S. Korean forward Hwang Ui-jo joins Nottingham, loaned to Olympiacos

South Korean international Hwang Ui-jo has signed with the Premier League club Nottingham Forest FC, though he will spend this season with another team in Greece on loan.

Nottingham announced Saturday (England time) that they have acquired Hwang and loaned him to Olympiacos FC in Greece for the remainder of the 2022-2023 campaign. Both clubs are owned by the Greek shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis.

In Greece, Hwang will join his longtime South Korea teammate, midfielder Hwang In-beom, who had signed with the club earlier in the summer.

Hwang Ui-jo, who turns 30 on Sunday, had spent his past three seasons with the FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the top French league, Ligue 1. He led the team with 12 goals in the 2020-2021 season and followed that up with 11 goals the next season.

But after Bordeaux got relegated to the second-tier Ligue 2 following last season, Hwang had been seeking his way out.

He had been linked to a couple of teams in the Ligue 1 and had also been rumored to be on his way to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, where he would have been teammates with another South Korean player, Hwang Hee-chan.

After appearing in two matches for Bordeaux this season, Hwang Ui-jo punched his ticket out of France, but his Premier League debut will have to wait at least another year.

Nottingham just earned a promotion to the top English league for this season. Though they are off to a solid start, with a win, a draw and a loss in their first three matches, it is not uncommon for a team to be relegated right back to the second-level English Football League Championship after just one season with the big boys.

There are currently two South Koreans in the Premier League: Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur and Hwang Hee-chan of Wolves.

Hwang Ui-jo and Hwang In-beom were teammates when South Korea won the 2018 Asian Games gold medal in Indonesia. They have also played several matches together on the senior national side, and both are expected to make the final World Cup squad this fall.

Olympiacos recently earned a spot in the group stage for the UEFA Europa League, and the two Hwangs will be playing in their first continental competition this season.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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