Hwang Hee-chan

Hee-Chan Hwang (born January 26, 1996 in Chuncheon) is a South Korean football player. He plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League as striker.

Career 
Hwang began his career with the Pohang Steelers in South Korea. In January 2015 he moved to the Austrian Bundesliga club FC Red Bull Salzburg. FC Red Bull Salzburg Hwang played for the farm team, FC Liefering, in the second division. He made his debut for FC Liefering in February 2015 . He  was in the starting line-up against SC Austria Lustenau on matchday 21 of the 2014/15 season. He scored his first goal for Liefering in April 2015 in a 4-1 win against TSV Hartberg. In August 2015 he scored two goals in a game in the second division for the first time in a 5-3 win against SV Austria Salzburg.

In December 2015 he was in the Red Bull Salzburg squad for the first time against Wolfsberger AC. He made his Bundesliga debut in the same month when he started on matchday 19 of the 2015/16 season against SV Mattersburg.  With Salzburg he became Austrian champions and cup winners at the end of the season.

On 20 October 2016, he played his first international game for Salzburg. He came in for Fredrik Gulbrandsen in the 83rd minute in the Europa League against OGC Nice. On 23 October 2016, Hwang scored his first two goals in the Austrian league in a 5-1 win against SKN St. Pölten. On 3November 2016  he scored both of Red Bull Salzburg's goals in a 2-0 win against the French in the second leg against Nice. Standard.at (German) 

In the 2016/17 season he again won the league and cup double with Salzburg. In the 2017/18 season he reached the semi-finals of the Europa League with Red Bull Salzburg. Hwang also became Austrian champions again with Salzburg that season.

On 31 August  2018, Hwang moved to Hamburger SV in the 2nd Bundesliga on loan until the end of the 2018/19 season. Hwang returned to Salzburg for the 2019/20 season. He played 27 Bundesliga matches for Salzburg that season. He scored eleven goals. He also made six appearances in the UEFA Champions League, in which he scored three goals and two appearances after moving to the Europa League.

For the 2020/21 season he moved to RB Leipzig. He made his Bundesliga debut for the club on matchday 1 in the 3-1 win against FSV Mainz, when he came on in the 69th minute for Dani Olmo. A serious illness as a result of an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus put the striker out of action until the end of the year. At the end of the season, the striker had completed 18 league matches and hadn't scored a goal.

At the end of August 2021 Hwang moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on a season-long loan. At the end of January 2022 the club pulled out a purchase option worth 17 million.  Hwang signed a contract until 2026.

International 
Hwang took part in the 2016 Olympic football tournament in Rio de Janeiro with the South Korean U-23 national team.

In September 2016, he made his debut for the national team. He took part in the 2018 World Cup with South Korea. South Korea was eliminated in the group stage. Hwang played in all three of his country's games. In the same year he also took part in the Asian Games with the South Korea U-23 team. He won the tournament with South Korea. 

Hwang was in South Korea's squad for the 2019 Asian Football Championship. Hwang played in four of the South Koreans' five games and scored one goal.  On November 11, 2020, Hwang scored the fastest goal in the South Koreans' international history, taking the lead after just 16 seconds.

 Honours 
 Austrian championː2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
 Austrian Cup: 2016,2017, 2020
 Asia Games (U23)ː 2018
 DFB Cupː 2022

References 

Category:1996 births
Category:Living people
Category:Premier League players
Category:FC Red Bull Salzburg players
Category:Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Category:2019 AFC Asian Cup players
Category:Austrian football champions
Category:South Korea at the 2022 FIFA World Cup