All you need to know about JDT’s Group G rival in ACL2020 Suwon Bluewings, their coach, their stadium, their history and the stars of their team.
Goal brings to you the lowdown on South Korea’s representative in the 2020 AFC Champions League, Suwon Bluewings who Johor Darul Ta’zim will face in Group G.
History
Founded in 1995 by electronics giant Samsung, Suwon have been one of the big teams in South Korean football competing in the K-League 1.
South Korea football legend Cha Bum-kun was at the helm for six years between 2004 to 2010 in which he helped them win seven trophies including the league title, FA Cup and League Cup.
Lee Woon-jae who was in goal when Korea co-hosted the World Cup back in 2002 is one of the legends of the club alongside Song Chong-gug and Kim Nam-il.
Former Negeri Sembilan player Kim Do-heon spent five seasons with the club between 2009 and 2014 where he was also made captain of the team during that period.
Stadium
The Suwon World Cup Stadium was built in 2001 and as the name suggests, was built for the World Cup the country hosted just a year later. It has capacity of 43,959 and uses a grass surface.
United States fans would remember the stadium being the one where USA beat Portugal 3-2 in the 2002 World Cup and the stadium has also previously hosted Confederation Cup matches in 2001.
Titles & Trophies
Suwon had previously won the biggest prize in club football in Asia, the Asian Club Championship in 2000/01 and 2001/02 before the tournament was changed to their current AFC Champions League.
They have also achieved tremendous success in the domestic scene with four K-League 1 titles with five FA Cup successes and six League Cup triumphs. Suwon also made the semi-final of the 2018 AFC Champions League.
Manager
Lee Lim-saeng is the new man in charge having only been installed as the manager this month. This is his third spell with the club after previously handled them between 2003-2005 and 2006-2009.
A surprising sojourn in Singapore followed after that when he took over at Home United but his last job was as the Technical Director at the Korea Football Association.
A former international player with South Korea, Lim-saeng was part of the national team that competed in the France ’98 World Cup who also had spells managing in China.
The squad
Not the biggest of names compared to what Guangzhou Evergrande have on their books but this group of players did helped Suwon the FA Cup in 2019 which gave them the ACL ticket for next year. Long-serving Yeom Ki-hun is the captain of the team and the forward has been with the team since 2010.
Surprisingly Suwon do not have any players in the current South Korea national team with defender Hong Chul being the only player from Suwon called up in the past 12 months. Australian Adam Taggart is the striker Suwon depend on as his 20 goals in the 2019 season made him top scorer in the league.
When will they play JDT
3 March 2020, JDT v Suwon, Sultan Ibrahim Stadium/Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium
8 April 2020, Suwon v JDT, Suwon World Cup Stadium
What do they think of JDT
“These are strong teams in our group. This will be the first time that we have a Malaysian team in our group and we know that JDT have great fans, just like Suwon fans. So I think it will be exciting games between the two sides.
“We watched the game between Gyeongnam and JDT. We know that they are very strong, especially as home so we have to prepare very well. Even as a newcomer, JDT showed great impression in their first season. I’m sure they will be even stronger in the next campaign,” Lee Eun-ho, media officer of Suwon.
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