When the whistles blow for the 2 p.m. matches at Suwon’s two soccer stadiums, the bottom of the K League 1 (1st Division), who will be automatically relegated to the K League 2 (2nd Division) next season, will be decided. The true ‘endgame’ between Suwon Samsung, Suwon FC, and Gangwon FC is just around the corner.
The six teams in the K League 1 Final B (7th to 12th place) will play the final 38 rounds of the Hana OneQ K League 1 2023 at 2 p.m. on February 2.
Suwon Samsung won 1-0 away to FC Seoul in Round 37 at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Nov. 25. At the same time, Gangwon won 2-0 at Gangneung Sports Complex with goals from Lee Jung-hyeop and Kim Jin-ho, making Gangwon 10th (33 points), Suwon FC 11th (32 points) and Suwon Samsung 12th (last place – 32 points) as of Round 37. The final 38 rounds will determine which team is automatically relegated to the bottom.
The main focus of the last 37 rounds will be on Suwon, as a win for Suwon and a loss for Seoul in the Gangwon-Suwon FC match at the same time will effectively guarantee Suwon’s automatic relegation to the bottom of the table. The 10th-place finisher in K-League 1 will play the winner of the K-League 2 playoff, the 11th-place finisher in K-League 1 will play the second-place finisher in K-League 2 in a relegation playoff for the last chance to stay up, but the 12th-place finisher will be automatically relegated to K-League 2 next season.
If Gangwon wins and Suwon Samsung loses, Gangwon will finish 10th with 33 points, Suwon FC will finish 11th with 32 points, and Suwon Samsung will finish 12th with 29 points. Even if Suwon Samsung wins and Suwon FC loses in the final game to tie on points, Suwon Samsung’s path to the relegation playoffs is not easy due to the K League’s rule of next best goal difference. By round 36, Suwon FC had 43 points and Suwon Samsung had 34 points, a difference of 9 points, making it virtually impossible to overturn. 무지개토토
In other words, a win for Suwon and a Seoul win over Suwon would mean that Suwon would be guaranteed automatic relegation in 12th place. Coincidentally, Seoul, a longtime “supermatch rival” to Suwon, could have decided Suwon’s relegation. It didn’t help that Suwon had lost their previous three Supermatch matches against Seoul this season.