Do you know the words Daedaeganggwang or Daedaegwanggang? If you are familiar with this phrase, you must have watched the K-League for quite some time. It was a term used to refer to a club that was considered the underdog of the K-League before the promotion and relegation system took place. Based on the time of joining the K-League, Daejeon Citizen (1997), Daegu FC (2002), Gwangju Sangmu (2003), and Gangwon FC (2008) were the starting points. Of course, since 2011, Gwangju has been converted into a citizen team rather than a business team, so ‘big, big, strong, light’ would be a more accurate expression now.
At one time, it was an expression referring to a weak and moneyless citizen club, and a modifier was also added as a team that was considered a priority for relegation. Even in 2012, when Gwangju became the first team to be relegated excluding military teams, that concern became a reality. In 2013, even the remaining 3 teams all headed to the 2nd division, and in the 2014 season, Daedaeganggwang took part in the 2nd division side by side and participated in the challenge stage. Since then, the 4 teams that have each been promoted and relegated, eventually all 4 teams met in the same place this season after 10 years. That’s with Daejeon winning the final promotion playoff and confirming promotion. The 2023 season when the 4 teams met again, what about the grades at the beginning of the league? In Daegu MBC Sports+, we will summarize the early season of those who literally show extremely different performances.
[BEST] Daejeon Hana Citizen 3rd place 4 wins 2 draws 1 loss
Daejeon Hana Citizen, the promoted team at the beginning of the league, has a huge blast. Although he joined the 2023 K-League 1 stage at the latest after going through the promotion playoffs, he shows strong power on the K-League 1 stage and keeps the top rank. In the last 7 rounds, Ulsan Hyundai, who continued their undefeated march, suffered their first loss of the season, ending their 7-game winning streak.
Daejeon World Cup Stadium, which has emerged as the hottest stadium in the K-League with well over 10,000 spectators gathering for each game. Since the opening, close to 60,000 fans have visited the 4 home matches, so it is evaluated as a success in terms of popularity and performance. Would you like to do it?
The leadership of Lee Jin-hyun and Lee Min-seong, who are recording the league’s top assists, made the team that was in the second division last season a charming team on the K-League 1 stage. Of course, Daejeon’s solid support, which was made possible by organizing the era of citizen clubs at the end of the 2019 season and changing to a corporate club, will play a big role in Daejeon’s run. Starting from the 2020 season, Daejeon Hana Citizen, who has been with Hana Financial Holdings, is looking forward to more than just a blast as a promoted team this season.
Gwangju FC 5th place 4 wins 3 losses
Gwangju FC is a team with frequent up-downs. Even after the first relegation, there is an experience of relegation to the bottom in 2017, promotion to the K-League 2 championship in 2019, relegation to the bottom again in 2021, and promotion to the championship in 2022. Although they often went back and forth between the first and second divisions and collected a lot of trophies, Gwangju, which also had a lot of bottom places, is showing a stronger appearance this season than in other years at the beginning of the season.
In the league, Gwangju, which is the only one without a draw with Ulsan, had many hot results even when it won or lost. And at the center is coach Lee Jeong-hyo, who brought a fresh breeze to the K-League. Coach Lee Jung-hyo, who first made a relationship with Gwangju as Nam Ki-il’s division, decorated his career as a coach who first started in Gwangju after 5 years with a K-League 2 championship.
Having signed a two-year contract renewal with the team’s promotion, manager Lee is attracting attention for his straightforward, unique narration and eye-catching guidance style as well as his early league performance. The fact that Asani, who leads the team’s offensive football as the second-ranked scorer, emphasizes the principle and spares no bitterness is the part where you know that there is coach Lee Jeong-hyo based on the blast in Gwangju.
Daegu FC 10th place 1 win 3 draw 3 loss
Since returning to the K-League 1 stage in 2017, Daegu FC, a team that has been on the rise and has never been relegated again, has gone through a crisis of going to the threshold of relegation in 2022. Of course, the final result finished in 8th place, but the manager left the team in the middle of the league and the team that went down to the relegation zone, 10th, clearly showed a weakened power. Of course, at the center of it all was Sejingya, whose burden of age had grown. And we are also concerned about the need for an alternative to it.
Looking at the process of preparing for the opening of the league in a difficult team situation, there was a lot of concern from the part that the weakened team did not have any special reinforcements. And that part is raising a sense of crisis with the opening of the league. Although the team was saved from the relegation crisis in 2022, coach Choi Won-kwon, a novice command tower, is burdened with a squad with a greater breakaway than reinforcement. New foreign players, who should be seen as reinforcements, are also more concerned than expected. At this point, they won their first victory over Jeonbuk, but after that, they showed sluggishness with 1 draw and 2 losses in 3 games, and it is difficult to see a breakthrough in a situation where they fell to 10th place.
Sejingya, who struggled in the early stages of the league due to injury, has returned, and Kim Kangsan, who will replace Jung Taewook, is quickly melting into the team. It seems that the part that insists on the same pattern called “I need improvement.” It looks like it could be a tough season until the end of the league if there isn’t a reinforcement for what’s lacking in the summer transfer market.
Gangwon FC 11th place 3 draws 4 losses
The two teams without victory in the league are Suwon Samsung and Gangwon FC. If it wasn’t for the sluggishness of Suwon Samsung, the bottom of the league might have been Gangwon’s seat. The reality of Gangwon, which is bigger and more painful than the 11th place ranking and the point of no victory, may be the part that scored the fewest 3 points in the league during 7 games. 토토사이트
There was a crisis going up to the promotion playoffs in 2021-At the time, the promotion PO held a match and decided to remain-As in Gangwon and Daegu, which returned to the first division from the 2017 season and kept the K-League 1 stage without relegation, one relegation It is a team that has kept the first division stage without major changes with one promotion, but this season is not easy.
The team that had a better season than Daegu in 2022 was Gangwon. There was some hope as there was no major power loss this season after advancing to Final A, but there was a change of CEO in the offseason, and the team’s early league looks very chaotic in the aftermath. Will Gangwon’s rebound be possible?
※2023 Hana 1Q K League 1 Round 8
4/22 (Sat) 4:30pm Daegu FC: Daejeon Hana Citizen DGB Daegu Bank Park
4/23 (Sun) 2pm Gwangju FC: Gangwon FC Gwangju Stadium
Coincidentally, this weekend, these 4 teams. Daegu and Daejeon, Gwangju and Gangwon will all face off. Daejeon and Gwangju, located at the top, meet Daegu and Gangwon, which are located at the bottom. This matchup is also a showdown between the promoted team and the remaining team. It is also similar in that it is a team in recent crisis and a matchup of a winning team. Will the flow continue? Or do you want to add more fun to the league with a thrilling twist? The names of the teams that symbolized the weakness of the league, ‘Daedae Ganggwang’, are now attracting the attention of K-League fans in many ways.