Gwangju put hopes on shoulders of new coach Lee Jung-hyo

Lee Jung-hyo [YONHAP]

Gwangju FC named Lee Jung-hyo as their new coach after sacking their previous coach, Kim Ho-young, following an unsuccessful season that saw the club finish at the bottom of K League 1 and fall to the second division.

Gwangju finished this season at the bottom of the standings with 10 wins, seven draws and 21 losses, six points behind second-to-last Gangwon FC who managed to stay in the first division league after two playoffs against K League 2 runner-up Daejeon Hana Citizen. Gimcheon Sangmu topped the K League 2 standings this season and will play in the top tier next season.

Gwangju FC were founded in 2010, and after playing their first K League season in 2011 that saw the club finish in 13th position out of 15 clubs, they were relegated to the newly made second-tier league, the K League Challenge.

In 2013, Gwangju finished third in the second division, and in 2014, runner-up — earning a place in the top tier after winning the promotion-relegation playoffs. But in 2017, Gwangju finished at the bottom of K League 1 and was relegated to K League 2 where they stayed for two years. Having once again earned their place in the top tier by winning the K League 2 title in 2019, Gwangju finished sixth in the 2020 season, their best result yet in the top tier.

This year is Gwangju FC’s third relegation to the second division league. Having sacked Kim Ho-young on Dec. 15 following the club’s relegation, Lee — who had played on the K League 2 club Busan IPark, called the Pusan Daewoo Royals from 1998 to 2008 — will take the helm.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]