About 18,000 fans flocked to the game where the professional soccer team Daejeon Hana Citizen returned to the first division stage after 8 years and shared the revival of ‘Soccer Special City’.
The match between Daejeon and Gangwon FC at the Daejeon World Cup Stadium on the 26th drew 18,590 spectators according to the official count.
Among the six stadiums where the K League 1 opening round was held on the 25th and 26th, it is the third largest number of spectators after Ulsan (Ulsan-Jeonbuk, 28,039) and Seoul (Seoul-Incheon, 22,204). .
This match was the stage where Daejeon returned to the ground of the first division of professional football after 8 years.
Daejeon, which was relegated at the bottom of the first division in 2015 during the ‘Daejeon Citizen’, returned to the K-League 1 stage after knocking on the door for promotion several times after going through the promotion playoffs last season.
Since it was acquired by Hana Financial Group in 2020 and reborn as the corporate team ‘Daejeon Hana Citizen’, it was also the first K-League 1 match held, receiving great interest and early reservations for 10,000 spectators, but the official tally exceeded 18,000. .
In particular, the opponent Gangwon was a team that met in the 2021 promotion playoffs and suffered a ‘ball boy controversy’, so the fighting spirit of the Daejeon squad and fans was even more burning.
At that time, Gangwon defeated Daejeon 4-1 in the 2nd home game and confirmed their stay in the K-League 1 with a total score of 4-2 in the 1st and 2nd games. there is a bar
The showdown between Kangwon coach Choi Yong-soo and Daejeon coach Lee Min-seong, who played a key role in the victory against Korea and Japan in the final qualifying round for the 1998 France World Cup, which was called the ‘Battle of Tokyo’ as a player, was also a point to watch.
This match, which drew attention in many ways, attracted about 40% of the total number of spectators (45,411) that Daejeon gathered in 20 K-League 2 matches last season at once.
Last season, Daejeon was the number one team in the K-League 2 crowd, but the average number of spectators was only 2,271.
Even in the 2015 season, the previous season spent in the first division, Daejeon was at the bottom with an average of 2,493 players in 19 games.
However, 8,545 people entered the home game in the first leg of the promotion playoff against Sangmu Kim on October 26, which continued last year’s promotion challenge, and the number of spectators jumped in the first game after returning to the first division.
It has been almost 7 years since the opening game of the second division against Daegu FC on March 26, 2016 (18,082 spectators) that more than 10,000 spectators came to a Daejeon match. At the time, performances by popular idols acted as a box office hit.
Even without the ‘celebrity effect’, the Daejeon club greeted the fans who filled the stands with generous prizes and various events, including electric cars.
Chairman Ham Young-joo of Hana Financial Group, the owner of the club, visited the site and said, “Daejeon Hana Citizen, which was promoted last year thanks to the enthusiastic support of fans, has grown into Asia’s most prestigious club and Daejeon City has taken the lead in developing into a soccer city. I will support and be with you.”
In the Daejeon supporters’ seats, ‘Did you go to the ball boy army’, ‘Do you want to have it? There were banners provoking Gangwon, such as ‘the exclusive stadium’, and Daejeon fans solved the 8-year wait by doing card sections and surfing.안전놀이터
The Daejeon squad repaid their support with a complete victory over last season’s Final A team, Gangwon, 2-0, thanks to consecutive goals from Thiago and Leandro in the first half.
Daejeon captain Joo Se-jong said, “There are not many players who can play in front of so many fans. I am very grateful.”