As the race for the top spot in professional soccer’s K League 1 comes to a close, a number of managers have parted ways with their teams. Last-place Suwon Samsung fired Kim Byung-soo, while Jeju United’s Nam Ki-il, who failed to qualify for the Final A, relinquished the reins himself.
“We have decided to dismiss Kim and finish the season with Yeom Ki-hoon as acting head coach,” Suwon said on Feb. 26, adding, “The club decided that extraordinary measures were inevitable to resolve the desperate crisis and revive the spark of hope.”
Kim’s departure comes less than five months after he was named Suwon’s new coach in May after his predecessor, Lee Byung-geun, was sacked for poor performance.
Suwon briefly broke out of the relegation zone after a summer transfer window, raising hopes of escaping the drop, but have recently slipped back into a four-game losing streak. With just two games remaining before the division is split into upper and lower leagues, Suwon are in last place with just 22 points. They are three points behind 11th-place Gangwon FC and seven points behind 10th-place Suwon FC. If they finish last, they will be relegated directly to the second division without a relegation playoff.
Suwon, a traditional K League club, has seen its strength diminish with each passing year due to decreased investment, and this year, the team faced the unprecedented situation of firing its head coach twice during the season.
Jeju announced today that “Coach Nam, who realized the responsibility for the recent poor performance, has decided to resign in order to renew the team’s atmosphere.”토토사이트
Nam was hired by Jeju in 2020 and immediately led the team to the K League 2 title and promotion to K League 1. In 2021 and last year, the team reached the Final A for the second consecutive season.
This season, he led the team to second place through May and was named Coach of the Month. However, the team dropped to ninth place after winning just one game in 16 matches from June to September.
Jeju has named head coach Chung Joguk as acting head coach.
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