Ulsan return to top of K League, keep focus on bigger fish to fry

The view from the top is always nice, but Ulsan Hyundai FC understand there is still a lot of football left this season. Ulsan returned to first place in the K League 1 table following a 3-1 victory over Daegu FC on Sunday. The away victory in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, lifted Ulsan to 26 points, one ahead of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Jeonbuk eked out a 2-2 draw against Seongnam FC on Saturday after going down 2-0 and have now been held winless in two straight matches. Ulsan had

July 13, 2020

Tottenham's Son Heung-min scores, sets up winner to join exclusive club

Son Heung-min has reached yet another milestone in the Premier League. Son scored a goal and set up the winner in Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday (local time). He now has 10 goals and 10 assists for the season, becoming only the second Premier League player to reach double figures in both categories in 2019-2020. The South Korean star has now scored in double figures in his fourth consecutive Premier League season. Arsenal opened

July 13, 2020

Jeonbuk's lead at top shrinks after rare loss in K League

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors saw their lead at the top of the K League 1 table shrink to just one point over the weekend, following a combination of their rare loss and a victory by their biggest rival club. Jeonbuk fell to Sangju Sangmu 1-0 on Sunday, with Kang Sang-woo converting a 75th-minute penalty to hand Jeonbuk only their second loss of the season. It was Jeonbuk's first "L" since May 30, when they dropped to Gangwon FC, also by the score of 1-0, and they remained at 24 points. A

July 6, 2020

Pro football league pushes back July 10 target for return of fans

With a spike in local infections of the novel coronavirus, the South Korean football league will not be able to reopen its stadiums on July 10 as it had hoped, a league official said Thursday. The 2020 K League season kicked off on May 8 without spectators, due to COVID-19 infection concerns. And following the government's announcement last Sunday that pro sports stadiums could open their doors again under strict quarantine and preventive measures, the K League had set July 10 as the target fo

July 2, 2020

K League's Ulsan acquire veteran fullback Hong Chul

South Korean football title hopefuls Ulsan Hyundai FC announced Wednesday they've acquired veteran fullback Hong Chul. The K League 1 club signed the South Korean international from Suwon Samsung Bluewings for an undisclosed transfer fee. The 29-year-old left fullback has played in 272 K League matches since making his debut with Seongnam Ilhwa Chunam (currently Seongnam FC) in 2010. He has earned 30 caps with the senior national team and represented the country at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. H

July 1, 2020

Last-place football club scraps plans for reunion with cancer-stricken ex-coach

Incheon United, the last-place club in the top division South Korean football league, will not bring back their cancer-stricken former head coach Yoo Sang-chul after all. Team officials said Tuesday that Yoo, who left the bench in January to continue his battle with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, has been told by his doctors that it'd be too much of a health risk for Yoo to return as head coach. The club had confirmed reports Monday that Yoo had approached Incheon's senior executives and expresse

June 30, 2020

No changes at top and bottom of K League 1 table after wild weekend

When the dust settled after the weekend, there were no changes at the top and the bottom of the table in South Korean football. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors blanked Ulsan Hyundai FC 2-0 on Sunday in a battle of the two best clubs in the K League 1. Jeonbuk extended their lead over Ulsan to 24-20, while handing their rivals their first loss of the season. At the opposite end, Incheon United suffered their seventh consecutive loss on Saturday, falling to FC Seoul 1-0. With two draws and seven losses,

June 29, 2020

S. Korean U-19 men's football team to open training camp next week

The South Korean men's under-19 football team will open training camp next week in preparation for an upcoming continental tournament, becoming the first national football squad to work out during the coronavirus pandemic. The Korea Football Association (KFA) on Tuesday announced a 36-man camp roster for head coach Kim Jung-soo. Their camp will open next Monday at the National Football Center (NFC) in Paju, just north of Seoul, in Gyeonggi Province. They'll begin preliminary prep for the 2020

June 9, 2020

Brazilian striker voted K League's top player for May

Ulsan Hyundai FC's Brazilian forward Junior has been voted the top player for the month of May in South Korean football. The Korea Professional Football League (K League) announced Monday that Junior beat out three other nominees for the season's first Player of the Month award. Junior led all scorers with five goals in four matches in May. He earned 30 percent of the vote from the K League's performance evaluation committee, which accounts for 60 percent of the award. In the fan voting, acco

June 8, 2020

K League inks deals for overseas promotion

Korea Professional Football League said it has signed a contract with two European platforms specializing in soccer content -- 433 and COPA90 -- to promote its sporting events abroad. Based in the Netherlands, 433 posts minute-long video clips featuring soccer matches on its Instagram account, which is followed by more than 40 million users of the photo-sharing platform around the world. COPA90, founded in the UK, has 4 million subscribers and shares soccer clips that feature athletes and gam

June 8, 2020

S. Korea's World Cup qualifier vs. N. Korea pushed to Nov.: source

A World Cup qualifying match between South Korea and North Korea that would have taken place this week has been moved to November, an industry source said Friday. According to the source, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Tuesday settled on new dates for the regional World Cup qualifiers that have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. "Matches that were scheduled for March will be played in October, and those set for June will take place in November," the source sa

June 5, 2020

4 clubs still searching for 1st win of K League season

Four matches into the 2020 K League 1 football season, four clubs are still looking for their first win. Daegu FC, Busan IPark, Incheon United and Gwangju FC occupy the last four places in the 12-team table. In addition to zeroes in the win column, these four are also united by their lack of firepower. Daegu and Busan have managed just two goals, while Incheon and Gwangju have found the back of the net just once each. At the other end, Busan, Incheon and Gwangju have each conceded five goals

June 4, 2020

Women's national football coach pledges cooperation with domestic clubs

South Korea women's national football head coach Colin Bell said Monday he'll be working closely with coaches of domestic clubs, stressing the importance of building mutual trust through continued communication. Bell met with head coaches of the eight clubs in the semi-professional WK League at the Korea Football Association (KFA) House on Monday. In the press conference that followed, the Englishman insisted that the national team program can't be successful without the help and support of cl

June 1, 2020

Promoted clubs seeking first wins in top football league on weekend

When Gwangju FC and Busan IPark earned promotions to the top division in South Korean football for the 2020 season, this could not have been the kind of start they had envisioned. Gwangju have dropped their first three matches, and they sit dead last among 12 clubs in the K League 1. Busan have managed one draw and two losses for one point, which puts them in 11th place. Both will try to end the winless drought Saturday. Gwangju dominated the K League 2 last year, reeling off a 19-match undef

May 28, 2020

Military football club set to welcome back injured young guns

Riding a two-match winning streak, military football club Sangju Sangmu will receive some welcome reinforcement this week in the form of their youngsters. After dropping the opening match, Sangju have won their past two matches in the K League 1 with a depleted roster. For all three matches, they were without their three under-22 players, forwards Oh Se-hun, Jeon Se-jin and Kim Bo-sub, who sustained injuries in a car accident while riding a team van to a coronavirus testing site on April 29. I

May 27, 2020

[Newsmaker] Korean football club get record fine over sex dolls in stands

South Korea's FC Seoul were fined a record 100 million won ($81,000) for using sex dolls to fill seats at a match held behind closed doors, with K-League officials saying the football club had "deeply humiliated women fans". With spectators barred because of the coronavirus, FC Seoul came under fire after dozens of dolls wearing T-shirts or holding placards with the logo of a sex-toy seller appeared at Sunday's game. The incident made headlines around the world. After reviewing th

May 21, 2020

Fresh off season's 1st win, K League midfielder vows even more offense

Sangju Sangmu midfielder Moon Seon-min isn't one to mess around or try to get cute: When he is on the field for his K League 1 club, Moon is all about scoring goals, or helping his teammates get on the board. Following Sangju's 2-0 win over Gangwon FC on the weekend, Moon said Wednesday that offense will remain the modus operandi for the military club this year. "We didn't have proper preparation before the season, but against Gangwon FC, we played to our strength," Moon said in a r

May 20, 2020

S. Korean football opener viewed by millions on social media

The opening match of the 2020 South Korean football season last week drew millions of viewers around the world on its social media platforms, the league office said Tuesday. The Korea Professional Football League (K League) said the K League 1 showdown between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Suwon Samsung Bluewings on Friday evening was viewed by 3.4 million fans on Twitter and 234,000 more on YouTube. The league streamed the match, a 1-0 victory for Jeonbuk, live on those two social media account

May 12, 2020

Pro football kicks off in S. Korea after 2-month delay due to coronavirus pandemic

JEONJU -- It's been a long time coming, but professional football is finally here in South Korea. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors hosted Suwon Samsung Bluewings before some 42,000 empty seats at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, 240 kilometers south of Seoul, to kick off the 2020 K League 1 season. The season was slated to begin on Feb. 29 but was pushed back indefinitely five days prior to its start due to the coronavirus outbreak. Then with the number of new cases steadily falling last month, the

May 8, 2020

Italian season in limbo with new wave of positive coronavirus tests

ROME (AFP) -- The fate of the Serie A championship remained in limbo on Thursday after state scientists met with football bosses in a desperate effort to save the coronavirus-interrupted season threatened by a new wave of positive tests among players. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) huddled with the government's technical scientific committee to discuss details of the medical protocol for a potential return to group training. The talks came with pressure mounting from sports-deprived f

May 8, 2020