Not many footballers have gone from playing for a military team to the cover of Vogue in a matter of months.
But that’s just one of the ways South Korean striker Cho Gue-sung’s life has changed over the past year or so.
Last year was a decent one for Cho. He joined Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, one of Korea’s top teams, in 2020 but took a while to find his feet. He was a defensive midfielder until just a few years ago, moving forward to make the most of his 6ft 2in (188cm) height and speed, but he is still relatively young in the position.
As Korean players sometimes do, he used his mandatory military service period as a bit of a reset, and to help improve his physical condition. He joined Gimcheon Sangmu — a team made up of second-tier military service players at the time — on loan from Jeonbuk, where he rediscovered his form and started scoring goals again, helping the them to win the promotion.
He also earned a call-up to the national team and, in the latter half of the year, he returned to his parent club, finishing as joint-top scorer in K League 1 (level with Joo Min-kyu) and establishing himself as one of key forward options for South Korea as the World Cup approaches in Qatar.
Cho in action at last year’s World Cup (Khalil Bashar/Jam Media/Getty Images)
However, even then, he was relatively low-key — “insignificant”, in his own words, known mainly to Korean football fans but not too many beyond that.
But then the World Cup came, and everything was different.
“So much has changed in the past year,” Cho, 25, said The Athletic now, using a huge understatement. “But I enjoyed them.”
In Qatar, Cho was brought into the South Korean team for their second game, against Ghana, and he scored twice despite his team losing 3–2. But it was in the first game against Uruguay — where he played just 16 minutes as a substitute — that the madness began.
That’s when people started to notice that he was, for lack of a more elegant phrase, smoking hot. Shots of him sitting on the sideline and warming up quickly made the rounds on social media, proving that if nothing else the internet is spreading images of attractive people.
TikTok was flooded with clips celebrating her beauty, videos of Cho doing disgusting things like walking on the side of a football pitch and sitting with her arms folded. He doesn’t seem to care what he’s doing; the internet seems to find even his most pious activities very sexy.
Before the tournament, he had around 20,000 Instagram followers. That shot up to around 1.6million during the World Cup, and reached 2.7m afterwards. It doesn’t seem to matter that he hardly ever posts it; any image of his broad shoulders and razor cheekbones is worth following.
Cho at a Louis Vuitton show in January (Han Myung-Gu/WireImage)
The story goes that he had to turn off his phone for most of the tournament because dealing with notifications became a full-time job, although Cho doesn’t do that. “It’s a bit exaggerated,” he said. “I’ve turned off my notifications (before the World Cup) so I can focus on the tournament.”
There was a risk that sudden celebrity and sex-symbol status could distract from his focus, but Cho said the only pressure was self-imposed.
“There were no obstacles during the World Cup. I just focus on football. I usually don’t mind people’s high expectations, but I put a lot of pressure on myself, which became quite a burden.”
Cho further endeared himself to the watching public by snapping up Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo for not leaving the pitch quickly enough when substituted in their final group game.
South Korea made it through the groups but was knocked out in the round of 16, losing to Brazil, 4-1. Their World Cup is over, but things are just getting started for Cho.
He became only the fifth person and the second sportsperson to appear on the cover of Vogue Korea, shot in moody black and white, holding a football but carelessly forgetting to wear a shirt. His celebrity skyrocketed.
He was sought after for TV shows, guesting on a Korean show called I Live Alone, which is designed to go behind the scenes of a celebrity’s life and, apparently, is not as lonely as its title suggests, and as well as the popular quiz show You Pagsusulit sa Block.
He has reached a level of celebrity where his personal grooming choices have caused outrage. In September, photos of her hair in cornrows sparked a long debate on the internet. A poll saw him voted as the second most desirable Korean male celebrity, behind only actor Song Kang. And, of course, speculation about his personal life has been rife, with an increase in stories linking him to various models and celebrities during and after the World Cup.
Cho seems to be handling it all pretty well, even if he’s a bit worrisome from time to time. South Korea played a few games in the UK in September, and he didn’t escape the attention there either.
“Since I became famous, many people have recognized me. People even recognized me when I traveled to London with the national team – that was really surprising.”
The forward celebrates scoring against Ghana in the World Cup (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
It’s not that surprising to be seen out and about back home, but he seems to be in ‘causing a little trouble at a local coffee shop’ territory, even though he’s trying to get out in disguise. “When I came back to Korea, I wore a hat and a mask but people still recognized me,” he said. “One time, people started chasing me in the street. That’s crazy.”
Thirsty members of the public aren’t the only ones after him. After his goals for Jeonbuk and his performances in Qatar, offers poured in from people who wanted him for his goals rather than his looks.
Cho, however, took his time. “In the winter transfer window, there were many offers from many different clubs, but I waited until the summer. There were some unofficial offers, from England and Scotland. But once I did the my decision, I stand by it.”
Leicester City, Watford and Celtic were said to be among the many teams interested but, in the end, he made the perhaps somewhat surprising choice to sign for Midtjylland in Denmark, who took him for a relatively modest £2.6million ($3.27m ).
It’s tempting to wonder if he chose Denmark because, after his explosion of celebrity and inability to walk down the street without causing an incident back home, it’s slightly smaller in terms of attention.
He said that wasn’t a factor, though. “I’m not afraid of media attention, but I just want to focus on football. I want a club where I start every game. I’m sure Midtjylland can give me that. Midtjylland were the most interested, so I chose them.”
Luckily, he knew a few people who had been in similar situations who could give him advice on how to deal with sudden fame. As much as Cho is known for his looks, it is unlikely that he will reach the godlike status of his international captain, Son Heung-min.
Cho also benefited from a mentor – another compatriot who became an icon in South Korea and faced the delicate decision of choosing the right club when moving to Europe.
“Park Ji-sung is a director of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, my old club,” Cho said. “He didn’t give me advice in terms of how to deal with fame, but he gave me a lot of advice about moving to Europe, about building a new life there. He told me to pick a team where I know I will play, because that’s what he did when he moved to PSV Eindhoven.
Cho seems to have made a wise choice. Midtjylland are leading the Danish Superliga going into their winter break, and he has eight goals in 16 league games.
Who knows if his football achievements will match his level of fame, but Cho doesn’t seem to mind it too much.
“I consider how I lead my daily life and being happy now, instead of looking to the future. I haven’t thought about that yet.”
(Top photo: Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images)
