Weekend picks

FOOTBALL

K-League Classic

Seongnam FC (14-14-8) at Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (22-6-8)

3 p.m. Saturday, Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonju, North Jeolla

Jeonbuk has already clinched the league title two weeks ago after beating Jeju United. But that doesn’t mean Jeonbuk is alright to lose against Seongnam because this is its last home game of the season and it will be having championship trophy ceremony after the match.

What Jeonbuk is hoping for this match is to see many fans as possible to become No. 1 team in terms of attendance. FC Seoul has so brought some 326,000 fans to its home stadium this season and Jeonbuk is 24,000 behind. Seoul has no more matches played at home, so if Jeonbuk can allure more than 24,000 fans in this match, it can be top the team with most attendance this year.

By doing so, Jeonbuk will be the first football team outside Seoul or Gyeonggi to have best home match attendance in a single season.

Seongnam is still hoping for the AFC Champions League ticket. If Suwon lost all two games and Seongnam wins this match and its last match against Jeju United, the team can go through.

K-League Challenge

Bucheon FC 1995 (15-9-15) at Daegu FC (18-12-9)

2 p.m., Sunday, Daegu World Cup Stadium, Daegu

The champion of the second division K-League Challenge can go directly to the first division next season, while second to fourth place teams need to go through playoffs. The winner of the playoff then needs to play against the 11th team from the K-League Classic to determine its promotion.

For this reason, this is must win match for Daegu which is currently second in the K-League Challenge with 66 points after marking 18 wins, 12 draws and nine losses. The team can edge current leader Sangju Sangmu FC, which has 67 points with 20 wins, seven draws and 13 losses, only with a win. Sangju, a military team, already finished all of their league matches.

A draw will make Daegu to have same points and goal differential, but when it comes to tie breaker of goal scored, Daegu is currently 11 behind Sangju.

If Daegu wins Bucheon, the team will be back in the first division first time in two years.