The Pohang Steelers (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The l ...

: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club based in

Pohang Pohang () is a city in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River. The city is divided into t ...

North Gyeongsang Province North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

that compete in the

K League 1 The K League 1 ( Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in ...

, the top flight of South Korean football. The Steelers were founded on 1 April 1973 and were originally called POSCO FC after the steel-making company

POSCO POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a South Korean steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the world's fourth-largest steelmaker by this measure. In 2010, i ...

, which still owns the club today. They are one of South Korea's most successful teams, having won the K League five times and the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

three times.

History

The club was founded on 1 April 1973 as the ''Pohang Iron and Steel Company Football Club'' (POSCO FC). Initially a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a conside ...

club, they turned professional in the 1984 season and changed its name to POSCO Dolphins. A year later they renamed as the POSCO Atoms. In

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

they won their first Championship, and enjoyed a great spell of domination in the league; between 1985 and 1998 they were continuously in the top four of the

K League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National ...

. In 1995 the club was renamed again, becoming the Pohang Atoms. This name change was an attempt to further strengthen local ties with the region, and in 1997 they adopted their current name, the Pohang Steelers. The team won the Asian Champions Cup in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. In the 2000s, the club struggled near the bottom of the table, but bounced back to the forefront of South Korean football by winning the first stage of the 2004 K League Championship. The club qualified for the final Championship match of the 2004 season, but lost 4–3 on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

Suwon Samsung Bluewings ''(The Blue, White and Reds)''Tricolor'' , short name = SSB , image = , caption = , founded = , ground = Suwon World Cup Stadium , capacity = 44,031 , owner = Cheil Worldwide( Samsung's subsidiary) , chairma ...

. In 2007, the club won the

Championship play-off In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

by beating

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential city ...

, who finished in first place in the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

of the K League. Pohang won the first leg 3–1 at home, and then traveled to Seongnam for the second leg game, recording a 1–0 victory to seal a 4–1 aggregate triumph. The Steelers had ended the K League season in fifth place, but then defeated

Gyeongnam FC Gyeongnam FC (Hangul: 경남 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in South Gyeongsang Province that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. Its home stadium is the Changwon Football Center, locate ...

, Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i, Suwon Samsung Bluewings and finally Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the play-offs to win the championship. Pohang again made the play-offs in the 2008 season by finishing the season in fifth place, but were knocked out in their play-off game by Ulsan Hyundai after the penalty shoot-out. However, the club fared much better in the

2008 Korean FA Cup The 2008 Korean FA Cup, known as the 2008 Hana Bank FA Cup, was the 13th edition of the Korean FA Cup. It began on 24 February 2008, and ended on 21 December 2008. Pohang Steelers claimed their second title after beating Gyeongnam FC 2–0 in th ...

. After beating Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the quarter-finals, Pohang knocked out

Daegu FC Daegu FC ( Korean: 대구 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in Daegu. The club was founded as a community club at the end of 2002, and made their K League 1 debut in 2003. Daegu has played mostly in the K League 1 but was rel ...

in the semi-finals and then defeated Gyeongnam FC in the final to ensure qualification for the

2009 AFC Champions League The 2009 AFC Champions League was the 28th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 7th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National ...

. In the 2009 AFC Champions League, the Steelers defeated Umm-Salal of Qatar 4–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals to advance to their first ever AFC Champions League final. The Steelers defeated Saudi club

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic language, Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier *Al Ittihad Gheryan, a f ...

2–1 at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, Japan to claim the title. For the

2009 K League The 2009 K League was the 27th season of the K League. It was held from 7 March to 6 December 2009, and a total of 15 teams contested, including newly formed Gangwon FC. Teams General information Managerial changes Regular season League tab ...

season, Pohang once again qualified for the play-off phase of the league by finishing the regular season in second place, equal with

FC Seoul FC Seoul ( ko, FC 서울) is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul that competes in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The club is owned by GS Sports, a subsidiary of GS Group. They play their home game ...

on points, but ahead on goal difference. The Steelers had a bye to the semi-finals, but lost to Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. Nonetheless, their regular season placing saw them qualify for the 2010 AFC Champions League Group stage. Following the conclusion of the 2009 K League season, at the

2009 FIFA Club World Cup The 2009 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament played from 9 to 19 December 2009. It was the sixth FIFA Club World Cup and was played in Ab ...

in December, the Steelers finished in

third place In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place"). Examples of third places include churches, cafes, clubs, public ...

after defeating Mexican side Atlante 4–3 on penalties.

Kits

In 1994, POSCO Atoms wore a green kit and a white kit with a multicoloured sun in the middle. In 1997, Pohang Steelers wore a white shirt with black stripes on the shoulders and black shorts. In 2000, the first kit consisted of a sky blue shirt and white shorts, while the away kit was a black and red hooped shirt with black shorts (similar to the current kit). In 2002 the kit was red with a black "V" on the chest.

Kit suppliers

Honours

Domestic

League

::Winners (5):

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

::Runners-up (4):

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, 2004 *

Korean National Semi-Professional Football League The Korean National Semi-professional Football League was contested between South Korean works teams and military teams from 1964 to 2002. It was the predecessor of the Korea National League which was founded in 2003. History After the introduct ...

::Winners (5): 1975 Spring, 1981 Fall, 1982, 1986 Fall,Football Club Pohang Steelers was founded as a semi-professional team in 1973, and turned into a professional team in 1984. Even after the club turned professional, Pohang managed a separate, semi-professional reserves team that participated in the

until the formation of

R League The R League ( ko, R리그), also known as the Korean Professional Football Reserve League, is the league for reserve teams of professional association football clubs in South Korea. The league started in 1990 with five reserve teams of K League ...

. 1988 Fall ::Runners-up (2): 1977, 1989 Spring

Cups

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

::Winners (4): 1996,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

::Runners-up (3): 2001, 2002, 2007 *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

::Winners (2):

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, 2009 ::Runners-up (2): 1996, 1997s * National Football Championship ::Runners-up (2): 1977, 1985 *

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

::Winners (1): 1974 :: Runners-up (1): 1989

International

Continental

::Winners (3): 1996–97, 1997–98, 2009 ::Runners-up (1):

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Asian Super Cup The Asian Super Cup was an annual football competition between the winners of the Asian Club Championship and the Asian Cup Winners' Cup. The competition started in 1995, but came to an end in 2002 after both major AFC tournaments were merged int ...

::Runners-up (2):

A3 Champions Cup A3 Champions Cup (also known as East Asian Champions Cup) was an annual football (soccer) tournament jointly organized by the China PR, Japan and Korea Republic football Association. It began in 2003, involving the league champions of China, Japan ...

::Runners-up (1): 2005

Worldwide

* FIFA Club World Cup ::Third place (1): 2009 *

Afro-Asian Club Championship The Afro-Asian Club Championship, sometimes referred to as the Afro-Asian Cup, was a football competition endorsed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC), contested between the winners of the Africa ...

::Runners-up (2):

Invitational

DCM Trophy The Delhi Cloth Mills Trophy, known simply as D.C.M. Trophy, was an invitational football tournament in India. It was held annually in New Delhi and was organised by the local Delhi Football Association. It was India's first football tournamen ...

:: Winners (1): 1988 :: Runners-up (1): 1989 * King's Cup :: Runners-up (1): 1987

Season-by-season records

;Key *Tms. = Number of teams *Pos. = Position in league

AFC Champions League record

Current squad

Out on loan

Club officials

Managers

* Names in ''italics'' indicates interim or caretaker manager

References

External links

Official website
{{AFC Club of the Year Association football clubs established in 1973 K League 1 clubs Football clubs in North Gyeongsang Province Pohang POSCO 1973 establishments in South Korea Works association football clubs in South Korea AFC Champions League winning clubs