Korean K-League 2009 Thread

[Evergreen]

Not that many posters here will be in the slightest bit interested, but, seeing as I live over here, I thought I might as well make a K-League thread.

For those not familiar with the league structure, there are 15 teams playing each other home and away. The top six at the end of the season qualify for the championship playoffs. Finishing 1st during the normal season does not mean that you are the champions.

The current champions are Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

The season is now 4 weeks old. Here are this weekend's results:

Busan 2-3 Gwangju (3,998)
Daejeon 2-0 Daegu (4,724)
FC Seoul 1-0 Suwon (32,075)
Jeonbuk 4-1 Seongnam (15,170)
Pohang 1-1 Ulsan (7,815)
Incheon 2-0 Gangwon (21,254)
Jeju 1-1 Gyeongnam (3,242)

And current table:

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
01 Jeonbuk 4 3 1 0 8 2 6 10
02 Gwangju 4 3 0 1 7 3 4 9
03 Incheon 3 2 1 0 4 1 3 7
04 Jeju 4 2 1 1 3 2 1 7
05 Gangwon 4 2 1 1 4 4 0 7
06 FC Seoul 4 2 0 2 8 4 4 6
07 Pohang 4 1 3 0 7 6 1 6
08 Daejeon 4 1 2 1 3 4 -1 5
09 Gyeongnam 4 0 4 0 4 4 0 4
10 Ulsan 3 0 2 1 1 2 -1 2
11 Busan 4 0 2 2 5 7 -2 2
12 Seongnam 3 0 2 1 2 5 -3 2
13 Daegu 4 0 2 2 3 7 -4 2
14 Chunnam 3 0 2 1 4 9 -5 2
15 Suwon 4 0 1 3 2 5 -3 1

[BCFC_Chris]

Why the huge different in gates? Is it down to fan base or simply some grounds are just ridiculously small?

[Evergreen]

Originally Posted by BCFC_Chris

Why the huge different in gates? Is it down to fan base or simply some grounds are just ridiculously small?

It's entirely down to the fan base and that fact that, unless the national team is playing, Koreans really don't care about football. The exceptions to the rule are FC Seoul and Suwon.

The grounds are actually all former world cup stadia so are far too big to house their respective teams. For example, the team I follow here is Daejeon Citizen. Their stadium holds around 45,000 yet the average attendance is about 5,000. They essentially play in empty stadiums.

The funniest example I can remember is going to watch Daejeon away vs Busan. Their stadium is fantastic, a huge 60,000+ seater stadium that looks like something from the future. I would probably be over-estimating that there were about 800 people there, including us 9 away fans.

It's pretty fun going to watch the K-League though. As a foreigner, I have become somewhat of a celebrity. I get interviewed at every ground and also had a documentary made about me The Koreans are fascinated that any foreigner would be interested in watching their domestic league.

I should post some photo's of the stadia when I get time. They are absolutely fantastic grounds.

[BCFC_Chris]

Im going to sound like a tit, but I have no idea if your talking about North or South Korea..! I can never remember where Seoul is. I got talking to a City exile this year, who had come over from Daegu, and he was saying the same that the locals are fascinated by him.

I assume the quality of football is poor?

[Evergreen]

In alphabetical order, by team:


Busan I'Park - Busan World Cup Stadium (55,000)


Chunnam Dragons - Gwangyang Stadium (14,000)


Daegu FC - Daegu World Cup Stadium (68,000)


Daejeon Citizen - Daejeon World Cup Stadium (42,000)


FC Seoul - Seoul World Cup Stadium (64,000)


Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix - The Guus Hiddink Stadium (42,000)


Gyeongnam FC - Changwon Civil Stadium - (37,000)

[Evergreen]

Incheon Utd - Munhak World Cup Stadium (52,000)


Jeju Utd - Jeju World Cup Stadium (42,000)


Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors - Jeonju World Cup Stadium (42,000)


Pohang Steelers - The Steel Yard Stadium (25,000)

[Evergreen]

Seongnam - Seongnam 1 Stadium (27,000)


Suwon Samsung Bluewings - Suwon World Cup Stadium (42,000)


Ulsan Hyundai - Ulsan Big Crown Stadium (43,000)

[Evergreen]

Originally Posted by BCFC_Chris

Im going to sound like a tit, but I have no idea if your talking about North or South Korea..! I can never remember where Seoul is. I got talking to a City exile this year, who had come over from Daegu, and he was saying the same that the locals are fascinated by him.

I assume the quality of football is poor?

I'm in the South. North is pretty hairy at the moment!

I would say that the quality of football is pretty poor. This is particularly true of the forwards. A team with a couple of decent Brazilian imports as strikers usually find themselves at the higher end of the table. Most teams I would expect would probably be playing League 2/Conference level in England.

[BCFC_Chris]

Some nice grounds there, especially Busan ans Seouls. I remember a pitch the could swing out of the ground in the 02WC..Was that in Korea, or Japan?

Whats going on in Suwon though..I think omeone got their calculations wrong when designing the roof..

[Evergreen]

Originally Posted by BCFC_Chris

Some nice grounds there, especially Busan ans Seouls. I remember a pitch the could swing out of the ground in the 02WC..Was that in Korea, or Japan?

Whats going on in Suwon though..I think omeone got their calculations wrong when designing the roof..

I think that was in Japan although I could be wrong.

The Suwon ground does look pretty odd I agree but it's one of the better ones for generating atmosphere. My favourite is probably Pohang's Steel Yard Stadium though. It's like a proper football ground and the stands are really close to the pitch. It's small enough to not look entirely empty as well.

[Skippy]

Are there any Aussies playing in Korea? I know Sasha Ogenovski is, but can't remember which club.

[Evergreen]

Originally Posted by Skippy

Are there any Aussies playing in Korea? I know Sasha Ogenovski is, but can't remember which club.

Yes, as well as Ogenovski at Seongnam we have Jade North at Incheon and Antun Kovacic at Ulsan.

[Ilsinho]

Do you even support Argyle anymore?

[Evergreen]

Originally Posted by Plymuff

Do you even support Argyle anymore?

Of course, although living half way around the world doesn't make it easy. Trust that I am tuning in to Argyle World every Saturday/Sunday midnight.

[Rodley]

I usually go to most of Daegu's home games, started going midway through last season. I was actually pretty optimistic at the start of this season. Bought a serbian 'target man' striker called Popovic, and a Cameroon olympic player called Mbamba. Also, some Chinese guy who was meant to be pretty good, Feng Xiaoting. However, lost our best player, Lee Keun-Ho (don't know where he is now...not K-League though). We've started how we ended last season.........pretty crap. I agree, the quality of the football isn't great, but it's always a laugh. Certainly can't complain about the ticket price.

Come on Daegu

Just seen you spanked us 2-0. Were we shit?

[Evergreen]

Originally Posted by Rodley

Just seen you spanked us 2-0. Were we shit?

Well, we won three games in the entirety of last season and hadn't won this season until Saturday so, yes, you were pretty crap

Actually, credit where credit is due, we actually played very well indeed. You guys didn't play that badly, and were it not for some cracking saves from Choi Eun-Sung (making his 399th appearance) it could have been a different story. Your big white bloke up front looks decent.

I'll most certainly be going to Daegu for the away fixture, whenever that happens to be, so lets meet up for a few pre-match bevvies

[Evergreen]

Round 5 results:

(Saturday)
Gangwon 3-3 Chunnam
Seongnam 3-1 Pohang

(Sunday)
Suwon 2-0 Busan
Daegu 2-1 Jeju
Ulsan 1-1 Daejeon
Gwangju 1-0 Incheon

New Table:

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
01 Gwangju 5 4 0 1 8 3 5 12
02 Jeonbuk 4 3 1 0 8 2 6 10
03 Gangwon 5 2 2 1 7 7 0 8
04 FC Seoul 5 2 1 2 9 5 4 7
05 Incheon 4 2 1 1 4 2 2 7
06 Jeju 5 2 1 2 4 4 0 7
07 Pohang 5 1 3 1 8 9 -1 6
08 Daejeon 5 1 3 1 4 5 -1 6
09 Gyeongnam 5 0 5 0 5 5 0 5
10 Seongnam 4 1 2 1 5 6 -1 5
11 Daegu 5 1 2 2 5 8 -3 5
12 Suwon 5 1 1 3 4 5 -1 4
13 Ulsan 4 0 3 1 2 3 -1 3
14 Chunnam 4 0 3 1 7 12 -5 3
15 Busan 5 0 2 3 5 9 -4 2

Gwangju are the army team and they are top!! They finish bottom almost every season so it's an outstanding start for them

[Yabba]

I think i shall start taking an intrest in this Korean football malarky, Jeju Utd for me, i like their stadium.

[Evergreen]

Originally Posted by Y_D_C

I think i shall start taking an intrest in this Korean football malarky, Jeju Utd for me, i like their stadium.

The MK Dons of Korea!

Actually there are two notable teams that relocated. One being Jeju and the other being FC Seoul. Perhaps the two most despised teams in the league.

[Evergreen]

A bit of geography



Jeju is the isand in the far south.