Will Gwangju FC Overcome 20X Power Difference... Saudi giants Al-Hilal and ACLE quarterfinals clash
Will Gwangju FC Overcome 20X Power Difference... Saudi giants Al-Hilal and ACLE quarterfinals clash
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Gwangju FC, a professional football K League 1 led by head coach Lee Jung-hyo, will face Saudi Arabia's "super-luxury corps" al-Hilal, whose squad price is dozens of times higher.
Gwangju will play the quarterfinals against the 2024-2025 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite (ACLE) Al Hilal at 1:30 a.m. on the 26th (Korea Standard Time) at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Gwangju, which dramatically advanced to the quarterfinals by overturning the total score of the first and second games to 3-2 after defeating Japan's strong power Vissel Kobe in the round of 16, is aiming to advance to the semifinals.
ACLE will break down the region divided into East and West from the quarterfinals, and East and West Asian teams will face off in Saudi Arabia, a neutral region. While Ulsan HD and Pohang Steelers, who played in ACLE together, were eliminated from the league stage, Gwangju, which has advanced to the quarterfinals against West Asian teams and saved the pride of the K-League, is looking beyond Al Hilal to the semifinals and the final.
If you reach the semifinals, you will receive $600,000 (KRW 860 million), and the amount of prize money will rise significantly even if you go to the final stage. The runner-up team will receive $4 million (5.7 billion won) and the winner will receive $10 million (14.2 billion won).
The total annual salary of the Gwangju team this season is estimated to be about 7 billion won, which means that if it wins, it will cover twice the total annual salary with ACLE prize money. Gwangju is the first city and provincial team to reach the quarterfinals in the ACL stage, and if it beats Al Hilal, it can extend its journey to remain in K-League history after the semifinals.
Gwangju's opponent, Al-Hilal, is an overwhelmingly powerful team that is considered capable of competing in major European leagues beyond Asia. Al-Hilal, which has formed a team based on Saudi Arabia's "oil money," has world-class stars such as Aleksandar Mitrovic, João Cancelo, Kalidou Koulibaly, Juven Neves, Yasin Bunu, and Sergei Milinkovich.
The total annual salary was not disclosed, but the value of the Al Hilal team estimated by soccer transfer site Transfermarkt was 180 million euros (29.9 billion won), more than 20 times that of Gwangju (13.9 billion won).
Despite such an objective difference in performance, Gwangju is displaying strong determination. Gwangju, which had four wins in the five games it played this month, was not evaluated as a top-ranked team ahead of the opening of this season, but it recently secured three wins in four league games to rank second in the K-League 1. On the 16th, he also beat K3 League Gyeongju KHNP 2-0 at the Korea Cup.
Gwangju hopes that ace Asani and midfielder Park Tae-joon, whose sharp left-footed kicks are the best, will do their part against Al Hilal players. In particular, Park Tae-joon was originally scheduled to join the military athletic unit earlier this month, but he is participating in the ACLE tournament with "sincere" enough to postpone his enlistment to June to play in the Al Hilal match.
Gwangju players, who stepped on Saudi Arabia's ground on the 21st, are focusing on adaptation training there. Coach Lee Jung-hyo, who is busy preparing for the match against Al Hilal, said through the club on the 23rd, "I analyzed Al Hilal, and I think we are ahead in terms of organizational power. Soccer is a team sport, and I believe in the possibility of our team." 메이저놀이터
"I really want to win, and I must. I will play the soccer that we used to play as usual," he said, hinting that he will stick to Lee's unique "offensive soccer" against Al-Hilal.