Why did SK come back to the K League after 20 years
Jan 06, 2025
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Jeju United officially announced on the 5th that it will change its club name to 'Jeju SK FC' from the 2025 season. It is the first time in 20 years that SK has appeared in the front of the club's name since 2005 when it was at Bucheon SK.
Jeju, founded in 1982 as a merit elephant soccer team, changed its name to Bucheon Merit after deciding its location as Bucheon in 1995, and changed its name to Bucheon SK once again in October 1997. However, controversy arose in the process of changing the location in 2005, and after moving to Jeju in the end, it continued to be Jeju United without the SK name.
The reason why Jeju has put out SK signs again after 20 years is interpreted from various angles.
After establishing a nest in Jeju, SK Energy's parent company continued to support it. SK has been continuously exposed to the position of the uniform's main sponsor. However, as the name of the company disappeared from the name of the club, there was a limit to taking active action. Despite continuing to support the club, it was not easy for the effect of public relations exposure to lead to synergy with the parent company. It is true that the club was also in a situation where it was difficult to ask for active support from the parent company.
In the midst of this, a subtle change in atmosphere has been detected since last year.
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SK once raised doubts about whether it was moving away from professional sports. The sale of the SK Wyverns to SSG in 2021 was the beginning. Among the four major professional sports clubs, the only team named SK was the SK Knights in Seoul. In the midst of this, Jeju decided to rename SK. It is quite meaningful in that the group came forward.
As a result, great attention has been paid to Jeju's future moves. As the group decided to change its signboards directly, it is more likely to make more aggressive investments in the future.
After the 2006 season, Jeju ranked second in the 2010 and 2017 seasons, respectively, with the best K-League performance. He suffered his first relegation withdrawal from the K League 1 in the 2019 season, but won the K League 2 title in the 2020 season. Both recent seasons have stayed in the Final B, but as they start anew with the name of the company at the forefront, they are likely to focus on having sizes as large as the so-called 'Big Club' such as Ulsan HD, FC Seoul, and Jeonbuk Hyundai in the future.
"Before the announcement of the club name change, the atmosphere of the CEO's entire team meeting was very good," a Jeju official said. All the players seemed to be encouraged, he said. "'Coach Kim Hak-beom also sent a message saying, 'Let's take more responsibility.'"
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
