Gwangju FC, directed by Lee Jung-hyo, is conquering the top stage in Asia.
Gwangju, led by head coach Lee, won 1-0 in the fifth round of the 2024-2025 Asian Football Confederation Champions League Elite (ACLE) East Asian Group League Stage at Gwangju World Cup Stadium on the 27th.
Gwangju, which secured 12 points with four wins and one loss, ranked second in the East Asian group. It is one point behind Japan’s Vissel Kobe (13 points).
It is literally a whirlwind. Gwangju, which was ranked ninth in the K League 1 this season, is dominating the Asian stage. This is a high-flying trend considering the team that appeared for the first time in the Champions League, the composition of players and the size of the budget. Pohang Steelers (10th) and Ulsan HD (12th) in the same league are showing extremely poor performances, making it difficult to advance to the tournament round.
Gwangju has accumulated four wins at the league stage, and will receive a prize money of more than the K-League 1 championship. The team that wins the ACLE League stage receives 100,000 U.S. dollars per win. Gwangju has secured 400,000 dollars. It will exceed 500 million won that the K-League 1 winners receive as prize money. If the participation fee of 800,000 dollars is included, a total of 1.2 million dollars will be received. With three matches left in the league stage, and chances are high that Gwangju will continue to hunt for prize money, as it will advance to the tournament round.
Gwangju’s sudden gust is no coincidence. Lee proved his leadership by winning and promoting the K-League 2 in 2022 and ranking third in the K-League 1 last year, but struggled this year. Gwangju’s tactics and patterns have been analyzed to some extent. K-League head coaches are excellent in killing opponents’ strengths. Lee said, “I tried to find a breakthrough in my own way, but it was not easy.
If the stage is a club competition, the situation is different. This is due to poor understanding and analysis of the opponent. While it is possible to grasp roughly what kind of tactics a player uses, it is not easy to analyze all of a player’s characteristics or detailed pattern plays. Gwangju is not “K-League-like” and the team that appeared for the first time in the Champions League, so the opposing teams face difficulties one by one. Only Kobe, the only team that lost, took away points from Gwangju, and the rest of the team fell like a fallow. 메이저놀이터
This is where Lee’s value comes from. Lee is the leader who plays the most obvious and distinctive soccer in the K-League. He is one of the few coaches who has his own style. Unlike some coaches who are bent on blocking others, Lee stubbornly chanted “my way,” creating a unique style for Gwangju. He is still researching to upgrade his team.
When Lee promoted Gwangju in the first year of his inauguration, some pessimistically predicted that his performance in the first division would not work. As he ranked third last year, he cast doubt on his performance, saying that his performance in the third year could be difficult. However, he let Gwangju stay in the first division with ease, and is taking a leap forward by “chewing” the Asian stage. How can he be devalued now.