Suwon FC ( ko, 수원 FC;

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 水原 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based Suwon that competes 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 1 ...

, the top division of South Korea. They play their home games at Suwon Stadium.

History

Early years: semi-professional

Suwon city government decided to create a semi-professional level football club that would link school-level football clubs within the city and Suwon Samsung Bluewings, which is a professional club based in the city. On 15 March 2003, Suwon City Football Club was officially formed. The club appointed Kim Chang-kyum as their manager and joined the semi-professional

Korea National League The Korea National League was a South Korean semi-professional football league held annually from 2003 to 2019. It was considered the second-highest division of the South Korean football league system before the K League 2 was launched in 2013 ...

, which was then called the K2 League. They won their first trophy in 2004 by winning the Korean President's Cup National Football Tournament. Slowly, they rose to strong contenders in the Korea National League as they reached the play-off on four occasions between 2005 and 2009, although they failed to lift the trophy on all four occasions. Finally, in the 2010 season, they became the league champions after beating Daejeon Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power 2–1 on aggregate in the final. Manager Kim Chang-kyum left the team after the 2010 season as his contract expired and

Cho Deok-je Cho Deok-je (, born October 26, 1965) is a former South Korea football player and manager current assistant coach of Malaysia. Playing career After playing for Ajou University in his youth career, Cho signed for Daewoo Royals in 1988. The m ...

, who had been managing the club's youth team, took over his place.

Suwon FC era

On 9 December 2012, it was officially announced that the team would become fully professional. The club's name was also changed to Suwon FC and got an approval to join the professional K League. Suwon FC joined the second-tier

K League Challenge The K League 2 (Hangul: K리그2) is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the K League 1. Hi ...

in the 2013 season. Their debut season as a professional club was successful, as they finished fourth in the league and became the only K League Challenge club to reach the quarter-finals in the

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 ...

. The 2015 season was a milestone for the club. After finishing the regular season in third place, Suwon FC proceeded to the K League Challenge play-offs in which they eliminated

Seoul E-Land Seoul E-Land FC ( ko, 서울 이랜드 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul which plays in the K League 2. Seoul E-Land was announced as the league's second football club based in Seoul on 14 April 2014. The club is o ...

and

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 promotion-relegation playoffs, Suwon then defeated top division side Busan IPark 3–0 on aggregate and won the promotion to the

2016 K League Classic The 2016 K League Classic was the 34th season of the top division of South Korean professional football since its establishment in 1983, and the fourth season of the K League Classic. Teams General information Stadiums Managerial chan ...

Current squad

Out on loan

Managers

Honours

League

K League 2 The K League 2 (Hangul: K리그2) is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the K League 1. Hi ...

::Runners-up (2): 2015,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

::Winners (1): 2010 ::Runners-up (3): 2005, 2007,

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; ...

Cups

* National League Championship ::Winners (3): 2005, 2007,

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 (1): 2004 * National Sports Festival ::Runners-up (3): 2006, 2007, 2011 * Gyeonggido Sports Festival ::Winners (8): 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012 ::Runners-up (1): 2010 *

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 (2): 2004, 2007

Season-by-season record

References

External links

Suwon FC Official website
{{K League Korea National League clubs K League 2 clubs Sport in Suwon Sport in Gyeonggi Province Association football clubs established in 2003 2003 establishments in South Korea K League 1 clubs