Jo Hyeon-woo

Jo Hyeon-woo (조현우; born 25 September 1991) is a South Korean footballer who plays as goalkeeper for K League 1 club Ulsan HD and the South Korea national team.

Early life
Jo was raised by his mother and father who was a gymnast in Seoul. Jo decided to become a goalkeeper when he saw Kim Byung-ji's lead while watching 1998 France in elementary. He later said, "I was excited about playing football after watching the World Cup as I could be someone else's dream." In his fifth grade, the football coach of Shinjeong Elementary School Ham Sang-heon asked for the best goalkeeper in the schoolyard as he was worried he would not have a goalkeeper. The children pointed to Jo. The coach tested Jo by making him save several shots. This would be the beginning of his career. He has been the main goalkeeper and has played in national tournaments ever since. In response, his old coach said "It was not once or twice that teams won because of Jo's success in the penalty shoot-out".

Club career
After graduating from Sun Moon University, Jo entered the 2013 K League 1 draft and was selected by Daegu FC. He failed to prevent the relegation of his team in his first professional season, and had to compete in the K League 2. Since the 2015 season, Jo evolved into Daegu's first-choice goalkeeper and became the best goalkeeper in the K League 2. He finally helped Daegu promote to the K League 1 in 2016. He also contributed to Daegu's first Korean FA Cup title in 2018.

After a successful career in Daegu, Jo joined Ulsan Hyundai on 20 January 2020. He contributed to Ulsan's K League 1 titles in 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Early career
In November 2015, Jo was called up for South Korea's national team by manager Uli Stielike to play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Laos and Myanmar. He was selected as the national representative for the EAFF E-1 Football Championship in 2017 winning the competition's best goalkeeper award.

2018 FIFA World Cup
In May 2018, Jo was named in South Korea's preliminary 28-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Originally expected to be the third-choice keeper, Jo made his international debut in a major competition. His performances in the first two matches against Sweden and Mexico were impressive, despite both ending in defeats for South Korea. He was lauded particularly for his point-blank save against Swedish striker Marcus Berg which put him in the spotlight. Jo then played a prominent role in Germany's historic elimination from the first round of a World Cup for the first time since 1938 with a stellar performance, earning him the Man of the Match award. Jo made seven saves without conceding any goals. Despite this performance, South Korea learned after the match that they had been eliminated from the tournament due to Sweden beating Mexico (South Korea needed Mexico to beat Sweden to advance). South Korea finished ahead of Germany in Group F, placing third.

2018 Asian Games
Jo was named in the South Korean under-23 team for the 2018 Asian Games as an over-aged player. He appeared in two matches against Bahrain and Kyrgyzstan in the group stage and finalized them with clean sheets. He also played in the round of 16 against Iran, but he was injured in this match. He was replaced by Song Bum-keun in the quarter-finals against Uzbekistan, but Song conceded three goals. Song received criticisms for his poor performance, and so Jo appeared again in semi-finals and final. He contributed to South Korea's gold medal by conceding only two goals in the tournament and was subsequently exempt from mandatory military service.

Honours
Daegu FC
 * Korean FA Cup: 2018

Ulsan Hyundai
 * AFC Champions League: 2020
 * K League 1: 2022, 2023

South Korea U23
 * Asian Games: 2018

South Korea
 * EAFF Championship: 2017, 2019

Individual
 * K League 2 Best XI: 2015, 2016
 * K League All-Star: 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
 * K League 1 Best XI: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
 * EAFF Championship Best Goalkeeper: 2017
 * AFC Champions League All-Star Squad: 2021