Ulsan-Pohang East Coast Derby Kick-off on March 1st
Professional Soccer Opening, Kick-off on March 1st with the Ulsan-Pohang East Coast Derby... Suwon ‘Challenges Promotion’
Ulsan, aiming for 3 consecutive losses... It looks like there will be a fierce competition for the championship with Jeonbuk.
The new season of professional soccer K-League opens with the ‘East Coast Derby’ on March 1st.
The 2024 K League 1 begins its nine-month journey with a rivalry match between Ulsan HD and Pohang Steelers to be held at Munsu Soccer Stadium in Ulsan on the 1st of next month.
Ulsan, who won the K-League 1 title for the second time in a row last season, and Pohang, the Korea Football Association Cup (FA Cup) champion, will have a battle of pride from the first game. 메이저사이트
The 12 teams in K League 1 will play the league over 33 rounds until early October.
Afterwards, it was divided into Final A (1st to 6th place) and Final B (7th to 12th place), and each team played 5 more games, including the winning team, the team that will participate in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) club competition in the 2025-2026 season, and the K League 2 relegated team.
As the AFC club competitions have been expanded and reorganized into Champions League Elite (ACLE) and Champions League 2 (ACL2), the method of determining which teams will play on the Asian stage has become a little more complicated.
Three ACLE tickets were distributed in Korea, and the K-League 1 winning team and the Korea Cup (formerly FA Cup) winning team each received one direct ticket to the ACLE finals.
Excluding the Korea Cup winner, the next-ranked team in K-League 1 takes the remaining ACLE ticket, which must compete starting from the playoffs (PO).
The next ranked team will then receive an ACL2 advance ticket, with one ticket allocated to Korea.
However, in order for the Korea Cup winning team to receive an ACLE ticket, they must place in the final four in K League 1.
If the Korea Cup winning team only ranks 5th or lower, the 1st and 2nd place teams in K League 1 will receive a direct ticket to the ACLE finals, the 3rd place team will receive an ACLE PO ticket, and the Korea Cup winning team will receive an ACL2 ticket.
The elevating system remains the same.
The team ranked 12th in K League 1 will be relegated, and the team ranked 1st in K League 2 will be promoted immediately.
The 11th-place team in K League 1 will play the 2nd-place team in K League 2, and the 10th-place team in K League 1 will play a promotion/relegation PO against the winner of the PO between 3rd and 5th place in K League 2 to decide whether to remain in the 1st division or be relegated to the 2nd division.
Suwon Samsung, which was in K-League 1 last season, suffered a shocking relegation and will now have to compete in K-League 2 in the 2024 season.
Suwon, considered the most popular club in Korea, is expected to receive as much attention as the competition to win the K League 1 championship.
The team promoted to K-League 1 is ‘Gun Team’ Gimcheon Sangmu.
In the new season, the list of K-League 1 players has increased from 18 to 20, allowing the head coach to use replacement cards more diversely.
In addition to the 11 starting players, the number of players on standby will increase from the existing 7 to a maximum of 9.
However, considering the impact of increased operating costs due to the increase in the number of players, K League 2 decided to maintain the number of players at 18.
It seems likely that this year's championship competition will be a battle between Ulsan and Jeonbuk Hyundai.
Last season, while Jeonbuk underperformed unexpectedly, Ulsan showed off its overwhelming power and comfortably won the championship by 12 points over second-place Pohang Steelers, strengthening its power by recruiting valuable players ahead of this season.
Instead of letting go of Bako, who scored 27 goals and 5 assists over 3 seasons, they recruited Kelvin, a second-line striker who played as a starter in Brazil's Serie B.
In addition, Matheus, a former member of the Brazil U-23 national team, was brought in as a defensive midfielder.
The positions left by Jeong Seung-hyeon (Al-Wasle) and Kim Tae-hwan (Jeonbuk) were filled by Hwang Seok-ho, Kim Min-woo, and Ko Seung-beom, maintaining the player base.
Ulsan's main gun Joo Min-gyu, who was the top scorer last year, showed off his health by scoring a total of three goals in the first and second legs of the 2023-2024 ACL round of 16 against Japan's Banforet Kofu on the 15th and 21st.
Jeonbuk Province strengthened its lineup by recruiting Kim Tae-hwan, Lee Young-jae, and Kwon Chang-hoon.
In particular, the new combination of Hernández and Thiago in the offensive line is raising expectations.
Hernández is a winger with quick feet and decisive skills.
Thiago is a striker with both height and strength who competed with Joo Min-gyu for the top scorer until the end last season.
If only quality passes are provided to them, Ulsan will likely find it difficult to block Jeonbuk's attack.
For coach Dan Petrescu, who took charge of Jeonbuk in June of last year, this is his first season leading Jeonbuk from the beginning.
Fans and the club's leadership are paying attention to what Coach Petrescu, whose pride was crushed by Jeonbuk's fourth-place finish last season, will achieve this year.
FC Seoul, which has recruited Jesse Lingard, the most valuable foreign player of all time, and coach Kim Ki-dong of 'Modong Magic', is mentioned as a club that will threaten the 'Hyundai Group'.
Lingard is a world-class star striker who played for the prestigious Manchester United (Manchester United) in the English Premier League (EPL).
He also played for England until 2021.
Coach Kim led Pohang and achieved results that far exceeded expectations every season.
Attention is being paid to whether he can perform 'magic' at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
The point of interest is whether Gwangju FC, led by ‘young tactician’ coach Lee Jeong-hyo, can settle in the top rankings this season as well.
Gwangju, which ranked 3rd last season, must undergo ACL repair in the 2024-2025 season starting from the second half of this year.
On the 26th, the Korea Professional Football League will hold a media day at The Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, where coaches and representative players from 25 K-League clubs will reveal their resolutions for the new season.
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