On Saturday the 2023 K-League season starts, 50 years after the very first campaign kicked off. It sees champion Ulsan Hyundai take on its biggest rival Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. The question in the short term is which team will start with a win. Over the longer period, the question is whether any of the other ten teams can challenge these two, who have been dominant over the last four years.
Last season the gap between Jeonbuk in second and Pohang in third was 13 points. The season before, Daegu finished 19 points behind. In 2020, Pohang finished ‘only’ seven points off Ulsan, a lot less than the 23-point gap a year earlier.
While Ulsan and Jeonbuk have at least provided some thrilling title race climaxes in recent seasons, this time around the league really needs another team to do something and at least enter the title race and add a little uncertainty to the mix.
The Pohang Steelers, one of the original five K-League teams, finished in third but unless there is a dip in the performance levels of the top two then it is hard to see the Steelers winning the title. Pohang is a familiar face in the upper half of the K-League but that is not the case with Incheon United and many think that the port city team may have one of their best ever seasons.
United has been perennial battlers at the bottom of the table for years but surprised plenty by finishing fourth last time around and there is now a deeper roster at the club. Finishing above either Ulsan or Jeonbuk looks to be a task too far but simply replicating last season’s finish will be fine.
Expectations are usually higher at FC Seoul, champion as recently as 2016 but a team that has finished in the bottom half of the standings in four out of the last five years. This is not a club that should be fighting against relegation. Back in 2013, it was in the final of the Asian Champions League and narrowly beaten by Chinese powerhouse Guangzhou Evergrande over two games that were watched by over 100,000 fans.
There have been a number of new arrivals with the biggest signing being that of Hwang Ui-jo, the South Korean international striker who returns from a spell in Europe where he impressed over three seasons for Bordeaux. A move to Greece’s Olympiacos, 한국을 via Nottingham Forest of England, last summer did not work out. If he can recover his fitness and form then he should be able to make Seoul much more dangerous going forward. As well as a new challenger at the top, the K-League needs a strong Seoul team this season.
The same can be said of Suwon Samsung Bluewings, one of the biggest clubs in Asia for such a long time and known for playing in front of big and passionate crowds, but now a shadow of its former self. The last time it challenged at the top tier was back in 2015 and last season, the club came so close to relegation. Losing star striker Oh Hyeon-gyu to Celtic of Scotland is a blow. Just finishing in the top six will be seen as a success.
For the K-League in general, success will be a team other than Ulsan or Jeonbuk hitting the top.