The reporter reported coldly Like the teams participating in the AFC Champions League in the Chinese Super League, South Korea's three participating teams also ushered in their final game of the 2024 season.

Gwangju FC and Ulsan HD will play Harbour and Shenhua away in the 6th round. It is worth mentioning that Gwangju FC, which was winless in five games in the K1 League relegation playoffs and was finally lucky to be relegated, is actually the best among the three South Korean teams participating in the AFC Champions League Elite League, with 4 wins and 1 loss, 12 points, ranking second in the East Zone of the AFC Champions League Elite League; K1 League champion Ulsan HD set a record of five consecutive defeats in a single season in the AFC Champions League.

If Gwangju FC wins in this round, they can advance to the next stage of the competition; Pohang Steelers Steelers, who have six points, will have at least two more wins in the remaining three rounds to have a chance to qualify; As for Ulsan, even if they win all three rounds remaining, the chances of advancing are basically equal to zero.

Gwangju is hoping to reach the semifinals

Gwangju FC is the runner-up in the 2023 K1 League and qualified for the AFC Champions League for the first time since entering the K-League in 2011. However, at the beginning of the 2024 season, the main central axis was lost: Dutch defender Teemo, midfielder Li Chunmin, and Brazilian center forward Tomas all left, and the main left winger Yan Zhixing went to Swansea in the Championship in the summer window. Of the four new signings, only Brazilian striker Tigrao has been the main player, and he will always be in the bottom half of the league table in 2024.

Gwangju FC started the season on a five-game losing streak and then rebounded, but after 33 regular season games, they finished seventh with a score of 43 and need to play in the relegation playoffs. In the playoffs, 5 games, 4 draws and 1 loss, without winning, finally ranked fourth from the bottom and completed the task of relegation.

Gwangju FC mainly plays the 442 formation, goalkeeper Kim Gengmin, left-back Lee Min-qi, central defender Bian Jun-so, Kim Kyung-sik, and double backs Jung Ho-yeon and Park Tae-jun are the absolute main force, and the right-back position, Cho Seung-kwan and Kim Jin-ho are used in rotation. Albanian winger Asani and center striker Shin Changwu on the right side of the attack are the main players, and other positions are often changed. It is worth noting that Gwangju FC is extremely restrained in the use of foreign aid, taking the AFC Champions League Elite League as an example, except for Asani, who has 7 goals and 1 assist, only 2 foreign players have started one game each. In the last round of home against Shanghai Shenhua, Gwangju FC even lined up the starting lineup of the all-Korean team, and the forward partners were Lee Hee-kyun and Xu Yu, who had never started in the AFC Champions League before, and foreign aid Asani only came off the bench in the second half, and he scored the only goal of the game in just one minute.

After Gwangju FC were eliminated by Ulsan in the Korea Cup in late August, they focused on the AFC Champions League, and Gwangju FC, which is not too financially ideal, needs to earn more money from the AFC Champions League level. Gwangju FC won 4 and lost 1 in the previous 5 rounds, losing 0-2 away to Vissel Kobe, the leader of the J1 League. The AFC Champions League elite league opened with a 7-3 home sweep of Yokohama Mariners, which was an unexpected result, followed by Kawasaki Frontale, Johor and Shanghai Shenhua, completely overshadowing the other two South Korean teams.

4 wins got a total of 400,000 US dollars in winning bonuses, plus 800,000 US dollars in entry fees and 4 away games with a total of 200,000 US dollars in subsidies, Gwangju FC has received 1.4 million US dollars in the AFC Champions League, and the remaining 3 rounds of group matches, they are away to Harbour, Taishan and home against Buriram, as long as they win one of them, they can ensure promotion, and they can also get a winning prize of 100,000 US dollars, and there is a subsidy of 100,000 US dollars for two away games, and there is also a bonus of 200,000 US dollars for promotion, Gwangju FC received at least $1.8 million in the group stage. Gwangju FC is demanding that Lee Jung-hyo's team reach at least the semi-finals and receive at least $1 million in prize money to make up for the financial shortfall.

In this round of away games against Shanghai Port, Gwangju FC will definitely not relax, and they will go all out to win. Asani, who scored immediately as a substitute in the last round, is the ace of Gwangju FC's forward line, and the Harbour defense needs to be extra careful.

Kim apologized continuously

The main focus of the 2024 season is on the league and domestic cups, and they hope to win the double, and they have adopted personnel rotation since the AFC Champions League Elite League, which is a bit of a sense of playing anywhere. In the league, the outstanding performance of goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo, who had just won the MVP of the K1 league season, Swedish midfielder Ludwigsson and center forward Joo Min-gyu, successfully won the championship. In the final on November 30, Ulsan HD led at half-time with a goal from Joo Min-gyu, but was equalized by Pohang Steelers' Jung Jae-hee in the second half, and the two sides entered extra time, with Pohang Steelers scoring two goals in extra time and finally winning the cup.

Ulsan will participate in next year's 32-team Club World Cup, and after five consecutive defeats in the AFC Champions League this season, only one goal has been scored so far, and the number of goals conceded has reached 13, and South Korean fans are certainly not satisfied with their performance, so they are not optimistic about Ulsan's Club World Cup prospects.

Ulsan HD rotates a lot in the AFC Champions League elite league, except for goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo who has a stable playing time, only Yoon Il-jun, who has changed to right-back, and center forward Joo Min-gyu, who has started more games, and the rest of the positions are rotated from time to time. 34-year-old defender Zheng Yourong and 35-year-old central defender Hwang Seok-ho have been injured successively, which has also affected the team's lineup.

Kim Jun-kun, who became Ulsan's coach in the middle of the season, has recently apologized a bit much. After the AFC Champions League defeat to Harbour, Kim said: "This is our last home game. It started well, but there were mistakes that caused the game to get bogged down. We have not been able to take full advantage of the numerical advantage. As a manager, I apologise to the fans. Then after the defeat in the Korea Cup final, he said: "I'm sorry that it didn't bring a good result and couldn't face the fans who came from afar to cheer us on." We had a good first half but there were a lot of problems in the second half and extra-time, but the players worked hard and hopefully next year to make up for that. Although the domestic competition is over, there will be the AFC Champions League Classic and Shenhua in a few days, and we will have to give our all in that competition, and we can only think about next year after the trip to Shanghai. ”

In a previous interview, Jin Jukun said that he was very much in favor of increasing the number of foreign players in the K League, which is on par with the AFC Champions League and West Asia, but he is also very cautious in the use of foreign aid. After 0-2, in the second half, Jin Jukun was replaced by three other foreign aids, but in the end it still failed.

Ulsan HD, who are currently at the bottom of the East Asian region, have only a theoretical chance of qualifying, that is, they have won all three games, and many teams in front of them keep losing points, in fact, their road to this season's AFC Champions League elite league is over.