Daejeon
Citizen Football Club (Korean 대전 시티즌 프로축구단) is a South
Koreanprofessional football team, currently playing in the K League
Classic. Daejeon Citizen Football Club are famous for
being the first community-club in Korea. Daejeon first entered the K-League for
the 1997 season, finishing 7th out of the 10 teams participating in the league
that season. In spite of a limited budget, Daejeon won the 2001 Korean FA
Cup. It has not achieved sustained success in the K-League, historically occupying the middle and lower
reaches of the standings each season.
History
The First
steps into the K-League
Following the foundation of the professional football league (the
Korean Super League, reorganised as the K-League in 1998) in Korea, there were
few league matches held in Daejeon, and such matches that were held were played
by visiting clubs. The absence of a local team in the league made it difficult
for the citizens of Daejeon to identify with any particular team. However, in
1996 a plan to establish 'Daejeon Citizen' - their own local community club -
was unveiled, which meant Daejeon citizens would have their own team to support
in the league. Generally in Korea, 'community-club' means that the club issues
shares. In the case of Daejeon, although shares weren't issued until 2005 (and
the issuing of shares continued into 2006), they were already known as a
'community-club'. Daejeon was the first club that did not belong to a specific
company such as one of the 'chaebols' (Samsung, LG or the like) or another
major company. This has a very symbolic meaning as essentially the club is
founded upon the support of the local community rather than a specific company.
Kim Ki-Bok, now
vice-president of Korea National
League ("National
League", the second division), was appointed the first manager of Daejeon
Citizen. With high expectations, Daejeon took their first step to the K-League in 1997 (at the time, the K-League was
known as the Rapido Super League), opening their season with a match against Ulsan Hyundai
Horang-i. However, the results achieved in their first season did
not live up to their high expectations for their first season. Although the
club placed 7th in the league, ahead of Cheonan, Angyang and Bucheon, only
three matches (out of 18) were won.
The IMF Crisis
To many Korean people, the year 1998 is considered to be a
"hard year". A major economic crisis necessitated IMF intervention in
the Korean economy - this period of time is commonly referred to as the
"IMF crisis" in South Korea. As a consequence a number of companies,
including some considered to be "Chaebol" went bankrupt, and there
was widespread unemployment. Daejeon Citizen did not escape this crisis
unscathed. The main board of Daejeon consisted of 4 groups - Kyeryong
Construction Industrial, Dong-A Construction, DongYang Department Store and
Chung-cheong Bank. But as a consequence of the IMF crisis, three of the four
groups went bankrupt, leaving Kyeryong as the only survivor of the original
board. There was a subsequent impact on the level of financial and management
support provided to the club. This made for a particularly difficult season in
the 1998 season of the K-League. Again, only three games were won, but this
time Daejeon finished 9th in the league, ahead of only Cheonan Ilhwa
Chunma.
The following year, 1999, Daejeon improved their winning record to
six victories. However, changes in the K-League structure since the previous
year meant that an extra 9 games were played, 27 in total, from the previous
season. There were a total of 18 losses, the worst in the league. Despite this,
Daejeon improved to 8th out of 10 clubs. Little progress was made in the FA and
league cups. For the2000 season, Daejeon
maintained its 8th position in the league.
On the verge of disappearing
For the 2001 season, Lee Tae-Ho was
appointed manager, and promptly took Daejeon Citizen's first piece of
silverware, leading Daejeon to victory in the FA Cup. The decisive goal of the
FA Cup final came from Kim Eun-Jung, which gave the team a one-nil
victory over the Pohang Steelers. Due to this win, Daejeon also qualified to
the 2002-03 AFC Champions
League for the first
time. This helped compensate for their poor performance in the K-League, in
which they finished 10th and last, even on points with Jeonbuk Hyundai
Motors but with an
inferior goal differential.
South Korea was a co-host of the 2002 FIFA Football World Cup,
with Daejeon as one of the host cities. The city constructed a brand new stadium
for the World Cup, and following the conclusion of the tournament, Daejeon
Citizen changed stadiums. The shift from their former stadium, Daejeon Hanbat
Stadium, to Daejeon World
Cup Stadium meant the
club not only benefited from the new facilities, but also the greater capacity
of the stadium. Unfortunately, Daejeon's poor league performance from the
previous year was carried into the2002 season,
and the club finished last again, and by some margin, having won but a single
game throughout the season. Lee Tae-Hoeventually resigned taking
responsibility for the poor results. However, more creditable results were
achieved in the AFC Champions
League. Although they did not make proceed beyond the group phase,
they did finish 2nd in the group, beating both Shanghai Shenhuaand Kashima Antlers. Their only loss was to the
eventual group winner and overall runner-up, Thai club BEC Tero Sasana.
In other changes for 2002, the key financial supporter of the club
- Kyeryong, which with their support ensured that Daejeon Citizen would survive
the IMF crisis - declared that they would withdraw from the club's board. Daejeon City Hall decided to give financial
support to the club. This ensured the club would survive to participate in the
2003 season.
"Miracle 2003"
The 2003 season proved to be memorable for Daejeon fans. Choi Yun-Gyeom, previously coach at Bucheon SK
(now Jeju United), was appointed manager to replace Lee Tae-ho who had resigned
in the wake of the club's disastrous 2002 season. Choi, originally from
Daejeon, willingly came back to his hometown. Choi promptly inspired the team
and completely changed its dynamics by implementing the 4-3-3 formation. The
outcome was a near miraculous recovery from 2002, and he, together with Daejeon
Citizen, coined the catchphrase "Miracle 2003". Daejeon Citizen
finished the 2003 season in 6th place, its best finish ever in the league,
having won 18 of 44 games. Its placing of 6th was even more meritorious as the
K-League had expanded to 12 teams, with Daegu
FC and Gwangju Sangmu
Phoenix entering the
competition for the first time. At the same, Daejeon improved its average home
game attendance to about 19,000.
It proved difficult for the club to maintain its performance into
2004. A lack of strike power at the attacking end of the field left the club
with the worst offensive record of all the clubs in the K-League, scoring 18
goals in 24 games (eventual champions Suwon scored 31). Daejeon slipped to 10th
out of 13 teams, Incheon United now participating in the league. However, they
did make it to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, going down to eventual runner-up,
Bucheon SK. Daejeon also finished runner up in the Hauzen Cup, behind only Seongnam Ilhwa
Chunma.
The lack of penetration continued to be problematic into the 2005
season, with the club maintaining its record as the worst offensive side in the
league, with only 19 goals scored in 24 games. The next best teams (Chunnam and
Gwangju) scored 23 goals, and the best offensive side was Seongnam Ilhwa
Chunma, with 40 goals scored in the regular season (the K-League had been
reorganised in 2004 to have a playoff phase after completion of a regular
season). However, superb defence saw only 20 goals conceded (best defensive
record in the league) ensuring that Daejeon finished 7th in the regular season,
having lost only six games. In the 2005 cup competitions, the FA Cup and the
League Cup, Daejeon failed to progress to the quarterfinal stage.
Daejeon repeated its placing of 2004, finishing the regular season
in 10th out of 15, with Gyeongnam FC entering
the K-League for the first time in 2006. Goal scoring had improved, with
Brazilian import Denilson featuring among the top scorers of the
league, with 7 goals. Average to middling results were achieved in the cup
competitions.
Playoff Qualification 2007
Daejeon achieved what originally appeared by midseason at least,
to be a highly unlikely qualification for the playoff phase of the K-League
following a 1-0 win over Suwon which ensured a superior goal differential to FC
Seoul, with whom Daejeon finished equal on points. The win over Suwon was
Daejeon's 5th consecutive victory and ultimately enabled them to qualify for
the championship playoffs for the first time in their history. By midseason, it
had seemed like another disappointing season was in store for Daejeon fans,
with precious few wins recorded, and a number of losses. When Kim Ho took over
from previous manager Choi Yun-Gyeom mid-season, Daejeon were languishing in
11th position. However, under the guidance of their legendary coach, and with
good performances from Denilson, who scored 14 goals, and one of Korea's best
technical players, Ko Jong-Soo, they eventually qualified for the
playoffs. However, they were ultimately beaten by Ulsan Hyundai in the first phase of the playoffs. In
cup competitions, once again there was a lack of progress to a significant
level of knockout rounds.
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