K League 1 Incheon United failed to continue its ‘survivalist instinct’ and suffered its first relegation to the second division in its history.
Incheon lost 1-2 at home against Daejeon Hana Citizens in the 37th round of the Hana Bank K League 1 2024 on Tuesday at the Incheon Football Stadium.
The bottom-placed Incheon, which dropped to 8-12-17 (36 points), is now four points behind 11th-placed Daegu FC (40-9-13-15), which lost 1-3 to Jeonbuk Hyundai in a match that kicked off at the same time. The result means that Incheon will finish bottom of the K League 1 regardless of the outcome of the final match of the 38th round against Daegu on April 24, and will be automatically relegated to the 카지노사이트 K League 2 next season.
The 12th-bottom team in K League 1 will be relegated directly to K League 2 the following year, while the 11th-bottom team will play a relegation playoff against the second-bottom team in K League 2 to stay in the top flight.
The 10th-ranked team in the K-League must play the winner of a playoff between the third- through fifth-ranked teams in K-League 2 for the right to stay in the top division.
Next year will be the first time Incheon will play in the second division after 21 seasons in the league since its debut in 2004.
Incheon has spent most of its existence in the Final B (7th-12th) since the introduction of the relegation system in 2013, but has never been relegated and stayed in the K-League 1, earning the nickname “survivalist.” This year, however, the survival instinct didn’t last long.
Six minutes into the match, the two teams were evenly matched. Daejeon’s Choi Gun-ju’s shot from the right side of the Incheon penalty area was cleared off the line by the defense, and Masa raced down the right side of the penalty area and finished with a non-stop right-footed shot.
Daejeon took the lead in the 15th minute when Kim Jun-beom cut inside the right side of the penalty area, and Anton, who was waiting in front of the goal, slotted the ball home with his right foot.
Incheon, who had been pounding away at the Daejeon goal with all their might, went into the half with a 1-2 lead in the 45th minute when Lee Myung-joo sent in a low cross from the right flank that Gerso rattled the net with a left-footed shot from near the penalty spot.
Daejeon opened the second half with Yoon Do-young and substitute Kim Seung-dae breaking down the opposition defense in the eighth minute, only to have the goal ruled out for offside.
Incheon, heartbroken, got a goal from Gerso in the 26th minute, but it was ruled out for a goal-line out before the ball went into the box and hit the ground.
Ninth-ranked Daejeon (45 points) secured their place in the top flight.
Jeonbuk defeated Daegu 3-1 behind a goal and an assist from Lee Seung-woo. The 11th-ranked Jeonbuk moved to 10th place with 10 wins, 11 draws and 16 losses (41 points).
After a 0-0 first half, Jeonbuk took the lead in the 24th minute through Kim Jin-kyu’s first goal of the game and added a second in the 40th minute through Kwon Chang-hoon. Lee Seung-woo, who assisted on Kwon’s goal, added the icing on the cake four minutes later.
Daegu escaped defeat in stoppage time when Hwang Jae-won converted a penalty kick.
Seventh-ranked Jeju United and eighth-ranked Gwangju FC played to a 0-0 draw. Gwangju (46 points) joined Jeju (49 points) in securing their place in the top flight next season.
Earlier in Final A, Gimcheon Commerce defeated Pohang Steelers 3-0 on the road thanks to second-half goals from Lee Dong-gyeong, Min-seok-woo, and Kim Seung-seop.
With the two wins in a row, Gimcheon, which has 63 points, reclaimed second place, dropping Gangwon FC (61 points) to third.
Pohang (53 points) slipped from fifth place after a five-match winless streak (three draws and two losses).
At the Seoul World Cup Stadium, defending champions Ulsan HD battled to a 1-1 draw with hosts FC Seoul after each side scored a goal.
Ulsan took the lead in first-half stoppage time through Go Seung-beom, but Seoul equalized six minutes into the second half through Lingard.
Ulsan (69 points), which has already won its third straight K League One title, extended its unbeaten streak to 10 matches (seven wins and three draws), while Seoul (55 points) remained in fourth place with its second straight draw.
Seoul added 37,288 fans to its home attendance this season to reach 501,091 for the season, the first K League team to surpass the 500,000 mark in a single season since the implementation of paid spectators in 2008.
Ulsan’s Park Joo-young, 39, played his farewell match in front of his “Chinjung” Seoul fans, where he spent 11 seasons, after being substituted for Kang Yoon-koo in the 32nd minute of the first half.
