Cho Byung-Kuk (right) and son, Jun-Ho (left), believe joining South Coast United was a family affair.

Cho Byung-Kuk made his Illawarra Premier League debut for South Coast United at Tarrawanna Oval last weekend with little fanfare despite the 37-year-old having considerable claims of being one of the most highly credentialed players to grace the region’s top flight.

Cho has 11 caps for South Korea at senior level, he captained his country at the the 2004 Olympics and scored in Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma’s 2010 ACL Champions League final victory where he partnered ex-Socceroo Sasa Ognenovski in the heart of defence.

Cho (number 5) played alongside Ognenovski at the highest point of his career. (Photo — Getty)

The former Taegeuk Warrior has played close to 400 matches over a 17-year career in his native South Korea, China, Japan, Thailand and now Australia.

Cho and his family arrived in Australia earlier this year with a desire to study English and continue playing football. He admits he wasn’t interested in playing at a higher level within Australian football, instead, he sought out the opportunity to play at the same club as his son, Jun-ho, who is registered within United’s junior set up.

“The size of the club didn’t matter, the idea of playing at the same club as my son was the most important thing, it has been a long term goal of mine,” Cho said.

Cho, who turns 38 in July, is confident he still has a few years left in his playing career but is already looking for to developing as a coach having also signed on as assistant to South Coast player-coach Greg Valic.

“I will play as long as my body allows, there are a few more years yet and I want to play until my son gets to my level,” Cho said.

“I have always thought about coaching, I hold an AFC B License and coming here is a great opportunity to start coaching.”

“Greg is very passionate, enthusiastic, he is a good coach, good player and good person in general.”

Cho during the round one IPL match at Tarrawanna Oval. (Photo — illawarrapremierleague.com)

Cho explained how there are a number of hurdles he still needs to overcome, however, he has already set out personal targets for the season and he is looking forward to playing on the new synthetic field at Ian McLennan Park.

“My English is not that good yet, so I had trouble communicating and the style is a lot different to what I am used to,” he said.

“Over time I will fill in the gaps a little better with the team.”

“I like the pitch, on other artificial grasses I’ve played on I have felt a lot of body ache and a lot of pressure on my body.”

“This is a higher quality artificial grass which has a lot of benefits from real grass but it takes away a lot of the bad parts as well.”

“[This season] I want to give my best effort, help the team win and move higher up the table.”

“I want to play a lot of games without injuries and I want to watch a lot of my son’s games as well.”

Cho and South Coast United will be in action at Ian McLennan Park at 6.30 pm on Saturday night as they take on Fernhill in round two of the Premier League.