This summer is expected to be a hot time for football fans to fully enjoy the fun of intuition. Up to 7 European club teams will visit Korea, and in June, Jurgen Klinsmann’s A match will be held in the provinces, bringing soccer fans to the stadium.
Last year, Coupang Play, which called Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League (EPL) and Spain Primera Liga Sevilla, to which national team captain Son Heung-min belonged, as invited teams for the Coupang Play Series, announced that it had selected Manchester City and Spain’s strong Atletico Madrid, which are about to win the EPL this year. . The professional football K-League All-Stars are scheduled to play in three teams, including Elling Hollan (Norway), a “monster striker” with an all-time goal record, and Antoine Griezmann (France), the 2018 World Cup winner. It is an opportunity to meet soccer players in the living room.
European clubs with Korean national team players also visit Korea. Napoli, who won Italy’s Serie A for the first time in 33 years, plans to visit Korea in June, before the summer begins in earnest, together with Spain’s Mallorca. Since both Kim Min-jae and Lee Kang-in, who play as key players in each team, are rumored to be transferring, it is the calculation that they will visit Korea quickly before leaving the team.
Celtic, a prestigious Scottish club that had already won the Scottish Premiership (SPL), EPL Wolverhampton, and Serie A AS Roma also chose Korea as their destination. They are scheduled to host a friendly including K-League Incheon United. Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Oh Hyeon-gyu (Celtic) will also be able to introduce their teams to their home country fans. They are also scheduled to meet soccer fans first wearing national team uniforms as members of Klinsmann in June. On the 16th, we will face Peru in Busan, and on the 20th, we will face El Salvador in Daejeon. It is like taking a break after greeting the football fans of each city and changing into the team uniform.
As such, it is common for European soccer clubs to play leagues in the Chuchunje style (opening in fall and ending in spring) to visit Asia or North America to play friendly matches during the summer break. So far, Japan, China, Thailand, and the United States have been common options, but as Tottenham made huge profits last year with Son Heung-min, the number of European teams visiting Korea naturally increased.안전놀이터
However, it remains a task to find gaps by respecting the K-League schedule for professional soccer, the top league in Korean soccer. In order for overseas clubs to play in Korea, the Korea Football Association must obtain the consent of the professional football federation and then approve it, but a problem with the schedule remains. For example, in the case of June 10, when Naples and Mallorca are going to have a match, it is difficult for the federation to agree because three K League 1 matches are scheduled. A consensus is forming in the football world that there should be no case like Juventus (Italy), which was upset due to tardiness and Cristiano Ronaldo’s failure to play after playing a K-League All-Star visit to Korea in 2019.
An official from the federation said, “It is clear that foreign teams’ visit to Korea is something to be welcomed from the perspective of promoting soccer,” but added, “However, it must be acknowledged that the schedule of K League 1, the top league in Korea, also has authority and value.” . The promoter Untouchable Sports Group (USG), which is preparing to host the Naples and Mallorca match in Korea, also expressed its position that it would “continue dialogue with the federation.”