FC Seoul Revives a Storied Club... Kim Gidong, Three Years Into His Tenure

On the verge of the K League 1 title

Attendance surges, averaging 20,000 fans per game

Professional soccer club FC Seoul is on the verge of winning the K League 1 title for the first time in 10 years. It has been three years since head coach Kim Ki-dong took charge of Seoul, saying he wanted to prove himself after his time as a “Pohang legend.” This season, Kim has announced the spectacular revival of a storied club and shaken up the duopoly of Jeonbuk Hyundai and Ulsan HD that had held since 2016.

Seoul beat Jeju SK 2-1 in a home match in Round 31 of the 2026 Hana Bank K League 1 at Seoul World Cup Stadium on October 10. The three points strengthened Seoul’s hold on first place, bringing its record to 20 wins, five draws and six losses for 65 points. It is the first time in 10 years that Seoul has won 20 matches in a season, since it last topped the K League in 2016.

Ulsan HD, which is in second place behind Seoul, suffered a shock defeat to bottom-ranked Gwangju FC on October 11. Ulsan took the lead away from home but lost 4-3. Gwangju ended a 28-match winless run (11 draws and 17 losses) that began after its victory over Incheon on March 7, and claimed its second win of the season, its first in about seven months and in 29 matches. Ulsan, with 14 wins, five draws and 12 losses, remained on 47 points, widening the gap with Seoul to 18 points.

Moon Sunmin (fourth from left) celebrates with his teammates after scoring during a home match against Jeju SK in Round 31 of the 2026 Hana Bank K League 1 at Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 10th. Korea Professional Football League

Gwangju’s upset has reduced the number of points Seoul needs to clinch the title on its own to four, with seven matches left in the season. Seoul has two regular-round matches remaining, and if it earns four more points in those games, it can secure the title before the five-match final round begins.

At the heart of Seoul’s revival this season is head coach Kim Ki-dong.

Kim spent many years with Pohang Steelers as both a player and a coach. He holds the second-highest number of appearances in K League history, with 501 matches, and won the 2007 K League title, the 2008 FA Cup and the 2009 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League with Pohang as a player. After retiring, he moved into coaching, joining Pohang as an assistant coach in 2016 and serving as head coach from 2019 to 2023. He was named K League 1 Manager of the Year in 2020 and earned recognition for his coaching after leading the team to the 2021 AFC Champions League final and the 2023 FA Cup title. At Pohang, he consistently achieved results that exceeded expectations, earning the nickname “Ki-dong Magic.”

In 2024, he took on a new challenge as head coach of FC Seoul. At his introductory press conference, Kim said, “As I kept achieving results at Pohang, people around me would say, ‘Isn’t that only possible because it’s Pohang?’” He added, “I wanted to prove my coaching ability in a different environment.” He emphasized at the time that his goal was to lift a trophy while at Seoul, and three years later, he is turning that dream into reality.

Kim began bringing change to Seoul in his first year in charge. Before his arrival, Seoul had languished in the lower half of K League 1 and finished in Final Round B for four consecutive years. In 2024, however, it placed fourth and returned to Final Round A for the first time in five years. The team reached Final Round A again last year, and this year it is finally on the verge of claiming the title. Kim was named K League Manager of the Month twice in a row, for February-March and April this season.

If Seoul wins the title, it will be its seventh K League championship, following titles in 1985, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2012 and 2016. It will move into a tie for second place with Seongnam FC, including Seongnam Ilhwa, which has seven titles, behind Jeonbuk, which holds the record with 10.

The team’s rise in the standings has also drawn larger crowds. Seoul has attracted 309,306 spectators to its 14 home matches this season, an average of 22,093 per game. It ranks first among the 12 K League 1 clubs in both cumulative and average attendance. While the overall average attendance in K League 1 this season is just 8,567, Seoul is the only one of the 12 clubs averaging more than 20,000 spectators per game.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.