The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 20, while at Konkuk University, he made his A-match debut against Japan at the Asian Cup in Qatar and scored. News1 writes that the goal drew attention to him.
In 1989 he scored the opening goal against North Korea in the World Cup qualifiers, and South Korea won 1-0 to secure a place at the finals. In 1990, as a university student, he played at a World Cup finals for the first time, in Italy.
Around 1991 he refused the professional football draft and went to Germany, where he played for two years. In 1993 he put on a Pohang shirt in an eight-for-one trade, and he scored against North Korea in the World Cup qualifiers. In 1994 he scored against Germany at the U.S. World Cup, and at the Hiroshima Asian Games he was top scorer with 11 goals.
In 1995 he scored in eight straight games and was part of Pohang’s second-stage league title. In 1996 Pohang won the inaugural FA Cup. In 1998 he injured his cruciate ligament in a match against China just before the World Cup and could not play at the finals, and that year he moved to Cerezo Osaka in Japan. In 1999 he scored 24 goals in the J.League and was top scorer.
In 2000 he was loaned from Suwon to Kashiwa Reysol. In 2002 he scored the opening goal against Poland at the World Cup, leading South Korea to its first win at a World Cup finals. That October he joined Jeonnam, and in November he retired from the national team after the match against Brazil. In 2003 he announced his retirement as a player and began his coaching career as a Jeonnam reserve team coach.
In 2008 he took charge of Busan IPark, his first job as a manager. In 2010 he was named manager of his former club Pohang. In 2012 he led Pohang to the FA Cup, his first title as a manager. In 2013 he won the K League and the FA Cup together, the first double in K League history. He left Pohang at the end of the 2015 season.
In 2016 he became FC Seoul manager and won the K League Classic that November. In 2017 Seoul went out early in the Champions League and finished fifth in the league. In 2018 he resigned voluntarily as Seoul manager over poor results. In 2019 he took charge of Yanbian Funde in China, but the club was dissolved. In 2020 he became the first manager of Daejeon Hana Citizen and resigned in September.
In 2021 he was named U-23 national team manager. In 2023 he led South Korea to a third straight men’s football title at the Hangzhou Asian Games. In 2024 he served as interim senior national team manager, and in April South Korea went out in the U-23 Asian Cup quarterfinals and failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics. In June he returned to Daejeon and secured K League 1 survival in November.
In 2025 he led Daejeon to their first K League 1 runners-up finish. In 2026 he became the fourth K League manager to reach 200 wins, and in September he won Daejeon’s first ACLE match.
Hwang Sun-hong (born Jul 14, 1968) made his A-match debut against Japan at the Asian Cup in Qatar on Dec 6, 1988, the year he turned 20, while at Konkuk University, and became known by scoring on his debut. On Jun 4, 2002, the year he turned 34, he scored the opening goal against Poland at the Korea-Japan World Cup.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.