Ulsan aims 3rd straight title as new K League 1 season starts
With the new season of Korean professional football kicking off this week, Ulsan HD FC will try to accomplish something that has only been done by two other clubs in league history: win three consecutive titles.
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, currently Seongnam FC, pulled off two different sets of “three-peats” in the K League, first from 1993 to 1995 and then from 2001 to 2023.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors did the nearly unthinkable, winning five titles in a row from 2017 to 2021.
Ulsan were the runners-up in the final three years of that run. And they finally had their moment in 2022 before repeating as the champions in 2023.
No club in K League history has ever finished runner-up in three straight years and then bounced back to win the next three titles. Coached by Hong Myung-bo, Ulsan find themselves in a unique position to make history on multiple levels.
Ulsan will host their regional rivals Pohang Steelers at 2 p.m. Friday at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Jeonbuk will play Daejeon Hana Citizen FC at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Three more matches are set for Saturday: Gwangju FC vs. FC Seoul, Gangwon FC vs. Jeju United and Incheon United against Suwon FC.
Finally on Sunday, Daegu FC will face Gimcheon Sangmu FC, which earned a promotion from the second-tier K League 2.
After the first 33 matches each, the top six and the bottom six clubs will be split into “Final A” and “Final B.” Teams will then play five more matches each within their own groups to determine who will win the title and who will be relegated to the K League 2.
The 12th-ranked team will suffer direction relegation. Teams finishing in 10th and 11th will end up in playoffs against teams from K League 2 to try to stay put in the top competition for 2025.
From last year, Gimcheon Sangmu FC earned direct promotion to the K
League 1 by winning the K League 2. Suwon Samsung Bluewings, one of the K League’s most beloved clubs, were relegated for the first time in team history.
Ulsan should once again be in the running for a title. They have lost a couple of national team-caliber defenders, Jung Seung-hyun and Kim Tae-hwan, but signed other experienced pieces, including midfielder Kim Min-woo and defender Hwang Seok-ho.
Jeonbuk were among the busiest clubs in the winter, bringing in Kim
Tae-hwan, Lee Yeong-jae and Kwon Chang-hoon, a trio of veterans with international experience. Tiago Orobo, who battled Ulsan’s Joo Min-kyu for the scoring title last season while playing for Daejeon, will be leading Jeonbuk’s attack this year.
While Ulsan and Jeonbuk will be dueling for the league supremacy, FC Seoul will look to climb back into contention with the league’s biggest offseason acquisition in tow.
In a stunning move, FC Seoul acquired former Manchester United midfielder and English international Jesse Lingard on Feb. 8. Lingard is by far the most notable foreign player to join the K League 1.
He will be under a bright spotlight as he tries to drag FC Seoul out of mediocrity. After finishing in third place among 12 K League 1 clubs in 2019, FC Seoul ranked ninth, seventh, ninth and seventh over the next four campaigns.
Prior to signing Lingard, FC Seoul also made a coaching change, plucking Kim Gi-dong from Pohang Steelers’ bench to be their new head coach.
Pohang replaced Kim with former franchise star Park Tae-ha.
Jeju United also hired a new bench boss this winter with former Korean men’s under-23 national team coach Kim Hak-bum.