‘iron wall gatekeeper’ who led Ulsan to 3 consecutive wins
Won 4 awards including ‘All-time participation award’
“Now I can become someone’s dream”
‘Runner-up sensation’ Gangwon Yoon Jeong-hwan wins Director Award
Goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo (33), who led Ulsan to three consecutive wins in professional soccer K-League 1 (first division) this season, expressed his feelings about being selected as MVP at the 2024 K-League Awards ceremony held at the Swiss Grand Hotel in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul on the 29th. Since the launch of professional soccer in 1983, this is the second time in history that a goalkeeper has been selected as MVP, 16 years after Lee Woon-jae (then Suwon) in 2008.Jo Hyun-woo said, “I want to win the MVP award next year. “Wanting to feel this happy feeling again is my motivation (for my career as a player),” he said.
12 first division manager votes, 7 out of 12 captain votes, and 75 out of 116 media votes. The score calculated by converting the voting results was 63.36 points,surpassing Suwon FC’s midfielder Andersson (20.26 points), who recorded the most attack points this season (20, 7 goals, 13 assists). Ulsan produced MVPs for three consecutive years, following midfielder Lee Chung-yong in 2022 and defender Kim Young-kwon in 2023.
Cho Hyun-woo is the only professional soccer player in the first and second divisions this season to appear in all games (38 games) and play full time in all games. With this record, Jo Hyun-woo received the ‘All-Game Time Appearance Award’.Ulsan, with cho Hyun-woo firmly guarding the goal, won the championship by conceding the fewest goals (40) in the first division. Jo Hyun-woo recorded the highest save rate (74.2%) among first division goalkeepers who played more then 30 games this season. ‘Clean sheets’ (games without conceding a goal) are in second place with 14. Ulsan coach Kim Pan-gon said, “Every time the team was in trouble, Cho Hyun-woo’s saves were a great help.”
Cho Hyun-woo, who made his professional debut in Daegu in 2013, has been playing in Ulsan since 2020. Hyun-Woo Cho has grown into the best goalkeeper in the league based on his excellent reflexes despite being a bit thin for a goalkeeper (189cm, 75kg). Cho Hyun-woo, who was also named in the Best 11 Goalkeeper category on this day, extended his record of most consecutive Best 11 selections in the first division to eight. Jo Hyun-woo said, “I will not stop here and will work hard to be selected as the best 11 at least 9 or 10 times in a row.” On this day, Jo Hyun-woo also received the Player of the Year award selected by users of the soccer game ‘EA Sports FC’.
Jo Hyun-woo announced that he would donate 10 million won of MVP prize money to aspiring soccer players. He said, “I am happy that I, who lived only in difficult circumstances as a child and only looked at soccer, can now become someone’s dream.”
Jo Hyun-woo played as Korea’s starting goalkeeper at the 2018 Russia World Cup. At that time, Korea was eliminated from the group stage with 1 win and 2 losses, but Cho Hyun-woo, who showed good saves in every game, earned the nickname ‘Bit Hyun-woo’ (meaning he showed dazzling saves). This year, Cho Hyun-woo kept the goal in all six games of the 2026 North and Central America World Cup Asian 3rd qualifying round, leading korea to an undefeated record (4 wins, 2 draws). Jo Hyun-woo said, “I had a busy season playing a lot of games with Ulsan and the national team, and I think I was rewarded with the MVP award.”
Jo hyun-woo’s season is not over yet. Ulsan will challenge for its second win of the season in the Korea cup final against Pohang to be held at Seoul World cup Stadium on the 30th. Jo Hyun-woo said, “I will do my best to bring another championship trophy to Ulsan.”
The Coach Award went to Coach Yoon Jeong-hwan (51) of Gangwon, the runner-up team in the first division this season. The runner-up finish is the best ever result for Gangwon, which was founded in 2008. It has been four years since coach Kim Ki-dong (current FC Seoul coach), who led Pohang to a third-place finish in 2020, that a coach of a team other than the first division champion received the coach award.
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