The fall of a famous soccer song.
December 3rd, 2023
Suwon Samsung 'humilifies' relegation from K League 2 for the first time
Silence enveloped the stadium.
Suwon Samsung, a professional soccer team, finished the Hana One Q K League 1 2023 with eight wins, nine draws, and 21 losses (33 points). Suwon Samsung finished at the bottom, falling behind in multiple points, even though it had the same points as Suwon FC. Suwon Samsung, which was founded in 1995, will experience the humiliation of its first demotion.
Suwon Samsung was one of the latecomers among K-League clubs, but quickly became the leading club in the K-League. With the strong support of the parent company, it formed an ultra-luxury corps. He has won the top division four times. It was one of Asia's top clubs that won the Korea Football Association (FA) Cup five times and won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League twice.
However, since its parent company changed from Samsung Electronics to Cheil Worldwide in 2014, investment has significantly decreased. Rather than recruiting outside, it turned to internal development, and sluggishness began. Since winning the Korea Football Association (FA) Cup in 2019, it has been at the bottom. He entered the Final A (1st to 6th) in 2021 in 6th place, but he even experienced the promotion playoff (PO) in 10th place last year. This year, he failed to go to the promotion PO and was "directly demoted."
Suwon Samsung's "real blue" policy was also a failure. Real Blue is based on a former club member as a manager. Last year, Lee Byung-geun took the helm after Park Gun-ha. He started this season under coach Lee, but was replaced due to poor performance. Coach Choi Sung-yong took charge of acting coach and led the team for a while, before appointing head coach Kim Byung-soo in May.
With the appointment of head coach Kim, who was not from the club, he seemed to put down the "real blue." However, he left the team last September for unconvincing reasons. Again, Yeom Ki-hoon, the team's legend, led the team. Even acting coach Yeom was appointed as acting coach. Oh Dong-seok, head of Suwon Samsung, said at the time, "The club will not avoid responsibility either. "I will do my best in the rest of the game and humbly accept the supporters' evaluation after the season is over." Suwon Samsung was the "grave" of club legends.
Gangwon's chief coach Chung Kyung-ho, who was the opponent in the final match, said, "There has never been (I have thought about Suwon being demoted). I survived the promotion PO last year. There seems to have been a number of problems this year as well. Suwon Samsung's fall to K League 2 is also bad for the box office," he said.
Yeom bowed his head. "The players did their best. I wasn't good enough. The players tried to do their best, but I think it's my fault that the result came out like this. I feel my shortcomings the most," he said.
Suwon Samsung players were frustrated on the ground when the whistle blew at the end of the game. Some players shed tears, and the fans who filled the stadium were silent for a moment in regret.
Suwon Samsung said on an electronic board after the game, "There is no excuse. I sincerely apologize. "We will become Suwon Samsung that will be reborn with the determination of re-creation," he said. However, angry fans booed at the team's first relegation.
Lee Jun, Suwon Samsung CEO, Yeom, and the team lined up in front of the fans and bowed their heads. Some fans raised eyebrows by throwing foreign substances into the ground. The anger continued after the game. The team bus was blocked for about two hours, and Oh personally apologized.
The collapse of Suwon, which commanded the K League, was foreseen. Rather than long-term development, he was in a hurry to escape the crisis in front of him, and eventually experienced humiliation as his first demotion.