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| The Ulsan Hyundai team celebrates after winning the AFC Champions League at the Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar, Dec. 19. / Courtesy of K League |
By John Duerden
It goes without saying that it has been a tough year for everyone but, overall, it has been a relatively good one for South Korean soccer. OK, the national team has not played a competitive game in 2020 and qualification for the 2022 World Cup should be almost finished by now but we still have some distance before we reach the halfway point but there has been plenty of action elsewhere.One of the highlights was the start of the 2020 K-League season. Usually this takes place around the end of February and does not receive a great deal of international attention. But this time it started in early May, naturally due to the coronavirus outbreak, and there was a huge amount of interest.
This was because the country handled the global pandemic especially well meaning that the K-League was, at the time, by some distance the biggest soccer league in action. It meant that millions of fans around a football-starved world tuned in to watch the opening game between Jeonbuk Motors and Suwon Bluewings.
It was a dull affair enlivened by a late Lee Dong-guk goal. We didn't know it for sure then but the Lion King was starting his final season before retirement at the age of 41. By the end, he was celebrating another title as Jeonbuk took a fourth successive championship and a record eight in total.
Just like 2019, Ulsan Horangi should really have been Korean champion but let it slip right at the end. At least the Tigers lifted a trophy by winning the Asian Champions League in December, defeating Persepolis of Iran in the final. It is Ulsan's second continental crown and well-deserved and it was the last game in charge of the club for coach Kim Do-hoon.Jeonbuk, FC Seoul and Suwon were also in the Champions league with the former two not impressing and not getting past the group stage. Suwon, however, with a young team and no foreign players did well to get to the last eight. On the way the team defeated Japanese champion Yokohama F. Marinos and took big spending Vissel Kobe to a penalty shootout that was lost 7-6.
Suwon and Seoul however had a disappointing time at home, both finishing in the bottom half of a K-league that was shortened to 27 games due to the delayed start. Incheon United provided the drama however, managing somehow to avoid relegation to the second tier on the last day of the season after being at the bottom for the entire campaign.
In the end it was Busan IPark who slipped into last and therefore the K League 2 with Jeju United coming the other way.
While there was plenty of action at home, there was also Son Heung-min tearing it up in Europe. The Tottenham Hotspur attacker ended 2020 as one of the most feared players in the world. By the time Christmas arrived, Son had already scored 11 goals in the English Premier League as Spurs looked to mount a genuine title challenge.
With the transfer of Hwang Hee-chan to Leipzig, one of Germany's leading clubs, there was much to be excited about even in the strangest of years.
"exciting" - Google News
December 27, 2020 at 01:52PM
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Despite disruption, 2020 was exciting for Korean football - Korea Times
"exciting" - Google News
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