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| Busan I-Park coach Cho Sung-hwan is giving high-fives to the players as he begins his first training session in the 2025 season. Photo courtesy = Busan I-Park |
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'I changed everything. '
K League 2 Busan I'Park is attracting attention with its aggressive reorganization work from its first start of the new year. He is expressing his will to be promoted to the first division more strongly than ever. On the 1st, the first day of 2025, the Busan club made a large-scale reinforcement of players. In the meantime, it has recruited as many as 13 people, including 10 proven experiences on the K-League stage and three prospects. The experienced players who were recruited as free agents or on loan consisted of eight defenders, one striker and one goalkeeper. As the Busan club explained, it is reinforcement that has made all-out efforts to strengthen the defense.
Busan scored 55 points and 45 runs in 36 games in the 2024 regular season. Although there were more goals than Anyang FC (51 points-36 goals), which was directly promoted by winning the K League 2, it was greatly reduced in the ball-number margin ratio due to many goals lost. In fact, Busan often missed 'caught fish' due to its weak defense last season. For Busan, which has to aim for the 1st and 2nd place in the regular league in the new season in 2025 and stably promote to the 1st division, it was urgent to crack down on the back door.
This power reinforcement brought proven veterans. First of all, Jang Ho-ik (32), who was Suwon Samsung's flagship defender, stands out. Jang Ho-ik, a former member of the Jeonbuk Hyundai Youth Team (Yeongsaeng High School), made his professional debut in Suwon in 2016 and was called by head coach Cho Sung-hwan (55). Jang Ho-ik had a relationship where he was coached by Cho when he was in the Jeonbuk Youth Team.
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| Jeong Ho-geun Park Dae-han Kim Jin-rae Park Chang-woo Jang Ho-ik Kim Sang-won (clockwise from far left). Photo courtesy = Busan I-Park |
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Kim Sang-won (33), who started his professional career with Jeju United in 2014, was also Cho's favorite player at the time. At Cho's recommendation, he changed his position from midfielder to winger and upgraded to 'Multiplayer', gaining various first division experiences through Gwangju, Anyang, Pohang, and Suwon FC. In addition, Kim Jin-rae (28), Jung Ho-geun (26), Jeon Sung-jin (24), Kim Dong-wook (22), Hong Jae-seok (22), and Park Chang-woo (22) have been recruited to take on the center-side defense evenly from early to late 20s to create a new-gu harmony. Kim Min-ki (21), who was recruited as an offensive resource, is 'unfinished standby'. Kim Min-ki, who is 1m87 tall and weighs 80kg, is a multiplayer specialized in central positions such as front-line one-top, center back, and defensive midfielder.
On top of that, Busan has recruited three top prospects. Those who were born in 2006 have already been verified on the youth soccer stage by going through the national team by age. Winger Kim Hyun-min led his alma mater (Yeongdeungpo Technical High School) to win the Diamond Cup and achieve his second consecutive presidential gold medal last year, and received the Presidential Gold Cup Most Valuable Player Award. Striker Baek Ga-on helped win all four games in the U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers last year, and goalkeeper Kim Yu-rae is a former Busan Youth Team (Gyeongseong High School) and was selected for the U-16 national team in 2022.
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| Busan rookie Kim Hyun-min, Baek Ga-on, and Kim Yu-rae (from left). Photo courtesy = Busan I-Park |
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Coach Cho, who was appointed during the season in July last year and failed to build a complete division, was also given more strength. Head coach Oh Jang-eun (40) and GK coach Yang Dong-won (38) are best friends who played with Suwon Samsung when they were active. Kwon Kwon-jin, Cho's favorite player in Jeju and Incheon, reunited with Cho as a playing coach specializing in defense. Support staff such as Hwang Geun-woo, head of the medical team, and Hwang Geun-woo, who had been in the same class with Cho as Jeonbuk Youth Team, Jeju, and Incheon, were also recruited to reflect Cho's intention, completing the entire 'Cho Sung-hwan Division'. The Busan club will also push for additional reinforcement, including foreign players, even after the team leaves the country for training in Thailand on the 3rd"We will certainly not spare any support for promotion this year."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
