Five games without a win and 10th place, needing to rebound…away to Seoul on Dec. 12
‘Summer transfer market’ signings, including three foreign players, are expected to play well

After two years of stable finishes and no relegation worries following their promotion to the K League 1, Suwon FC is desperate for a rebound in the 2023 season.

After finishing fifth in 2021, the club’s first season in the K League 1, and earning its first-ever top-six finish, Suwon FC finished a respectable seventh in the final standings last year, despite narrowly missing out on retaining its Final A spot. This year, however, in their third year of promotion, they have twice as many defeats as wins with five wins, five draws and 11 losses in 21 games.

While they have a small gap between them and the automatic relegation spot of 12th-placed Suwon Samsung (11 points), they are uneasy in 10th place, where they will have to play a relegation playoff against the top teams in K League 2. Furthermore, the team is winless in its last five games (two draws and three losses) and needs a rebound to avoid the relegation zone, let alone the top split.

With just 12 games remaining before the split round, they are only four points behind ninth-place Incheon (24), but a considerable gap of nine points separates them from sixth- through eighth-place Daejeon, Jeju and Gwangju (over 29 points – goal difference), who are all battling for the sixth spot in the top split. They can’t afford to look back.

In response, Suwon FC bolstered its roster in the summer transfer window by signing three foreign players – forwards Ricardo Lopez and Bautersson Silva and central defender Hugo Gomes – as well as high school rookie forward Kim Jae-hyun, and midfielder Lee Young-jae returned from the military.

Although the team had to settle for a 2-2 draw at home against Incheon in the 21st round on August 8, thanks to an own goal by the newcomer, Gomes, the attack has become sharper and the overall performance was not bad. The defense is still shaky, but with the addition of Gomes and the return of Lee Kwang-hyuk from injury, there are high hopes for improvement.카지노

In desperate need of a fifth straight win to escape the relegation zone, Suwon FC travels to Seoul to face third-place FC Seoul (33 points) at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 12. While Seoul is in the top half of the table, they are in a slump with just one win (3 draws) and two losses in their last six games, so it’s a calculated risk for Suwon FC.

However, Suwon FC will be eager to take on Seoul, having lost 0-2 in the last match of the 2022 season in the split round and 0-3 in the first match of the season on April 29. Expectations are high for Suwon FC’s new signings to break the ‘winless chain’ against Seoul and signal an escape from the relegation zone.