WHO ARE YA?! WHO ARE YA?! Jeonbuk Hyundai

Following their opening game defeat to Tianjian Quanjian, Kitchee fans now look forward to their first home group fixture - against Jeonbuk Hyundai.  The Korean Champions, who beat Kashiwa Reysol 3-2 in their first group match, are two times ACL winners and will be another difficult task for Kitchee.

WHO ARE YA?! WHO ARE YA?! Jeonbuk Hyundai...

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are a relatively new club, having only been formed in 1994. Yet in less than 25 years, the Green Warriors have earned K League Classic honours five times and are three-time Korean FA Cup winners. 


All of Jeonbuk's five titles have come within the past nine years, being crowned as champions in 2009, 2011, 2014  2015 and 2017 and finishing as runners-up in 2012 and 2016. Current head coach Choi Kang-hee has been at the helm for all of those titles - during his stint as manager of the Korean national team manager Jeonbuk failed to win any trophies. 

Incredibly, Jeonbuk held a unique record following their maiden Asian Champions League title of 2006 as, after beating Syrian team Al-Karamah 3-2 on aggregate, they became the first team in the world to win a continental crown before winning a domestic title. In 2016, they repeated the feat beating UAE side Al-Ain 3-1 over two legs, having beaten Korean rivals FC Seoul in the semi-final. 

Despite being from a relatively unknown part of Korea, Jeonbuk have become something of a regional football behemoth and, with their experience of the Asian competition, will be a very tough test indeed for Kitchee. 



Where do they play?

Known as "Fort Jenoju", the green army play at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium which was constructed as a host stadium for the 2002 World Cup. 

With a capacity of just 42,477, Jeonju Stadium is only the 8th biggest arena in Korea and is not as big as the stadiums in the likes of Seoul, Ulsan or  Incheon.  However, with an average attendance of just 11,000 in the K-League (actually the second highest in the league) it is unlikely that we will see a sell-out when we go there. 

In fact, the attendance for their first ACL group match against Kashiwa Reysol  was only 8,000 so with an expected attendance of around 20,000 for the game on Tuesday, it is likely that more fans will watch the fixture in Hong Kong than Korea. 

Famous Players? 

Jeonbuk are largely made up by Korean national players, and up to 10 of their current squad have been recently involved in the national team. Of these, by far and away the most famous is Lee Dong-Gook. 

Despite seeming to have been around forever, Dong-Gook is still only 38 and is still scoring goals - having netted twice in the win versus Kashiwa. Dong-Gook is largely remembered for his unsuccessful spells in Europe for both Middlesbrough and Werder Bremen. 

However, in his own country he is a mega-star, leading a typical footballer lifestyle (which involves dating celebrities and marrying an ex Miss Korea, and having a history of alcoholism) and appearing in reality TV shows!  

Dong-Gook holds the record for the most goals scored in the K-League; netting 188 times in just 435 appearances. In Asia his record is even more impressive, scoring 32 times in 55 matches. A goal machine!  Forlan has shown that quality players don't lose their ability so Helio and Bong will do well to keep him under control. 

Alongside Dong-Gook, Jeonbuk also boast Kim Shin-Wook, a defensive midfielder turned striker who is known as "Attack Titan" (after a chinook helicopter). Still just 29 years old, Shin-Wook has scored 131 goals in 344 appearances for both Ulsan and Jeonbuk and is definitely another one for Kitchee to look out for on Tuesday. 

Any Scandal?! 

Yep! Jeonbuk were banned from the ACL in 2017 following their participation in a K-League match-fixing scandal back in 2003. More than 50 K League players and officials, past and present, were found guilty of rigging results to aid betting.  Jeonbuk were fined 100 million won (HK$663,214) and a one of their ex-players sadly committed suicide following the scandal being revealed.                                                  

Following their disqualification, Jeju (who had finished third behind Jeonbuk in 2017) were given Jeonbuk's group stage place and Ulsan Hyundai were promoted to the qualifiers. Of course, Kitchee would ultimately end up facing Ulsan and were very unfortunate to lose on penalties. 

Can Kitchee get a result?!

We'd be slightly more optimistic if the match was being played at Mong Kong Stadium in front of a sold out crowd - playing at a half empty large arena will feel like home for Jeonbuk. Kitchee didn't perform too badly versus Quanjian but never really got into their normal game and made some out of character mistake which ultimately cost them dearly. Hopefully back in Hong Kong Chu won't feel the need to defend quite so much and will give his players more freedom.  However, I think this will still be very difficult for Kitchee and see the bluewaves ending up pointless after the first two group games.