Despite the fastest opening ever, the K-League is 'jackpotting', Joo Min-gyu → Heo Yul → Ramas, and the heyday of transfer students...A Match Break, 5 Round Journey Looking Back
Despite the fastest opening ever, the K-League is 'jackpotting', Joo Min-gyu → Heo Yul → Ramas, and the heyday of transfer students...A Match Break, 5 Round Journey Looking Back
Blog Article
The K-League 1, which started with the fastest opening ever, is taking a breather. The A-match period of the K-League 1 is a break period. However, there is an exception this time. The fourth round of "Hana Bank K-League 1 2025" between Gwangju and the Pohang Steelers, which has been postponed due to Gwangju FC's schedule to advance to the round of 16 strongest teams in the Asian Champions League (ACLE), will take place on Tuesday.
The month-long journey since the season's opening on April 15 was breathless. Five rounds have already passed in the K-League 1. Even in the cold weather, the average attendance of the K-League 1 was 12,659, a slight increase from 12,532. After the A-match break, the number of spectators is expected to increase further along with the warmer weather.
The outlook and reality were different, too. Amid heated competition over the ranking since the beginning of this season, Daejeon Hana Citizen took the lead (score point of 12·4-1). With the upcoming season ahead of this year's event, Daejeon had high expectations on recruiting players. However, the Big 2 is expected to be established by Ulsan HD and FC Seoul, which are aiming at winning their fourth consecutive K League 1 title. Daejeon is classified as a dark horse. There is a long way to go, but Daejeon shook the field.
Ulsan ranked second with 10 points (three wins, one draw and one loss), while Gimcheon Sangmu and Seoul each have eight points (two wins, two draws and one loss). Gimcheon, which was leading the team in multiple points, came in third and Seoul fourth. Daegu FC and Gangwon FC, which have seven points (two wins, one draw and two losses), also got off to a good start. FC Anyang, which was promoted to the first division of this season, made a soft landing with six points (two wins and three losses). On the other hand, Jeonbuk Hyundai and Jeju SK, which had high expectations, desperately need a turnaround with five points (one win, two draws and two losses) and four points (one win, one draw and three losses), respectively. The only undefeated teams are Gwangju FC (six wins, one draw and three losses), Suwon FC (three draws and two losses) and Pohang FC (two draws and two losses) have yet to secure one win.
The keyword was Lee's performance. Joo Min-kyu, who replaced his horse with Daejeon, scored multiple goals (two goals) from the opening game, drawing attention. He has already scored his fifth goal, and is ranking first in the scoring category. Having scored double-digit goals for four consecutive years, he challenged himself to become the third top scorer in the K-League 1 after 2021 (Jeju·22 goals) and 2023 (Ulsan·17 goals).
After returning to Daegu, Ramas has scored the most points of attack in his team with three goals and one assist. He has established a triangular formation in Brazil with Cesinha and Edgar, leading Daegu's early stages of attack. Hur Yul, who moved from Gwangju to Ulsan, has filled the void of Joo Min-gyu. He completed his adaptation early on by scoring his debut goal in the second round match against Daejeon and two goals in the fourth round against Jeju. 스포츠토토
Newcomers are also attracting attention. Lee Ji-ho of Gangwon Province has emerged as a rookie who attracts the most attention with his multi-goal performance in the match against Pohang in the second round following his first assist in the match against Daegu in the first round. His strength is speed and bold dribbling, which also drew attention with "Actor Byun Woo-seok's likeness." Centerback Seo Jae-kwan of Ulsan is drawing attention as a next-generation defender, and Choi Woo-jin, a fullback resource for Jeonbuk, is also a good candidate for the Young Player Award.