'Winner Prize of 14.5 Billion'..."I want to build a new club house". I'm rooting for Lee Jung Hyo's dream
'Winner Prize of 14.5 Billion'..."I want to build a new club house". I'm rooting for Lee Jung Hyo's dream
Blog Article
These days, Korean soccer is experiencing a frustrating time both inside and outside. Korean national soccer team is showing a weaker-than-expected performance. There are no new superstars in professional soccer as well. Big clubs that are leading popularity are also faltering. Reliability is declining due to turf issues and refereeing issues. Foreign players such as Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), and Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) also show little performance. The soccer community is in a state of complete chaos due to sharp criticism against the soccer community.
While the number of spectators exploded in professional baseball, the popularity of professional soccer has stagnated or decreased somewhat. There are many reasons for the decline in the popularity of soccer. It's not just anyone's responsibility, and it's not a problem that can be solved by anyone's own strength. To put it bluntly, there seems to be no sharp trick to overcome the decline right now.
If the only hopeful element of Korean football is now, not a few fans will probably think of Gwangju FC.
Gwangju is one of the lowest-paid clubs in the first division of the K-League. As a city and provincial team, it is undeniable that it is a small club in terms of club size, infrastructure, and number of spectators. Gwangju's influence is gradually growing. Gwangju ranks second after Daejeon Hana Citizen in this season's K-League 1. What's more surprising is that he is the only K League 1 team that advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Champions League (ACL). With Ulsan HD and Pohang Steelers, the "traditional masters" of the K League, dropping out, only Gwangju survived.
Gwangju will play a single round match against Asian powerhouse Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia at 1:30 a.m. on the 26th in Korean time. According to the analysis of German 'Transfermarkt', a media outlet specializing in the transfer market, the market price of Al Hilal's club is 180 million euros. Gwangju, which costs 8.6 million euros, is only one-tenth of the price. In terms of the total salary, Gwangju falls further to about one-thirtieth.
Al-Hilal is ranked second in Saudi professional football this season. He broke up with Brazilian superstar Neymar in February, but he is still full of world-class stars. Players from the five major European leagues, including João Cancelo, a Portugal player who played in the heyday of Manchester City (England), Hoobeng Neves (Portugal), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Serbia) and Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal), will play.
It is difficult to say that Gwangju is likely to win due to objective power inferiority and the burden of away games. Global soccer media view chances of winning Al Hilal as 75 percent, 15 percent for a draw, and 10 percent for Gwangju. Betting companies also set dividend rates of 1.3 times for Al Hilal win, 5 times for a draw, and 10 times for Gwangju win. A high dividend rate means that it is unlikely to be realized.
Soccer does not win just because it has a high salary and many stars. If the underdog does not give up and harasses the opponent strongly and persistently, the game is worth a try. The "miracle" that Korea showed at the Korea-Japan World Cup, which advanced to the semifinals by beating Portugal, Spain and Italy in 2002, was thus produced.
Gwangju is the first city and provincial team that advanced to the quarterfinals of the ACL. ACL is literally a "money feast." If Gwangju advances to the semifinals, it will receive 600,000 U.S. dollars in prize money. The prize money will jump as soon as it reaches the final stage. The runner-up team will receive 4 million dollars. The prize money of the winning team will be 10 million dollars. "I want to build a new club house and change weight training facilities with 10 million dollars in prize money," Gwangju coach Lee Jung-hyo said before leaving the country. Most of the prize money is from Middle Eastern countries to AFC. 스포츠토토
Due to insufficient budget and poor stadium conditions, Gwangju was courageous not only in the K-League but also in the Asian stage and was relentless. The team's presence alone is not sufficient enough to earn applause. However, many K-League fans expect Gwangju to make a few more wins on the ACL stage. Expectations are high that this will be a rebounding force that instills great hope, courage and confidence in Korean soccer, which has been stagnant.