes ten appearances and seven goals in non-international matches (nine appearances and seven goals against non-national teams, one appearance against another KFA team).}} | nationalgoals2 = 25

| nationalyears3 = 1995–2003 | nationalteam3 =South Korea

| nationalcaps3 = 69 | nationalgoals3 = 27

| manageryears1 = 2011 | managerclubs1 = FC Seoul (caretaker)

| manageryears2 = 2012–2016 | managerclubs2 = FC Seoul

| manageryears3 = 2016–2017 | managerclubs3 = Jiangsu Suning

| manageryears4 = 2018–2020 | managerclubs4 = FC Seoul

| manageryears5 = 2021–2023 | managerclubs5 = Gangwon FC

| pcupdate =

| ntupdate =

| medaltemplates = {{MedalCountry | {{KOR}} }}

}}

{{Infobox Korean name| image= | hangul=최용수 | hanja=崔龍洙 | rr=Choe Yongsu| mr=Ch'oe Yongsu}}

Choi Yong-soo ({{langx|ko|최 용수}}, born 10 September 1973) is a South Korean professional football manager and former player. He competed for South Korea at the 1996 Summer Olympics.{{cite Sports-Reference|df=dmy-all}}

Playing career

Choi played as a striker for Anyang LG Cheetahs (currently FC Seoul) in South Korea's K League. In 2000, he led Anyang to the K League title, receiving the K League MVP Award. He is considered one of the FC Seoul's legends.{{Cite news |url=http://m.fcseoul.com/mobile/news_tv/fcnews_view.jsp?seq=219&tcd=news&pg=252 |script-title=ko:'독수리' 최용수, FC 서울 둥지 복귀 |language=Korean |publisher=FC Seoul |date=30 January 2006 |access-date=7 September 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124511/http://m.fcseoul.com/mobile/news_tv/fcnews_view.jsp?seq=219&tcd=news&pg=252|url-status=dead}}

Choi also played for the South Korean national team in 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Managerial career

Choi was appointed as the assistant coach of FC Seoul in August 2006, and was promoted as the caretaker manager in April 2011. He was finally named a permanent coach after leading Seoul as a caretaker manager during the 2011 season. He led his team to the 2012 K League title and the 2013 AFC Champions League Final. They drew all two matches of the Champions League final against Guangzhou Evergrande, a Chinese club led by Marcello Lippi, but couldn't get the title due to the away goals rule. Nevertheless, Choi was named the AFC Coach of the Year.

On 21 June 2016, he was officially appointed as the manager of a Chinese club Jiangsu Suning. He finished as runner-up in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese FA Cup. On 1 June 2017, he officially resigned from Jiangsu Suning.

On 11 October 2018, Choi was officially reappointed as the manager of FC Seoul, which was being threatened with relegation. On 9 December 2018, Choi won the relegation playoffs against Busan IPark, successfully keeping Seoul in the K League.{{cite news |url=https://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=115&oid=055&aid=0000697251 |script-title=ko:간신히 1부 잔류한 FC서울…최용수 감독 "잠도 못 잤다" |trans-title=FC Seoul, barely staying on the K-league Classic, coach Choi Yong-soo said, "I couldn't sleep." |last=Ha |first=Sung-ryong |date=18 December 2018 |publisher=Seoul Broadcasting System |language=ko}} On 30 July 2020, he resigned from Seoul due to his poor results in the 2020 season.{{cite news |url=https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2020/07/30/2020073004652.html |script-title=ko:최용수 FC서울 감독, 성적 부진 '자진사퇴' |publisher=The Chosun Ilbo |date=2020-07-30 |access-date=2022-03-10 |language=ko}}

On 17 November 2021, Choi started to manage Gangwon FC. On 14 June 2023, Choi was replaced by Yoon Jong-hwan at Gangwon FC.

Personal life

Choi divorced his wife in November 2006 after a 15-month-long marriage. His former wife, a one-time contestant in a Miss Korea pageant, went through the legal procedures to take half the estate properties under Choi's name per their prenuptial agreement.{{cite web |url=http://sports.news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=k_league&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=143&article_id=0000045196 |script-title=ko:'독수리' 최용수，결혼 15개월 만에 파경 |website=Naver |date=24 November 2006 |language=ko}}

In Australia and Pakistan, Choi is known as "Younis Choi", given to him in recognition of his low, swerving shots on goal – much like the signature delivery bowled by Pakistani cricketer Waqar Younis.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Career statistics

= Club =

rowspan="2"\|Club ! rowspan="2"\|Season ! colspan="3"\|League ! colspan="2"\|National cup ! colspan="2"\|League cup ! colspan="2"\|Continental ! colspan="2"\|Total
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" \|+Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Division ! Apps	Goals ! Apps	Goals ! Apps	Goals ! Apps	Goals ! Apps	Goals
rowspan="6"\|Anyang LG Cheetahs \|1994	K League \|29	9	colspan="2"\|—	6	1	colspan="2"\|—	35	10
1995	K League \|21	9	colspan="2"\|—	7	2	colspan="2"\|—	28	11
1996	K League \|16	4	1	0	6	1	colspan="2"\|—	23	5
1999	K League \|20	12	3	5	7	2	colspan="2"\|—	30	19
2000	K League \|25	10	?	?	9	4	2	1	36	15
colspan="2"\|Total	111	44	4	5	35	10	2	1	152	60
rowspan="3"\|Sangmu FC (draft) \|1997	Semipro League \|?	?	?	?	colspan="2"\|—	colspan="2"\|—	?	?
1998	Semipro League \|?	?	?	?	colspan="2"\|—	colspan="2"\|—	?	?
colspan="2"\|Total !?	?	?	?	colspan="2"\|—	colspan="2"\|—	?	?
rowspan="4"\|JEF United Ichihara \|2001	J1 League \|26	21	3	4	5	2	colspan="2"\|—	34	27
2002	J1 League \|23	16	4	3	1	0	colspan="2"\|—	28	19
2003	J1 League \|24	17	0	0	2	0	colspan="2"\|—	26	17
colspan="2"\|Total !73	54	7	7	8	2	colspan="2"\|—	88	63
Kyoto Purple Sanga (loan) \|2004	J2 League \|33	20	1	0	colspan="2"\|—	colspan="2"\|—	34	20
Júbilo Iwata \|2005	J1 League \|15	1	0	0	1	0	4	2	20	3
FC Seoul \|2006	K League \|2	0	0	0	0	0	colspan="2"\|—	2	0
colspan="3"\|Career total !234\|\|119\|\|12\|\|12\|\|44\|\|12\|\|6\|\|3\|\|296\|\|146

= International =

National team	Year	Apps
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" \|+Appearances and goals by national team and year{{cite web \|url=https://www.kfa.or.kr/archive/player_record.php?search_val=%EC%B5%9C%EC%9A%A9%EC%88%98 \|title=Choi Yong-soo at Korea Football Association \|language=ko \|publisher=KFA \|access-date=20 January 2020}}
rowspan="7"\|South Korea \|1995	5	1
1997	15	11
1998	24	13
2000	5	0
2001	6	2
2002	8	0
2003	6	0
colspan="2"\|Career total	69	27

:Results list South Korea's goal tally first.

class="wikitable sortable" \|+List of international goals scored by Choi Yong-soo
No.	Date	Venue !Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
{{center\| 1}}	31 January 1995	Hong Kong \|align="center"\| 1	{{fb\|COL

class="wikitable sortable"

|+List of international goals scored by Choi Yong-soo

No.

Date

Venue

!Cap

Opponent

Score

Result

Competition

31 January 1995

Hong Kong

|align="center"| 1

{{fb|COL

} || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|1–0 || 1995 Lunar New Year Cup

|align="center"|2

| rowspan="2" |28 May 1997

| rowspan="2" |Daejeon, South Korea

| align="center" rowspan="2" |7

| rowspan="2" |{{fb|HKG|colonial}}

|align="center"|2–0

| align="center" rowspan="2" |4–0

| rowspan="2" |1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

| {{center| 3}}|| align="center"|3–0

| {{center| 4}}|| 14 June 1997 || Suwon, South Korea

|align="center"| 9|| {{fb|GHA}} || align="center"|2–0 || align="center" |3–0 || 1997 Korea Cup

| {{center| 5}}|| 24 August 1997 || Daegu, South Korea

|align="center"| 12|| {{fb|TJK}} || align="center"|2–0 || align="center" |4–1 || Friendly

|align="center"|6

| rowspan="3" |6 September 1997

| rowspan="3" |Seoul, South Korea

| align="center" rowspan="3" |14

| rowspan="3" |{{fb|KAZ}}

|align="center"|1–0

| align="center" rowspan="3" |3–0

| rowspan="3" |1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

|align="center"|7

|align="center"|2–0

| {{center| 8}}|| align="center"|3–0

| {{center| 9}}|| 12 September 1997 || Seoul, South Korea

|align="center"| 15|| {{fb|UZB}} || align="center"|1–0 || align="center" |2–1 || 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

| {{center| 10}}|| 11 October 1997 || Almaty, Kazakhstan

|align="center"| 18|| {{fb|KAZ}} || align="center"|1–0 || align="center" |1–1 || 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

|align="center"|11

| rowspan="2" |18 October 1997

| rowspan="2" |Tashkent, Uzbekistan

| align="center" rowspan="2" |19

| rowspan="2" |{{fb|UZB}}

|align="center"|1–0

| align="center" rowspan="2" |5–1

| rowspan="2" |1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

| {{center| 12}}|| align="center"|3–0

| {{center| 13}}|| 27 January 1998 || Bangkok, Thailand

|align="center"| 21|| {{fb|EGY}} || align="center"|1–0 || align="center" |2–0 || 1998 King's Cup

| {{center| 14}}|| 29 January 1998 || Bangkok, Thailand

|align="center"| 22|| {{fb|THA}} || align="center"|2–0 || align="center" |2–0 || 1998 King's Cup

| {{center| 15}}|| 31 January 1998 || Bangkok, Thailand

|align="center"| 23|| {{fb|EGY}} || align="center"|1–1 || align="center" |1–1 {{aet}}
{{pso|5–4}} || 1998 King's Cup

| {{center| 16}}|| 7 February 1998 || Auckland, New Zealand

|align="center"| 24|| {{fb|NZL}} || align="center"|1–0 || align="center" |1–0 || Friendly

| {{center| 17}}|| 18 April 1998 || Skopje, Macedonia

|align="center"| 30|| {{fb|MKD|name=Macedonia}} || align="center"|2–1 || align="center" |2–2 || Friendly

| {{center| 18}}|| 27 May 1998 || Seoul, South Korea

|align="center"| 34|| {{fb|CZE}} || align="center"|2–2 || align="center" |2–2 || Friendly

|align="center"|19

| rowspan="2" |2 December 1998

| rowspan="2" |Bangkok, Thailand

| align="center" rowspan="2" |39

| rowspan="2" |{{fb|TKM|1997}}

|align="center"|1–0

| align="center" rowspan="2" |2–3

| rowspan="2" |1998 Asian Games

| {{center| 20}}|| align="center"|2–0

|align="center"|21

| rowspan="2" |4 December 1998

| rowspan="2" |Bangkok, Thailand

| align="center" rowspan="2" |40

| rowspan="2" |{{fb|VIE}}

|align="center"|2–0

| align="center" rowspan="2" |4–0

| rowspan="2" |1998 Asian Games

| {{center| 22}} || align="center"|4–0

|align="center"|23

| rowspan="2" |7 December 1998

| rowspan="2" |Bangkok, Thailand

| align="center" rowspan="2" |41

| rowspan="2"|{{fb|JPN}}

|align="center"|1–0

| align="center" rowspan="2" |2–0

| rowspan="2" |1998 Asian Games

| {{center| 24}} || align="center"|2–0

| {{center| 25}} || 11 December 1998 || Bangkok, Thailand

|align="center"| 43|| {{fb|KUW}} || align="center"|1–0 || align="center" |1–0 || 1998 Asian Games

| {{center| 26}} || 13 September 2001 || Daejeon, South Korea

|align="center"| 54|| {{fb|NGA}} || align="center"|2–2 || align="center" |2–2 || Friendly

| {{center| 27}} || 13 November 2001 || Gwangju, South Korea

|align="center"| 55|| {{fb|CRO}} || align="center"|1–0 || align="center" |1–1 || Friendly

Managerial statistics

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" \|+Managerial record by team and tenure
rowspan="2"\|Team !rowspan="2"\|From !rowspan="2"\|To !colspan="5"\|Record !rowspan="2"\|{{Ref.}}
{{Tooltip\|Pld\|Matches played}} !{{Tooltip\|W\|Matches won}} !{{Tooltip\|D\|Matches drawn}} !{{Tooltip\|L\|Matches lost}} !{{Tooltip\|Win %\|Win percentage}}
FC Seoul \|align=left\|26 April 2011 \|align=left\|22 June 2016 {{WDL\|266\|138\|70\|58}} \|{{citation needed\|date=December 2024}}
Jiangsu Suning \|align=left\|1 July 2016 \|align=left\|1 June 2017 {{WDL\|42\|19\|8\|15}} \|{{citation needed\|date=December 2024}}
FC Seoul \|align=left\|18 October 2018 \|align=left\|30 July 2020 {{WDL\|63\|22\|15\|26}} \|{{citation needed\|date=December 2024}}
Gangwon FC \|align=left\|17 November 2021 \|align=left\|14 June 2023 {{WDL\|63\|21\|14\|28}} \|{{citation needed\|date=December 2024}}
colspan="3"\|Career total {{WDLtot\|434\|200\|107\|127}} !

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"

|+Managerial record by team and tenure

rowspan="2"|Team

!rowspan="2"|From

!rowspan="2"|To

!colspan="5"|Record

!rowspan="2"|{{Ref.}}

!{{Tooltip|W|Matches won}}

!{{Tooltip|D|Matches drawn}}

!{{Tooltip|L|Matches lost}}

!{{Tooltip|Win %|Win percentage}}

FC Seoul

|align=left|26 April 2011

|align=left|22 June 2016

|{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Jiangsu Suning

|align=left|1 July 2016

|align=left|1 June 2017

|{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

FC Seoul

|align=left|18 October 2018

|align=left|30 July 2020

|{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Gangwon FC

|align=left|17 November 2021

|align=left|14 June 2023

|{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

colspan="3"|Career total

Honours

=Player=

FC Seoul

K League 1: 2000
Korean League Cup: 2006{{cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/skorcuphist.html |title=South Korea - List of Cup Winners |date=8 April 2020 |access-date=2 September 2020 |first1=Seung-soo |last1=Lee |first2=Mark |website=RSSSF |last2=Trevena}}

Sangmu FC

Korean Semi-professional League (Autumn): 1997, 1998{{cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/skorchamp.html |title=South Korea - List of Champions |date=13 May 2020 |access-date=2 September 2020 |first1=Seung-soo |last1=Lee |first2=Hans |last2=Schöggl |first3=Mark |website=RSSSF |last3=Trevena}}

South Korea U20

AFC Youth Championship runner-up: 1992{{cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesa/as-u19.html |title=Asian U-19/U-20 Championship |date=22 November 2018 |access-date=4 September 2020 |first1=Roberto |last1=Di Maggio |first2=Erik |last2=Garin |first3=Mikael |last3=Jönsson |first4=Neil |last4=Morrison |first5=Karel |website=RSSSF |last5=Stokkermans}}

South Korea

EAFF Championship: 2003{{cite news |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/eastasia.html |title=East Asian Championship |date=20 December 2019 |access-date=2 September 2020 |first=Karel |website=RSSSF |last=Stokkermans}}

Individual

K League Rookie of the Year: 1994{{cite web |url=http://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.nhn?articleId=1994112000329119003&editNo=20&printCount=1&publishDate=1994-11-20&officeId=00032&pageNo=19&printNo=15261&publishType=00010 |script-title=ko:「적토마」고정운 MVP영예 |website=Naver |publisher=Kyunghyang Shinmun |language=ko |date=20 November 1994}}
AFC Asian All-Star: 1997{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/as-poy.html|title=Asian Player of the Year|website=RSSSF|date=18 January 2018}}
K League All-Star: 1998, 1999, 2000{{cite news |url=https://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/view.naver?editNo=1&printCount=&publishDate=1998-08-08&officeId=00023&pageNo=11&printNo=24129&publishType=00010&articleId=&serviceStartYear=1920&serviceEndYear=1999 |script-title=ko:프로축구 올스타전 |website=Naver |publisher=The Chosun Ilbo |lang=ko |date=1998-08-08 |access-date=2024-06-19}}{{cite news |url=https://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.naver?articleId=1999072100239133002&editNo=1&printCount=1&publishDate=1999-07-21&officeId=00023&pageNo=33&printNo=24427&publishType=00010 |script-title=ko:신세대 축구스타 잠실벌서 뜬다 |website=Naver |publisher=The Chosun Ilbo |lang=ko |date=1999-07-21 |access-date=2024-06-19}}{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010117075100/http://www.ech.co.kr:80/echbin/allstar/main01.html |url=http://www.ech.co.kr/echbin/allstar/main01.html |script-title=ko:'00 나이키 올스타 출전 선수 보기 |publisher='00 Nike All-Star Game |lang=ko |archive-date=2001-01-17 |access-date=2024-06-19}}
Korean Semi-professional League (Autumn) top goalscorer: 1998{{cite news |url=https://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.naver?articleId=1998091700329127010&editNo=40&printCount=1&publishDate=1998-09-17&officeId=00032&pageNo=27&printNo=16541&publishType=00010 |script-title=ko:패기의 상무 2연패 가을철 실업축구연맹전 |language=ko |website=Naver |publisher=Kyunghyang Shinmun |date=1998-09-17 |access-date=2022-03-10}}
Korean FA Cup top goalscorer: 1999{{cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/skor99.html |title=South Korea 1999 |date=2021-12-02 |website=RSSSF |access-date=2022-03-11}}
K League 1 Most Valuable Player: 2000{{cite web |url=https://sports.news.naver.com/general/news/read.nhn?oid=005&aid=0000033967 |script-title=ko:[프로축구] 최용수, 첫 MVP 등극 |language=ko |website=Naver |publisher=Kukmin Ilbo |date=1 December 2000}}
K League 1 Best XI: 2000
J.League All-Star: 2001, 2003{{cite web |url=https://data.j-league.or.jp/SFMS02/?match_card_id=5638 |title=2001 Ｊリーグたらみオールスターサッカー |lang=ja |publisher=J.League Data Site |access-date=2024-06-19}}{{cite web |url=https://data.j-league.or.jp/SFMS02/?match_card_id=6964 |title=2003 JOMO オールスターサッカー |lang=ja |publisher=J.League Data Site |access-date=2024-06-19}}

=Manager=

FC Seoul

Jiangsu Suning

Chinese FA Cup runner-up: 2016

Individual

K League 1 Manager of the Year: 2012
AFC Coach of the Year: 2013
K League Manager of the Month: September 2014, March/April 2016, March 2019{{cite news |url=https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/10/01/2014100103396.html |script-title=ko:최용수 FC서울 감독, 9월 K-리그 이달의 감독 선정 |publisher=The Chosun Ilbo |date=2014-10-01 |access-date=2023-12-08 |lang=ko}}{{cite news |url=https://www.hankyung.com/economy/article/2016051117545 |script-title=ko:최용수 감독, 3·4월 K리그 `이달의 감독` 선정 |publisher=The Korea Economic Daily |date=2016-05-11 |access-date=2023-12-08 |lang=ko}}{{cite news |url=https://m.mk.co.kr/news/stock/8762301 |script-title=ko:신라스테이, K리그 후원…3월 `이달의 감독상`에 최용수 감독 선정 |publisher=Maeil Business Newspaper |date=2019-04-07 |access-date=2023-12-08 |lang=ko}}
Korean FA Cup Best Manager: 2015

Notes

References

External links

{{FIFA player|156220|Choi Yongsoo}}
{{K League player|name=Choi Yongsoo}}
{{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711095458/http://www.kfa.or.kr/record/playeramatch.asp?Page=1&Query=Gender%3DM%26Name%3D%EC%B5%9C%EC%9A%A9%EC%88%98 |date=dmy |title=Choi Yong-soo – National Team Stats at KFA {{in lang|ko}} }}
{{NFT player|6184|Choi Yong-Soo}}
{{J.League player|name=Choi Yong Soo}}
{{Olympedia|102548|Choi Yong-Su}}
{{Olympics.com|yong-su-choi|Choi Yong-Su}}

{{succession box|before=Kang Chun-ho|title=Anyang LG Cheetahs captain|years=1999–2000|after=Kim Gwi-hwa}}

{{Navboxes

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