The K-League 1 opening game for the new season has been decided as ‘Hyundai-ga Derby’.
On the 13th, the Korea Professional Football Federation announced the schedule for rounds 1 to 33 of the K League 1 regular round for the 2023 season. In the opening game held on the 25th of next month at 2:00 p.m. at Munsu Soccer Stadium in Ulsan, Ulsan Hyundai and Jeonbuk Hyundai, who placed first and second in last season, will face each other.
Ulsan and Jeonbuk are the K-League’s biggest rivals. Since 2019, they have been fighting for the league championship for four consecutive seasons. Ulsan, which gave Jeonbuk the championship cup for three consecutive seasons, stopped Jeonbuk 온라인카지노.from losing its sixth consecutive league last season and reached the top in 17 years, further strengthening the rivalry.
There is still about a month left until the start of the new season, but the two teams are engaged in a hot confrontation from the start of the recruitment match. First of all, Ulsan secured Joo Min-gyu, the largest player in the free agency (FA) market, and laid the foundation for a second consecutive victory in the league. Joo Min-gyu, who was the K-League 1 top scorer in 2021 (22 goals), also scored the most goals (17 goals) last year. Although he missed the top scorer title due to the large number of games played compared to Cho Kyu-seong (Jeonbuk), who had the same score, he solidified his position as the best striker in the league by being named the best scorer and best 11 for two consecutive seasons.
Joo Min-gyu is an excellent player not only in scoring but also in helping (7 assists last season, 7th overall). Because of this, he is expected to show positive synergy with Martin Adam (9 goals in 14 matches). In addition to this, Ulsan has acquired the strongest firepower in the league by recruiting Swedish striker Gustav Rubiksson.
Against this, Jeonbuk will once again challenge the top of the league by recruiting from all directions. The most notable thing is the joining of Lee Dong-jun and Amano Jun, who worked in Ulsan. Among them, Amano, in particular, is the one who led Ulsan to the championship last season, but in the new season, he will wear the uniform of a rival club. A fierce battle of nerves broke out between the two teams over Amano’s transfer. Ulsan coach Hong Myung-bo criticized Amano for saying, “I lied and moved to Jeonbuk. The worst Japanese I have ever met.” .
In addition, Jeonbuk brought in Kim Gun-woong from Suwon FC to fill the void of midfielder Kim Jin-gyu, who is about to enlist in the military, and Jung Min-ki from FC Anyang as a replacement for main goalkeeper Song Bum-geun (Shonan Bellmare), who left for the Japanese J-League. Brazilian striker Rafael, who has won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League, also added weight to the attacking line.
Roberto Di Matteo, who led Chelsea of the English Premier League (EPL) and stood at the top of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) in the 2011-12 season, also joined Jeonbuk as a technical advisor. Jeonbuk is determined to set the long-term direction of the team beyond winning the league this year through advisor Di Matteo.
Last season’s K-League 2 winner Gwangju FC will have its first match after promotion with Suwon Samsung on the same day, and the ‘Super Match’ between Suwon and FC Seoul will be held on April 22 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.