In-form strikers clash with national stars after Wolves got a taste of how Hwang is celebrated in his homeland this week.
Monday morning at Wolves’ training ground is surreal. The sight of South Korean icon Park Ji-sung and Patrice Evra – best friends since their days at Manchester United – serving drinks and Korean delicacies from a coffee truck plastered with Hwang Hee-chan prints is enough to cause a few heads to turn. “If the coffee is bad, he is the one to blame… “I’m just mixing the water,” Evra says as she points to Park and bursts out laughing.
Throughout the day, first-team players and club staff line up to order food – choco pies and rice cookies from Taegeukdang, Seoul’s oldest bakery, are a big hit – and drink coffee from cups decorated with a sticker of Hwang celebrating scoring for Wolves, which has become a common occurrence this season. Fábio Silva is his first teammate to try the coffee, followed by José Sa, Hwang’s closest friend at the club.
What’s the deal with the coffee truck? In South Korea, celebrities sending coffee trucks brimming with sweet treats to friends as a show of support has become a trend, and a slice of that culture is on display at Compton Park, where Park and Evra are filming the latest episode of the hugely popular South Korean YouTube channel Shoot for Love. Shoot for Love’s English channel, which was launched just over a year ago to cater to a global audience, has 1.7 million subscribers, outnumbering the Asian version.
A 30-person camera crew, many of whom are dressed in Wolves gear (shirts, scarves, and bucket hats), films Hwang on the field, in the gym playing foot tennis, and later clay pigeon shooting. If all of this demonstrates Hwang’s mass appeal, it also demonstrates the appetite – far beyond Molineux – for Saturday’s “Korean derby” between Wolves and Tottenham. It’s a late start in the UK, but it’s primetime viewing in cities like Busan. Millions will watch the game at home or in chimaeks (chicken and beer restaurants) and sool-jips (gastropubs).
Hwang has previously faced Tottenham and South Korea captain Son Heung-min, but it has never been like this. They swapped shirts following a Carabao Cup match two years ago, which Spurs won on penalties, just a few weeks after Hwang arrived in England on loan from RB Leipzig – Wolves paid €14.25 million to make the move permanent at the beginning of last year, and Hwang was a late substitute when they last met in the Premier League later that year. They are now key players at their clubs and among the Premier League’s top scorers (Son has eight goals, Hwang has six).”It’s probably the biggest match between Korean players since Park Ji-sung played against Lee Young-pyo for Manchester United against Tottenham [in 2007],” says Gun Lee, a Korean newspaper Sports Chosun journalist.
Son v Hwang, as Kim Dong-jun, better known as Shoot for Love’s Jamm, puts it, is “superstar vs. rising superstar.” “Sonny is just like David Beckham,” Lee says, noting that the Spurs forward is the face of 20 different brands in Korea, ranging from banks to energy drinks. “Everyone can see them everywhere they go in Korea, on TV, on advertisements,” Park says. It’s not often you get to see Korean players play each other, especially in the Premier League, and everyone is looking forward to it because they’re both on fire.”
In recent years, when Spurs were playing league matches on Sundays owing to their Europa League and Europa Conference League schedule, Son would train on Saturday afternoons and afterwards find out how Hwang fared for Wolves. “It is the first thing I check,” Son said last year. The magnitude of this match is not lost on either of them. “For Korean people, this is the most important game maybe and a very, very special game for us – we know that, myself and Son,” Hwang says. “I have played with him for a very long time and we are very good friends. For Korean people and everyone we will do our best and hopefully we will show them a good game. Everyone in Korea will be excited.””I’ve known him for a long time and we’re very good friends.” We will do our best for the Korean people and everyone else, and hopefully we will show them a good game. “Everyone in Korea will be happy.”
Hwang grew up in Bucheon, a satellite city near Seoul, and after spending much of his childhood playing for Pohang Steelers at the age of 18 he joined Red Bull Salzburg, where he played with Erling Haaland. When Pep Guardiola referred to him as “the Korean guy” before Wolves beat Manchester City in September, Hwang took it as a veiled compliment. Hwang invited several South Korean families to the game, buying them tickets and replica shirts, and stayed long after, signing autographs and posing for photos. This season everything seems to have clicked for the 27-year-old, who is thriving on the responsibility handed to him by the head coach, Gary O’Neil. Several key players left Wolves in the summer, including the former captain Rúben Neves, but others, notably Hwang and Pedro Neto, have risen to the fore.Several key players, including former captain Rben Neves, left Wolves in the summer, but others, most notably Hwang and Pedro Neto, have risen to the fore.
“I think Hee-chan represents the journey that the squad is on,” Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs says. “He’s gone from being perhaps slightly undervalued by previous coaches to Gary coming in full of belief in him, encouraging, empowering, and supporting him.” ‘He [Hwang] just needs to feel loved and important,’ I told Gary. In his career, he has frequently played second fiddle. I imagine you’ll be Robin to Haaland’s Batman when you play alongside him in Salzburg.”
What is the secret to his enviable physique? Hwang, an intelligent character who continues to improve his English through regular lessons, attributes O’Neil’s diligent and clear style to his success. Hwang has also avoided injury after a couple of injury-plagued seasons. “We understand each other very well,” says Hwang of O’Neil. “Every single week he takes another tactic for the opponent and as a player it is very easy to understand.”
Park, who spent seven years at Manchester United, believes Hwang’s support from his homeland is priceless. “[Playing] anywhere [in Europe] is far from our country,” Park said. “It can be quite lonely at times… It is difficult at first, but the reaction of the fans and their support can give you energy. ‘I need to survive here, I need to make them happy because I’m so grateful for their attitude and support,’ you think.”
Hwang, dubbed “the Bull,” and Son are big business for their clubs. A Korean wholesaler ordered 1,500 Wolves shirts with Hee-chan and No. 11 on the back this summer. Last month, South Korea accounted for 50% of views on Wolves’ YouTube channel, far outnumbering the UK’s 7%. When Hwang scores, there is an increase in interest in highlights and game action.
A video of Hwang’s father and sister joining Wolves’ under-17s for dinner while on tour in Incheon has nearly half a million views; a two-minute clip of Hwang scoring on debut at Watford – when he prodded in on the goalline – has 1.4 million views. “Korean fans know Hwang can be the next South Korean superstar if he keeps doing what he’s doing,” says Sungmo Lee, a Korean football journalist. “When Son retires, he can lead the forward line.”
Hwang regards Son, arguably the greatest Asian player of all time, as an idol, but he became a hero after scoring the goal that advanced South Korea to the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar last year. Hwang has already scored more league goals this season than any Wolves player did last season. Hobbs claims that under O’Neil, the Wolves forwards feel free to take risks. “They are free to be the players they are.” ‘If it doesn’t work, no worries, try again.'”
Hwang frequently spends the day following matches doing community service to fulfill his exemption from compulsory military service in South Korea as a result of winning gold with Son at the 2018 Asian Games. Hwang, who must complete three weeks of basic military training in July 2022, must complete 544 hours of volunteer work over a 34-month period that ends next summer. He traveled to London to coach Korean schoolchildren after beating Bournemouth last month. He sometimes passes the time by mentoring on online seminars.
It is safe to say that Hwang has not forgotten his roots. “Usually, when he comes back to Korea, he goes back to play football in the equivalent of a Sunday League,” says Jeremy Park, Shoot for Love’s communications manager. “He rocks up and jams with the amateurs, and then videos of it go viral.” ‘Is Hee-chan here? ‘What the hell happened?’ Son is like a God in Korea, untouchable, but Hee-chan is quickly gaining popularity.”
