Gangwon FC
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| Full name | Gangwon Football Club 강원도민프로축구단 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 | ||
| Ground | Chuncheon Songam Sports Town Gangneung Stadium | ||
| Owner | Gangwon Province Government | ||
| Chairman | Kim Jin-tae (Governor of Gangwon) | ||
| Manager | Chung Kyung-ho | ||
| League | K League 1 | ||
| 2025 | K League 1, 5th of 12 | ||
| Website | gangwon-fc | ||
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Gangwon FC (Korean: 강원 FC) is a South Korean football club based in Gangwon Province. They joined the K League as its 15th club for the 2009 season. The club is sponsored by High1 Resort.
History
[edit | edit source]Gangwon Province's governor Kim Jin-sun announced a schedule for the foundation of the 15th professional football club to participate in the K League on 28 April 2008.[1] A committee, the "Foundation of Football Club in Gangwon Preparation Committee", was organized on 18 June 2008 to facilitate the foundation.[2] Preparations had advanced sufficiently that by 17 November 2008, 14 players had joined Gangwon FC in a first nomination. On 20 November 2008, Gangwon FC organized its first full squad, a total of 23 players, including nine players from the 2009 K League draft.[3] Gangwon FC was formally founded on 18 December 2008 in time to enter the 2009 edition of the K League.
Gangwon FC played its first ever K League match against Jeju United on 8 March 2009, at Gangneung Stadium, winning 1–0 with a decisive goal from Yoon Jun-ha. The team continued their winning start with a further four victories on the trot and causing a sensation in the first half of the 2009 K League season.[4] Gangwon was unable to maintain their initial success, and by round 19 had fallen into the lower half of the league table. By the conclusion of their first season in the K League, they placed 13th among 15 clubs.
In the 2009 Korean FA Cup, Gangwon entered the competition in the round of 32 and defeated their first opponent Incheon Korail FC in a penalty shoot-out after a 2–2 draw. They then faced the Chunnam Dragons, losing 1–0. In the 2009 Korean League Cup, Gangwon finished bottom of their group with only a single win (against Daejeon Citizen).
Gangwon FC had a difficult season in 2010, even though first striker Kim Young-hoo scored 13 goals in the league. The club finished 12th out of 15 clubs. The 2011 season was the worst season since its establishment. Gangwon finished last in the league and the entire team only scored 14 goals in thirty matches.
In the 2012 season, K League imposed a new promotion-relegation structure: bottom two teams in the top-tier league were to be relegated to second division. In the 43rd round, Gangwon managed to remain in the top-tier with Baek Jong-hwan's decisive goal that won the away game against Seongnam Ilhwa, avoiding relegation by one point.[5]
In the 2013 season of K League Classic, the first season in which K League implemented automatic relegation of the bottom two teams and the third from the bottom team having to play in the promotion-relegation playoffs against the champion of the K League Challenge, Gangwon finished the season third from last and subsequently relegated to the K League Challenge after losing to Sangju Sangmu Phoenix over two legs in the playoffs.[6]
Halfway through the 2018 season, on 12 August 2018, Kim Byung-soo was appointed as new head coach, leading the club to eighth place in the K League 1.[7]
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The following season, Kim Ji-hyeon was awarded K League Young Player of the Year, as Gangwon finished sixth in the league table. In his first full campaign in 2019, manager Kim Byung-soo earned praise for pushing an entertaining brand of football dubbed "Byung-soo ball." That year, Gangwon led the K League in ball possession, pass attempts, pass completion percentage and forward pass completion percentage, while finishing third in goals.[8]
Focusing on defensive reinforcements prior to the 2020 season, which was the team's main weaknesses the previous season, Kim Byung-soo recruited Lim Chai-min, Shin Se-gye and Kim Young-bin, among others. With a 2–1 victory at home against Seongnam on 4 October 2020, Gangwon secured the top spot in the Final B and secured survival in the K League 1.[9]
In the lead-up to the 2021 season, players such as Masatoshi Ishida, who had been a mainstay of Suwon the season before, Sin Chang-moo, who was at the heart of Daegu's attack, and national team players Yun Suk-young, Rim Chang-woo and Uzbekistani player Rustam Ashurmatov were recruited.[10] On 21 March 2021, they won their home game against Incheon United with a 2–0 victory to make it their first win in the first six games of the season. On 3 November 2021, in serious danger of suffering relegation to the K League 2 after a humiliating 4–0 loss against Pohang Steelers, Kim Byung-soo was removed from his position.[8] Under his successor, Choi Yong-soo, Gangwon managed to stay up in the top division after beating Daejeon Hana Citizen over two legs in the relegation play-offs.[11]
In the 2024 K League 1 season, the club achieved a record-high ranking after finishing as league runners-up behind champions Ulsan HD and qualified for the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite. The impressive performance of Gangwon was in part thanks to K League Young Player of the Year Award winner Yang Min-hyeok, who was signed by Tottenham Hotspur after the season.[12]
Stadiums and facilities
[edit | edit source]
Gangwon has two home stadiums: Gangneung Stadium (known as the Gangneung High1 Arena for sponsorship reasons) in the coastal city of Gangneung, and Chuncheon Songam Stadium in Chuncheon, the capital of Gangwon Province.[13]
The club's training ground, called the Orange House, is in Gangneung.[14]
Players
[edit | edit source]Current squad
[edit | edit source]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Out on loan
[edit | edit source]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Captains
[edit | edit source]| Season | Captain |
|---|---|
| 2009 | South Korea Lee Eul-yong |
| 2010–11 | South Korea Chung Kyung-ho |
| 2011 | South Korea Seo Dong-hyeon |
| 2011 | South Korea Lee Eul-yong |
| 2012 | South Korea Kim Eun-jung |
| 2013 | South Korea Chun Jae-ho |
| 2014 | South Korea Kim Oh-gyu |
| 2015 | South Korea Hwang Kyo-chung South Korea Baek Jong-hwan |
| 2016–17 | South Korea Baek Jong-hwan |
| 2018 | South Korea Jung Jo-gook |
| 2019–20 | South Korea Oh Beom-seok |
| 2020–21 | South Korea Lim Chai-min |
| 2022 | South Korea Kim Dong-hyun |
| 2023 | South Korea Rim Chang-woo |
| 2024 | South Korea Han Kook-young South Korea Yun Suk-young |
| 2025 | South Korea Kim Dong-hyun South Korea Lee You-hyeon |
Youth team
[edit | edit source]On 13 September 2010, Gangwon FC U-12 team was established in Gangneung. On 2 November 2011, Gangwon FC made an agreement with Gangneung Jeil High School (under-18 team) and Jumunjin Middle School (under-15 team).
On 1 February 2021, it was officially announced that Gangwon would be the first fully professional team to found a reserve team set to play in the semi-professional K4 League, in order to give their youth players and/or other registered members of the senior team more playing time. The main condition for them would be to have at least seven out of eleven players in the starting formation aged 23 or younger.[17] Lee Seul-gi, who had previously served as first-team coach for Gangwon, was appointed as the manager of the newly established U23 squad.
Coaching staff and executive office
[edit | edit source]- Manager: South Korea Chung Kyung-ho
- Assistant manager: South Korea Park Yong-ho
- First-team coach: South Korea Choi Hyo-jin, South Korea Song Chang-ho
- Goalkeeping coach: South Korea Jeon Sang-wook
- Reserve team coach: South Korea Oh Beom-seok
- Reserve team goalkeeping coach: South Korea Kim Min-sik
- Physical coach: South Korea Jang Seok-min, South Korea Byun Ju-won
- Tactical coach: South Korea Jang Young-hoon
- Data/video analyst: South Korea Kim Ju-young
Executive office
- Chairman: Gangwon Province governor
- President
- South Korea Kim Won-dong (11 November 2008 – 22 July 2011)[20][21]
- South Korea Nam Jong-hyun (22 August 2011 – 19 September 2012)[22]
- South Korea Kim Deok-rae (caretaker) (14 December 2012 – 28 May 2013)[23]
- South Korea Im Eun-ju (29 May 2013 – 31 December 2015)[24][25]
- South Korea Jo Tae-ryong (4 March 2016 – 30 October 2018)[26][27]
- South Korea Han Won-seok (caretaker) (31 October 2018 – 31 December 2018)[28]
- South Korea Park Jong-wan (1 January 2019 – 31 December 2020)[29]
- South Korea Lee Young-pyo (1 January 2021 – 31 December 2022)[30]
- South Korea Kim Byung-ji (1 January 2023 – present)[31][32]
Managers
[edit | edit source]| No. | Name | From | To | Season(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1
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South Korea Choi Soon-ho | 2008/11/16 | 2011/04/06 | 2009–2011 |
2
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South Korea Kim Sang-ho | 2011/04/07 | 2012/07/01 | 2011–2012 |
3
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South Korea Kim Hak-bum | 2012/07/09 | 2013/08/11 | 2012–2013 |
4
|
South Korea Kim Yong-kab | 2013/08/14 | 2013/12/10 | 2013 |
5
|
Brazil Arthur Bernardes | 2013/12/23 | 2014/09/18 | 2014 |
| South Korea Park Hyo-jin | 2014/09/18 | 2014/12/24 | 2014 | |
6
|
South Korea Choi Yun-kyum | 2015/01/05 | 2017/08/14 | 2015–2017 |
| South Korea Park Hyo-jin | 2017/08/14 | 2017/11/04 | 2017 | |
7
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South Korea Song Kyung-sub | 2017/11/02 | 2018/08/11 | 2017–2018 |
8
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South Korea Kim Byung-soo | 2018/08/12 | 2021/11/04 | 2018–2021 |
9
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South Korea Choi Yong-soo | 2021/11/16 | 2023/06/14 | 2021–2023 |
10
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South Korea Yoon Jong-hwan | 2023/06/19 | 2024/12/06 | 2023–2024 |
11
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South Korea Chung Kyung-ho | 2024/12/06 | present | 2025– |
Honours
[edit | edit source]League
- K League 1
- Runners-up (1): 2024
Season-by-season records
[edit | edit source]Domestic record
[edit | edit source]| Season | League | Cup | Other | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Pos. | |||
| 2009 | 1 | 28 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 42 | 57 | –15 | 28 | 13 | R16 | League Cup: GS |
| 2010 | 28 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 36 | 50 | –14 | 30 | 12 | R32 | League Cup: GS | |
| 2011 | 30 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 14 | 45 | –31 | 15 | 16 | QF | League Cup: GS | |
| 2012 | 44 | 14 | 7 | 23 | 57 | 68 | –11 | 49 | 14 | R16 | ||
| 2013 | 38 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 37 | 64 | –27 | 36 | 12↓ | R16 | ||
| 2014 | 2 | 36 | 16 | 6 | 14 | 48 | 50 | –2 | 54 | 3 | QF | |
| 2015 | 40 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 64 | 56 | +8 | 51 | 7 | R16 | ||
| 2016 | 40 | 19 | 9 | 12 | 50 | 33 | +17 | 66 | 4↑ | R32 | ||
| 2017 | 1 | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 59 | 65 | –6 | 49 | 6 | R16 | |
| 2018 | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 56 | 60 | –4 | 46 | 8 | R32 | ||
| 2019 | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 56 | 58 | –2 | 50 | 6 | QF | ||
| 2020 | 27 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 36 | 41 | –5 | 34 | 7 | QF | ||
| 2021 | 38 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 40 | 51 | –11 | 43 | 11 | SF | ||
| 2022 | 38 | 14 | 7 | 17 | 50 | 52 | –2 | 49 | 6 | R16 | ||
| 2023 | 38 | 6 | 16 | 16 | 30 | 41 | –11 | 34 | 10 | QF | ||
| 2024 | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 62 | 56 | +6 | 64 | 2 | R16 | ||
| 2025 | 38 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 37 | 41 | –4 | 52 | 5 | SF | ||
- Key
- SF = Semi-final
- QF = Quarter-final
- R16 = Round of 16
- R32 = Round of 32
- GS = Group stage
Continental record
[edit | edit source]All results list Gangwon's goal tally first.
AFC Champions League Elite
[edit | edit source]| Season | Round | Opposition | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | League stage | China Shanghai Shenhua | 2–1 | — | |
| China Chengdu Rongcheng | — | 0–1 | |||
| Japan Vissel Kobe | 4–3 | — | |||
| Japan Sanfrecce Hiroshima | — | 0–1 | |||
| Japan Machida Zelvia | 1–3 | — | |||
| Thailand Buriram United | — | 2–2 | |||
| China Shanghai Port | — | ||||
| Australia Melbourne City | — |
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References
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External links
[edit | edit source]
- Official website (in Korean)