What will be Jeonbuk Hyundai’s final ranking this season?
Jeonbuk recorded 14 wins, 7 draws, and 12 losses in 33 regular round games, 토토사이트earning 49 points and entering the final round in 4th place. They barely made it into Final A with a dramatic win over FC Seoul in the last game, but they turned things around by jumping up three places with just one win.
The next goal is to enter third place. Leader Ulsan Hyundai (67 points) and second place Pohang Steelers (58 points) realistically seem difficult to chase through the remaining five games. Instead, there is a 4-point gap with 4th place Gwangju FC (54 points), so a comeback seems possible. Once you win the head-to-head match, the gap is narrowed to 1 point, so mathematically it’s not that difficult. From Jeonbuk’s perspective, entering third place should be the goal for the final round.
Third place is also a ranking in which Jeonbuk can at least maintain its pride. Jeonbuk has never fallen out of third place in 14 seasons since 2009, when it won its first K-League title. Although he only placed in third place twice in 2010 and 2013, he achieved a total of nine wins, and came in second place in 2012, 2016, and last year.
If we maintain our current ranking or fall further, we will be ranked outside the top 3 for the first time in 15 years since 2008. This ranking is difficult for Jeonbuk to understand. Although the FA Cup remains, the K League rankings may make it impossible to participate in the Asian Football Confederation club competition in the 2024-2025 season.
Against the 5 teams included in Final A, Jeonbuk only scored 19 points this season. This is only 38% of the 49 points secured in the regular round. Looking at the opponent’s record alone, we cannot be confident that Gwangju will catch up. In addition, Gwangju’s pace is so good that it recorded 8 wins, 5 draws, and 1 loss in a total of 13 games starting on July 7th. The performance is so overwhelming that it is difficult to guarantee that Jeonbuk will turn the tables.
Moreover, unlike Gwangju, Jeonbuk must compete in the Asian Football Confederation Champions League (ACL). In particular, it may be physically difficult to travel to Hong Kong in late October and Singapore in early November.
Still, a reversal is possible. The biggest cause of Jeonbuk’s poor performance was the absence of five players who had been selected for the Asian Games national team. There was a serious power leak across all positions, including attack, midfield, defense, and goalkeeper, including Baek Seung-ho, Song Min-gyu, Park Jin-seop, Kim Jeong-hoon, and Park Jae-yong. Now they are back, and the atmosphere can be adjusted through about two weeks of maintenance time.