Hana Bank’s K League 1 2024 is also in the final spurt. Amid the all-time ranking battle, the direction of individual titles is also uncertain. The most eye-catching of them is the competition for the top scorer. The outline has yet to be drawn.
Foreign strikers Ilyuchenko of FC Seoul and Mugosa of Incheon United are leading the league with 14 goals. Ilyuchenko and Mugosa are challenging to become top scorers for the first time since joining the K-League. They are followed by Yago of Ulsan HD who has 12 goals, and Lee Sang-hun of Gangwon FC. Joo Min-kyu of Ulsan, who led the race for top scorers by ranking second twice and scoring twice over the past three years, managed to rank 10th with eight goals.
If the current trend continues, the lowest goal scorer in history will be born. After the introduction of the promotion system, Santos (then Suwon Samsung) was the top scorer in K League 1 in 2014. Santos became the top scorer with 14 goals, beating Lee Dong-gook (then Jeonbuk Hyundai) and Stevo (then Jeonnam Dragons). The number has been decreasing recently, with 17 goals for 2023 (Jo Min-gyu) and 2022 (Cho Kyu-sung), but the competition for the top scorer was decided around 20 goals. Junio (then Ulsan) in 2020 and Malkong (then Gyeongnam FC) in 2018 won the top scorer with 26 goals.
The situation is similar in the K League 2 (division 2). In the K League 2, Lewis (Kimpo FC), who was the top scorer last season, and Cheonan FC are fiercely competing for the top scorer. They are tied with 14 goals. Kim Jong-min (Jeonnam Dragons), Huiz (Seongnam FC), and Vassani (Bucheon FC) are ranking third with 11 goals. The record for the lowest number of goals scored in the history of the K League 2 is the same. Lee Keun-ho, who played for Sangju Sangmu at the time, became the top scorer with 15 goals in 2013, the first year of the K League 2.
This season’s K League 1 has only four more games to go before the end. Of course, goalkeepers tend to rush in once they explode. However, players who are competing to become top scorers are not in a good mood. Ilyuchenko has yet to display a scoring capacity in October, and Mugosa has remained silent for nearly two months since August 31. Besides the two players, strikers are also showing poor performance. 안전놀이터
What is interesting is that the average score per game this season is 1.33 goals, the highest in the past five years. Even if the scope is expanded after the promotion system, the number of goals itself is high enough to rank fourth overall. In 2014, when the lowest goal score ever was recorded, only 1.11 goals were the lowest since the introduction of the promotion system. In the end, it can be interpreted that there are no exceptional players who dominated the league as in the past. In fact, Ilyuchenko and Mugosa have been active as top outsiders for a long time, but are going downhill coldly. However, there are no new faces to surpass them.
Another reason is that the importance of second-line players is getting more prominent. In fact, five second-line players including Lee Dong-kyung (Kim Cheon Sang-mu) and Lee Seung-woo (Jeonbuk Hyundai) were listed in the top 10 scorers.