Suwon FC (;

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

: 水原 FC) is a South Korean professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Suwon Suwon (; ) is the largest city and capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's most populous province. The city lies approximately south of the national capital, Seoul. With a population of 1.2 million, Suwon has more inhabitants than Ulsan, tho ...

, that competes in the

K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...

, the South Korea's top professional league. They play their home games at Suwon Stadium.

History

Early years: semi-professional

city government decided to create a semi-professional level football club that would link school-level football clubs within the city and

Suwon Samsung Bluewings The Suwon Samsung Bluewings () are a South Korean Association football, football club based in Suwon that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. Founded in December 1995, they have won the K League on four occas ...

, which is a professional club based in the city. On 15 March 2003, Suwon City Football Club was officially formed. The club appointed Kim Chang-kyum as their manager and joined the semi-professional Korea National League, which was then called the K2 League. They won their first trophy in 2004 by winning the

Korean President's Cup National Football Tournament The President's Cup National Football Tournament is a football competition, held by Korea Football Association The Korea Football Association () is the governing body of football and futsal within South Korea. It sanctions professional ...

. Slowly, they rose to strong contenders in the Korea National League as they reached the play-off on four occasions between 2005 and 2009, although they failed to lift the trophy on all four occasions. Finally, in the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

season, they became the league champions after beating Daejeon Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power 2–1 on aggregate in the final. Manager Kim Chang-kyum left the team after the 2011 season as his contract expired and Cho Deok-je, who had been managing the club's youth team, took over his place.

Suwon FC era

On 9 December 2012, it was officially announced that the team would become fully professional. The club's name was also changed to Suwon FC and got an approval to join the professional

K League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions ...

. Suwon FC joined the second-tier K League Challenge in the 2013 season. Their debut season as a professional club was successful, as they finished fourth in the league and became the only K League Challenge club to reach the quarter-finals in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. The

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

season was a milestone for the club. After finishing the regular season in third place, Suwon FC proceeded to the K League Challenge play-offs in which they eliminated Seoul E-Land and

Daegu FC Daegu FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Daegu. The club was founded as a community club at the end of 2002, and made their K League 1 debut in 2003. Daegu has played mostly in the K League 1 but was relegated at the ...

. In the promotion-relegation playoffs, Suwon then defeated top division side

Busan IPark Busan IPark FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Busan that competes in K League 2, the second tier of the South Korean football pyramid. They play their home games at the Busan Gudeok Stadium. Busan IPark was founded as ...

3–0 on aggregate and won the promotion to the 2016 K League Classic.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Backroom staff

Coaching staff

* Manager: Kim Eun-jung * Head coach: Kim Tae-min * Coaches: Lee Sang-don, Yang Dong-hyen * Goalkeeping coach: Kim Ho-jun * Fitness coach: Lee Geo-seong

Support staff

* Team doctor: Jung Tae-seok * Medical staff: Kim Jeong-won, Hwang Geon-ha, Im Jae-young, Choi Jung-ho * Scout: Kim Young-geun * Analyst: Chae Bong-joo * Interpreter: Park Hyung-man * Kit managers: Jang Jae-ho, Won Young-seung Source: Official website

Managers

Honours

League

K League 2 The K League 2 () is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs and operates on a promotion and relegation system with K League 1. History In 2011, the or ...

**Runners-up (2):

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

**Winners (1):

**Runners-up (3): 2005,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Cup

* National League Championship **Winners (3):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

**Runners-up (1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

* National Sports Festival **Runners-up (3): 2006, 2007, 2011 * Gyeonggido Sports Festival **Winners (8): 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012 **Runners-up (1): 2010 * President's Cup **Winners (2): 2004, 2007

Season-by-season record

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Association football, South Korea Korea National League clubs K League 2 clubs Sport in Suwon Sport in Gyeonggi Province Association football clubs established in 2003 2003 establishments in South Korea K League 1 clubs