Ha scored twice as a sub at the World Cup, but is famous for another reason

1 year ago

Forget Son Heung-min, there’s a new star from South Korea in town. Cho Gue-sung has shot to overnight fame at the World Cup – but his incredible new found popularity is NOT because of the two goals he scored against Ghana.

Instead, the 24-year-old forward has become quite the heart throb online. Having started the tournament with around 20,000 followers on Instagram, he now has a staggering 1.7 million.

His mind boggling surge in followers has partly come off the back of an old video of Cho that has gone viral on social media in recent days. A clip of him sitting on the bench for his club side has been viewed over 7.4m times on Twitter.

While the hashtag “ChoGuesung” on TikTok has over 200m views in total. Cho’s mesmeric rise to stardom has led to him having to turn his phone OFF due to the constant notifications.

He has even been flooded with marriage proposals from obsessed fans on social media. South Korean journalist Seo Jung-hwan said on Cho, via The Athletic: “He had to get some rest.

“His phone was going all night. It was keeping him awake. He was trying to concentrate on football and, all the time, the messages were coming.”

Cho appears to be well on his way to overhauling national hero and Tottenham star Son in terms of popularity. He plays his club football for South Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai and was leading scorer in the last K League championship.

Having made the South Korea World Cup squad, Cho netted twice off the bench in the 3-2 defeat to Ghana on Monday. Reports have linked him with a move to Celtic, Borussia Dortmund and Fenerbahce.

But his new found popularity appears to be down to his good looks, rather than his footballing ability. However, the bad news for his millions of new admirers is the fact that Cho is believed to have a girlfriend.

Although the player will have put brands on red alert with his rise to stardom, even if he does fail to keep South Korea in the World Cup.

Cho and Co need to beat Portugal and hope Uruguay beat Ghana to qualify for the knockouts, with it then coming down to goal difference between South Korea and Uruguay for second spot.