I'm stuck with the difference of 20x ransom, but..."Lee Jung Hyo Soccer", who fought bravely
I'm stuck with the difference of 20x ransom, but..."Lee Jung Hyo Soccer", who fought bravely
Blog Article
The 20-fold gap was much higher than expected. However, Lee Jung-hyo made a brave fight against Gwangju.
Gwangju FC, led by head coach Lee Jung-hyo, was eliminated by a 0-7 defeat in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite (ACLE) in the 2024-2025 season against Al Hilal (Saudi) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 26th (Korea time).
He sought a miracle in the Middle East, but the weight class gap with Al-Hilal, an ultra-luxury army, was too large.
Unfortunately, Gwangju's bid for the top spot in Asia is over, but coach Lee Jung-hyo and Gwangju deserve applause.
Gwangju, which ranked third in the K League 1 in 2023 and qualified for ACLE, passed the ACLE League Stage with four wins, two draws and one loss, becoming the only K League 1 club to advance to the quarterfinals tournament.
Gwangju saved its K-League pride at a time when Ulsan HD (1 win 6 losses) and Pohang Steelers (2 wins 5 losses), who played together, were eliminated.
It was also a valuable result in the worst conditions for not being able to recruit players in the summer transfer market in violation of the Korean Professional Football Federation's fiscal consolidation regulations.
The highlight of Gwangju's ACLE tournament was the round of 16 against Vissel Kobe, the winner of last season's J1 League.
Gwangju, which was completely defeated by Kobe 0-2 in the first round of the round of 16, led the second half 2-0 in the second round of the home game and balanced the game 2-2, and turned the game around with Asani's come-from-behind goal in overtime.
Gwangju is the first city and provincial team to reach the quarterfinals in the ACL stage.
Gwangju also won a large amount of prize money due to its good performance at ACLE.
In this year's event, all participating teams receive 800,000 dollars. Those who advance to the round of 16 will receive 200,000 dollars additionally, while those who advance to the quarterfinals and semifinals will receive 400,000 dollars and 600,000 dollars, respectively.
Gwangju won a total of 1.8 million dollars (about 2.6 billion won) in prize money by advancing to the quarterfinals, including the league stage victory allowance.
In other words, he earned a third of the total annual salary of 7 billion won this season.
However, he failed to overcome Al-Hilal, an ultra-luxury squad with players who played in major European leagues.
According to Transfermarkt, a website specializing in the soccer transfer market, the value of the Al Hilal team is 180 million euros (about 295.1 billion won), more than 20 times that of Gwangju (14 billion won).
The soccer ball is said to be round, but Al Hilal's wall, which actually fought with a home advantage, was too high.
In fact, Al Hilal showed an advantage in various game indicators, including 62% to 32% of possession against Gwangju, 20 to 4 shooting, and 11 to 2 effective shooting.
Coach Lee Jung-hyo, who had been shouting and encouraging the team throughout the game, was forced to shake his head when Al Hilal's sixth and seventh scores came out at the end of the second half. 메이저놀이터
Nevertheless, Gwangju never backed down against Al Hilal.
He fought bravely with aggressive Lee Jung-hyo soccer and played a game without regret.