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Incheon United manager's 'pass-heavy' approach sees dominant results in K League 2

Published: 10 Jun. 2025, 14:44 Updated: 10 Jun. 2025, 17:36

Incheon United manager Yoon Jong-hwan poses during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at the club's training center in Incheon on June 5. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Incheon United has earned a reputation as a “disrupter” in Korean football for shaking up the 2025 K League 2 season with a dominant run.

Incheon, which faced direct relegation to the K League 2 after finishing at the bottom of the K League 1 table last season, went seven points clear at the top of the league standings at 38 with a 1-0 win over Bucheon FC 1995 on Sunday.

Incheon manager Yoon Jong-hwan has transformed the team since taking the helm ahead of the 2025 campaign.

Statistics reflect the transformation, with Incheon ranking first in various statistics related to passing.

The club managed to score a goal with only nine one-touch passes against the Ansan Greeners last month.

Yoon's impact has been visible as it was with Gangwon FC, which pulled off its best result in the K League 1 with the manager by finishing as runners-up last season.

"I moved away from the long-ball approach that Incheon had predominantly used," Yoon said during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at the club's training center in Incheon on Thursday. "That’s why I established a clear game model to enable the team to build up play effectively."

He explained by using a magnetic tactics board that he fundamentally uses the 4-4-2 formation, but adjusts it depending on the players and the situation.

Yoon was known for his technical skills as a player.

“Back then, defenders would tackle hard with both feet, so I had to make one-touch passes to avoid them,” he said. “It was a tough era for players like me, but I was fortunate to meet coach Valery Nepomnyashchy.”

Nepomnyashchy led Bucheon SK — now called Jeju SK — for five years starting in 1994 and built his tactics around Yoon’s playmaking abilities.

Yoon’s tactics reflect his emphasis on agile and precise passing, while inducing opponents to use the long-ball tactics that Incheon has abandoned.

Incheon United manager Yoon Jong-hwan coaches his players at the club's training center in Incheon on Dec. 26, 2024. [YONHAP]

“Fans enjoy the thrill of a precise pass more than mere shooting,” he said.

His tactics have proved successful on the pitch. Incheon has kept a clean sheet in 10 out of 15 games this season and has conceded the fewest goals in the K League 2, at eight as of Tuesday.

Yoon said that the biggest difference between the K League 1 and 2 is desperation.

Players feel more desperate to win in the K League 2. Montenegro national team player Stefan Mugoas played for Incheon against Bucheon on Sunday, the same day he returned from the Czech Republic for an international match.

Yoon himself is desperate for success.

He was a member of the Korean national team during the 2002 World Cup, but he spent the entire time on the bench, watching his teammates reach the semifinal.

“I was very disappointed at the time, but I now understand how manager Guus Hiddink felt,” he said. “My dream is to one day coach the national team.”

Yoon has a history of bringing success to underdog teams.

He led Sagan Tosu from the J2 League to the top tier in 2011 and won the J. League Cup and Emperor's Cup with Cerezo Osaka in 2017.

His intense training sessions in Japan earned him the nickname “Oni,” a Japanese word for "demon."

“You need strong stamina to play pass-heavy football,” he said. "My original goal was to win 20 games this season, but I raised it to 25."

Incheon United manager Yoon Jong-hwan, left, poses with Lee Myung-joo at Nuritkum Square in western Seoul on Feb. 19. [NEWS1]

Incheon need to win the K League 2 in order to earn direct promotion to the K League 1, as only winners secure a berth in the top tier.

Two other K League 2 teams have to win the promotion-relegation playoffs against two K League 1 sides to determine which clubs play in the top tier the following campaign.

The promotion-relegation playoffs have proved to be a tough stage for K League 2 sides in the past three seasons, during which only Daejeon Hana Citizen, out of six K League 2 clubs, cruised past Gimcheon Sangmu and earned promotion.

In the K League, the first place K League 2 team is automatically promoted and the last-place K League 1 team is automatically relegated.

The second-place K League 2 team then plays the second-to-last place K League 1 team, and the winner of that game gets to play the next season in the top tier.

Things get complicated after that. The fifth-and-fourth place K League 2 teams play each other, with the winner of that game playing the third-place K League 2 team.

The winner of that game then plays the 10th-place K League 1 team in yet another playoff, with the winner of that final playoff playing in the K League 1 the following year.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY PARK RIN, PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]