Hwang Ui-jo (; born 28 August 1992) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Alanyaspor and the South Korea national team.
Club career Seongnam FC Hwang was selected by Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in 2013 K League 1 draft. He scored his debut goal against Suwon Samsung Bluewings on 3 March 2013. During the 2015 season, he showed outstanding performances with 15 goals in the K League 1, and made his debut in the South Korean national team. He also scored three goals in the AFC Champions League. In 2016, however, Seongnam left poor results, and Hwang also underperformed at the time. They finished the league in 11th place among 12 clubs, and were eventually relegated to the K League 2 after the promotion-relegation playoffs.
Gamba Osaka In June 2017, Hwang signed a two-year contract with J1 League club Gamba Osaka. In the 2018 season, he played a vital role for Gamba to avoid relegation, and finished the season as the team's top scorer with 21 goals. He was selected for the J.League Best XI and was named Gamba's Player of the Year.
Bordeaux On 15 July 2019, Hwang moved to Ligue 1 club Bordeaux, signing a four-year deal worth €1.8 million per year. He originally played as a striker for the South Korean national team and Gamba Osaka, but the Bordeaux manager Paulo Sousa usually used him as a winger. Under Sousa, Hwang scored only six goals including a header scored against Paris Saint-Germain.
Hwang was continuously deployed as a winger early next season, although Sousa was replaced by Jean-Louis Gasset. However, he failed to score in 12 consecutive games, and scored his first goal of the season on 16 December. He was eventually returned to the striker position by Gasset, and successfully spent the remainder of the season by adding 11 goals.
On 23 January 2022, Hwang scored his first hat-trick of his Bordeaux's career, as the club won 4–3 against Strasbourg.
Nottingham Forest Loan spells On 26 August 2022, Premier League club Nottingham Forest announced the signing of Hwang. He was immediately loaned out to Greek club Olympiacos. He was unsuccessful at Olympiacos, and his loan contract was terminated early after he failed to score for five months.
On 3 February 2023, Hwang joined South Korean club FC Seoul on a five-month loan. Although he didn't score many goals, he played a key role in FC Seoul's attack, helping the team retain possession and apply pressure on opponents.
Hwang attempted to secure a spot at Nottingham Forest before the 2023–24 season but managed just one goal in six pre-season games. On 1 September 2023, he joined EFL Championship club Norwich City on loan for the 2023–24 season. After failing to score in his first eight appearances, he found form with three goals in his next five matches. However, he suffered a hamstring injury while scoring his third goal. He returned to action after a month but suffered a relapse just two weeks later. As a result, his loan spell was cut short, and Norwich terminated his contract early on 9 January 2024.
On 6 February 2024, Hwang was loaned to Süper Lig club Alanyaspor until the end of the season. He scored in the last Süper Lig match against Antalyaspor.
Alanyaspor On 6 September 2024, Hwang signed a one-year contract with Alanyaspor. He signed a two-year contract extension with the club after scoring seven goals at the 2024–25 Süper Lig.
International career On 13 October 2015, Hwang scored his first international goal against Jamaica.
Hwang participated in the 2018 Asian Games as an over-aged player of the South Korean under-23 team. He scored a hat-trick in the first group stage match against Bahrain on 15 August and another in the quarter-finals against Uzbekistan, leading South Korea to a 4–3 victory. In all, Hwang scored nine goals in seven matches as South Korea won gold. He was named the Korean FA Player of the Year after showing his worth in Asian Games and J1 League.
Hwang played for South Korea in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, scoring against Philippines and China.
Hwang was also selected as an over-aged player for the under-23 team for the 2020 Summer Olympics. During the competition, he scored four goals, but failed to show great influence. South Korea were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Personal life On 25 June 2023, an unidentified user on the social networking service Instagram posted explicit clips of a sex video, allegedly showing Hwang and a woman who did not know she was being filmed. The user claimed to be a former lover of Hwang's, and accused Hwang of gaslighting her and other women, alleging that he had intimate and sexual relations with multiple partners without formally establishing a relationship due the prospects of returning to his football club Nottingham Forest in England. She also claimed that videos on his mobile phone with these women may have been taken without consent or by hidden cameras; she posted private conversations and recordings on the social media platform. Hwang's management company UJ Sports denied the allegations and stated that it would take legal action against the distributor of the contents.
Police investigations traced the user's IP address to Hwang's own house, and investigators identified Hwang's sister-in-law, who was working as his personal manager at the time, as the suspect. The sister-in-law, who has only been publicly identified by her surname "Lee", was charged with violating South Korean laws relating to sex crimes and committing blackmail. She originally denied the allegations, but later confessed that she leaked the videos as an act of revenge as she felt Hwang had "[been] ungrateful" towards her and her husband for their support of his career. She was sentenced to three years in prison.
Concurrently, a second police investigation was launched into allegations that the sex footage on Hwang's mobile phone had been filmed without the knowledge or consent of the women involved. In November 2023, he was suspended by South Korea pending a police inquiry into the claims. On 11 July 2024, Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office informed Hwang that he was to be indicted on two charges related to alleged breaches of South Korea's Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. Hwang was alleged to have filmed two women without consent on four occasions between June and September 2022. On 14 February 2025, Hwang was convicted of charges related to one of the women, but acquitted of charges related to other. He was sentenced to a suspended one-year prison term.
Career statistics Club
+Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupLeague cupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsSeongnam FC2013K League 122221———2432014K League 128441———3252015K League 1341533—83—45212016K League 137930——104192017K League 218530———215Total13935155—831016343Gamba Osaka2017J1 League1330020——1532018J1 League27161065——34212019J1 League1940033——227Total592310118——7131Bordeaux2019–20Ligue 12461010——2662020–21Ligue 1361210———37122021–22Ligue 1321110———33112022–23Ligue 22000———20Total94293010——9829Olympiacos (Ioan)2022–23Super League Greece5010—60—120FC Seoul (Ioan)2023K League 118400———184Norwich City (Ioan)2023–24Championship1730010——183Alanyaspor (Ioan)2023–24Süper Lig8100———81Alanyaspor 2024–25Süper Lig30730———3372025–26Süper Lig25340———293Total551070———6210Career total39510527513814310450121
International Scores and results list South Korea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hwang goal.
+ List of international goals scored by Hwang Ui-joNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 13 October 2015 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea 3–0 3–0 Friendly2 12 October 2018 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea 1–0 2–1 Friendly3 17 November 2018 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia 1–0 1–1 Friendly4 20 November 2018 QSAC, Brisbane, Australia 2–0 4–0 Friendly5 7 January 2019 Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 1–0 1–0 2019 AFC Asian Cup6 16 January 2019 Al-Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 1–0 2–0 2019 AFC Asian Cup7 7 June 2019 Busan Asiad Main Stadium, Busan, South Korea 1–0 1–0 Friendly8 11 June 2019 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea 1–0 1–1 Friendly9 5 September 2019 Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey 1–1 2–2 Friendly10 2–111 14 November 2020 Stadion Wiener Neustadt, Wiener Neustadt, Austria 1–0 2–3 Friendly12 17 November 2020 BSFZ-Arena, Maria Enzersdorf, Austria 2–1 2–1 Friendly13 5 June 2021 Goyang Stadium, Goyang, South Korea 1–0 5–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification14 5–015 2 June 2022 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea 1–1 1–5 Friendly16 14 June 2022 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea 1–0 4–1 Friendly17 20 June 2023 Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon, South Korea 1–0 1–1 Friendly18 13 October 2023 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea 4–0 4–0 Friendly19 16 November 2023 Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea 4–0 5–0 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
Honours Seongnam FC Korean FA Cup: 2014
South Korea U23 Asian Games: 2018
Individual K League All-Star: 2015 Asian Games top goalscorer: 2018 Gamba Osaka Player of the Year: 2018 J1 League Monthly MVP: November/December 2018 Korean FA Player of the Year: 2018 J1 League Best XI: 2018 Korean FA Goal of the Year: 2019
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