Cho Gue-sung (; born 25 January 1998) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as striker for Danish Superliga club Midtjylland and the South Korea national team.
Cho played defensive midfielder during his youth career and freshman year at Gwangju University. However, Cho was not evaluated as a good midfielder by his university's head coach Lee Seung-won and changed his position to striker in 2017. In 2019, Cho joined K League 2 side FC Anyang where he was a youth player before. He was selected for the K League 2 Best XI after becoming the third highest scorer in his first professional season and transferred to K League 1 club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors the next year.
Cho had difficulty proving his worth in his first season at Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. In 2021, he joined the military team Gimcheon Sangmu to serve his mandatory duty and to get a stable spot. As a result, he developed physically and technically while being trained at Gimcheon. He became the top goalscorer in the 2022 K League 1 and led Jeonbuk to the 2022 Korean FA Cup title. In January 2023, Jeonbuk received transfer bids for him from Mainz 05, Celtic, Rangers and Minnesota United. Cho was attracted to Mainz and Celtic but rejected their offers after determining that his physical condition was not good enough to play in Europe.
On 11 July 2023, Cho signed with Danish Superliga club Midtjylland on a five-year contract for a fee reported to be around ã2.6 million. On 22 July 2023, he made his Danish Superliga debut with Midtjylland, scoring in a 1âÂÂ0 win over Hvidovre. Having a considerable presence at Midtjylland early on, he was selected for the Superliga Team of the Month in July and September. He won the most duels and aerial duels in the 2023âÂÂ24 Danish Superliga. He successfully performed the role of target man, while helping his team win the league title.
Cho suffered knee pain during the 2023âÂÂ24 season and underwent knee surgery at the end of the season to remove his meniscus in Italy. Despite anticipating a full recovery by the start of the 2024âÂÂ25 season, he contracted a bacterial infection which further complicated his rehabilitation and forced him to undergo another operation. This resulted in Cho sitting out the entire 2024âÂÂ25 season.
On 17 August 2025, Cho made his first appearance in 448 days towards the end of a Superliga match against Vejle. On 29 September, he scored a bicycle kick goal against Randers, which was selected as the Superliga Goal of the Month.
Cho made his senior debut for South Korea on 7 September 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against Lebanon.
In November 2022, Cho was named to the 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In Korea's second match at the tournament, he scored two goals against Ghana in an eventual 2âÂÂ3 defeat, becoming the first South Korean player to ever score 2 or more goals in a single World Cup match. Despite losing that match, the goals proved decisive in ultimately sending Korea through to the Round of 16 on goal difference, at the expense of Uruguay. Due to his performance in 2022 FIFA World Cup, Cho proved to be one of the greatest players in the air in Qatar. The young Korean forward won 21 aerial duels, putting him second in terms of success in the air among all players at the World Cup, after Morocco's Youssef En-Nesyri.
Cho was called up for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, and was expected to play as an influential striker for the South Korean national team during Hwang Ui-jo's absence. However, he disappointed Koreans by missing five big chances and winning only 35% of duels while scoring one goal in six matches (although he did score against Saudi Arabia as the Koreans would win on penalties); especially after receiving a yellow card for diving instead of shooting in front of Jordan's goal when Jordan held a 2âÂÂ0 lead in the 88th minute during the semi-finals.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Gimcheon Sangmu
Midtjylland
South Korea U23
South Korea
Individual