Korean Football Round-up 10th Nov.

 Jeonbuk secure a first-ever K League and FA Cup double, the Korean National Team depart for Austria, and it's a productive weekend for Ji So-yun and Cho So-hyun in the Women's Super League. All that and more in Paul Neat's Korean Football Round-up.

Jeonbuk do the Double

After securing the K League title last weekend, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on Sunday lifted the FA Cup after beating Ulsan Hyundai 2-1 in the second leg of the FA Cup Final at Jeonju World Cup Stadium. Ulsan drew first blood with Júnior Negrão giving the Horangi a third-minute lead. But, a brace from Green Warriors midfielder Lee Seung-gi turned the game on its head to secure a first-ever K League and FA Cup double for Jeonbuk.

[READ: K League 1 2020 Season Wrap-up]

The game proved to be rather eventful with Choi Chul-soon and Dave Bulthuis both being sent off in second half stoppage time. It was also the last domestic match for Lee Dong-gook who made a late cameo appearance off the bench to pick up a first FA Cup winners medal. Both sides suffered injuries too, Hong Chul for Ulsan, who has been forced to withdraw from the Koren National Team squad, and Takahiro Kunimoto for Jeonbuk. Not ideal with the Champions League set to get underway in less than two weeks and with Lee Yong, Modou Barrow and Han Kyo-won all injured.

#KLUPod: The Weekend Preview 14th Nov.

Departure from the norm 

The Korean National Team on Sunday departed for Austria to take on Mexico and Qatar. Paulo Bento's men will take to the field in a full international for the first time in nearly a year. The most recent competitive matches were in the EAFF E-1 Football Championship in Busan last December. The Taegeuk Warriors capped off 2019 with a 1-0 win over Japan to earn a record fifth title.

Chinese Democracy

However, the CSL-based contingent of Park Ji-soo and Kim Min-jae will not be joining up with the rest of the squad. Guangzhou Evergrande and Beijing Guoan have refused to let the pair leave for international duty, even though they are not required to return to China afterwards since both clubs are due to play in the AFC Champions League in a Qatar bubble later in November.

Both clubs, however, will want the players available for the upcoming playoff matches. Beijing play the second leg of their third place playoff against Shanghai SIPG on Wednesday 11th November, and Guangzhou will take on Jiangsu Suning in the second leg of the championship final on Thursday 12th. 

Kim Jin-su COVID-19 positive

Former Jeonbuk defender Kim Jin-su has tested positive for COVID-19. The Korean international departed Jeonju for the Middle East, signing for Al-Nassr FC in the summer. An outbreak amongst the Al-Nassr squad has so far affected 14 players and staff including Kim Jin-su. Much like Hong Chul, Kim has also been forced to withdraw. Jeonbuk's Lee Ju-yong has been called up in his place.

Chosen Kwon

Kwon Kyung-won (second left) named in K League 1 Best XI

While Son Jun-ho being named as 2020 K League 1 MVP will have grabbed the headlines from last week's award ceremony, Sangju Sangmu were celebrating having a player named in the Best XI for the first time. Defender Kwon Kyung-won became the first player to represent the army side and be chosen for the Best XI. Kwon, on loan from Jeonbuk, featured 23 times, scored once and was involved in 11 games where Sangju kept clean sheets. 

Happy Hammers

West Ham Women picked up their first win of the season, edging past Birmingham City in a 2-1 victory. Cho So-hyun started and played the full 90 minutes in the centre of a midfield three. The Irons sit in ninth place, four points above Bristol City and Jeon Ga-eul at the foot of the table.

Elsewhere, Ji So-yun was on the scoresheet in Chelsea's resounding 4-0 win over Everton - getting her side up and running in the 17th minute. Chelsea now sit in third, three points behind Manchester United having played a game less.

[LISTEN: KLU Pod | Cho So-hyun Interview]

Tangerine dream

Jeju United ended the 2020 season with a win, extending their unbeaten run to 16. Barring any freak results in the rescheduled Round 26 and 27 matches involving the playoff-chasing pack, Jeju end the season as second-top scorers in K League 2 and with the best defence. Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the table, Chungnam Asan have finished bottom of the table. 

[READ: Jeju United win K League 2]

Lee Kang-indispensable 

South Korean starlet Lee Kang-in played 81 minutes in Valencia's 4-1 La Liga win over Champions Real Madrid. The 19-year-old has now featured eight times for Valencia including in all three of Los murciélagos' wins this season.

Football TV 

There are television channels dedicated to golf, there are even channels that specialise in billiards but why isn't there a channel that is solely for football? A question asked by Lee Min-geol, the owner of K4 team Seoul Jungnang Chorus Mustang. Well, from February next year that is about to change. 

"Even though there are a lot of football fans out there, there is no football specific TV channel and that's a real shame. I think there are at least 20 million people in Korea who like football. 

"If you are a football player, I want to let you go on the air someday. And the purpose of the broadcast is to make football fans enjoy watching football-related programming. Football TV will be mainly consist of football-related education, talks and broadcasting."

More here

WK League 

Gyeongju KHNP on Monday night booked their place in the WK League final thanks to a narrow win over Suwon UDC. A Seo Ji-yeon strike in the 66th minute sets up a two-leg final against Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels. Incheon finished top of the league, buying themselves a place in the final. Meanwhile, Gyeongju in second and Suwon in third had to battle it out in the semi finals. The final's first leg is to take place on Thursday 12th November, the second leg on Monday 16th.

K League 1 departures

Sulejman Krpić has left Suwon Bluewings, even with the AFC Champions League group stages due to kick off in less than a fortnight. The Bosnian forward featured 13 times in the league, scoring twice. Meanwhile, Incheon United have confirmed the departure of Brazilian forward Gustavo. The 23-year-old joined in the summer and featured just three times, all as a sub.

[LISTEN: Patreon Exclusive Korean Football Round-up 10th Nov]