Grueling stretch looms for K League clubs before break

▲ Gwangju FC (yellow) and Ulsan Hyundai FC players follow the flight of the ball during their K League 1 match at Gwangju Football Stadium in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 6, 2021. (Yonhap)

▲ Na Sang-ho of FC Seoul (C) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal against Suwon FC during their K League 1 match at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul on March 7, 2021. (Yonhap)

▲ Stanislav Iljutcenko of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (L) and Kim Gyeong-jae of Jeju United battle for the ball during their K League 1 match at Jeju World Cup Stadium in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, on March 6, 2021, in this photo provided by the Korea Professional Football League. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ Suwon Samsung Bluewings players celebrate their goal against Seongnam FC in a K League 1 match at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, 45 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 7, 2021, in this photo provided by the Korea Professional Football League. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

football-matches

Grueling stretch looms for K League clubs before break

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- K League football fans may do a double take after looking at the league fixtures for the remainder of March.

Take first-place Ulsan Hyundai FC, for instance. They played last Saturday, beating Gwangju FC 1-0 for their second straight win of the young 2021 season. But Ulsan are scheduled to play again Tuesday at home against Incheon, after just two days off. And they have another match coming up on Saturday, at Pohang Steelers.

Things will move along at that pace for another week. Ulsan will host Jeju United on March 16 -- after another short, two-day break -- and then finish the month off on March 21 at Daegu FC.

That's four matches in 13 days in three cities for Ulsan. A few other clubs have to squeeze four matches into a 12-day period. Either way, it's a grueling stretch for clubs used to mostly playing once a week, and rarely more than twice in a seven-day span. Their depth will be tested, and the cream of the league could rise to the top earlier in the season than normal.

So why the crunch this year? For one, there will be a couple of early season breaks, necessitated by international matches outside K League's control. And because the K League has set out to play the full, 38-match schedule this year -- after having the 2020 season cut short to 27 due to COVID-19 -- teams need to squeeze in as many matches as possible when they can.

From March 21 to April 1, there won't be any K League matches. The March 22-30 FIFA international match window falls during that stretch. South Korea and Japan are discussing holding a men's friendly match during that period in Japan, and if it materializes, the South Korean side will be made up entirely of K League players, since overseas-based players aren't expected to be released by their clubs due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

For another FIFA-related break, no K League matches are scheduled over the first 17 days of June. In that window, the national team is set to play the remaining Group H matches in the second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. Those matches have been postponed multiple times due to the pandemic.

In a scheduling quirk brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the K League will pause from April 12 to May 20. That is to accommodate four clubs competing at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League.

Typically, the group stage matches for the annual AFC tournament are spread out from February or March to May, and they haven't required any leaguewide break. This year, however, teams will be sent into a bubble set up at a centralized location, and play all six group matches there from April 21 to May 7.

Ulsan, the defending champions, and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors have booked spots in the group stage. Pohang Steelers and Daegu FC will try to join them in playoff matches scheduled for April 14.

While playing and having a chance to win the lucrative AFC tournament is supposed to be a privilege for the chosen few, it could be a curse in 2021. All international travelers entering South Korea must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival, and that also applies to South Korean nationals arriving back from overseas.

If Daegu and Pohang win their playoffs and reach the group stage, then those two, plus Ulsan and Jeonbuk, will have only a couple days between the end of their 14-day quarantine and the resumption of K League action.

One possibility for these teams is to enter one-week cohort isolation, which would still allow them to train, and then remain in a bubble for the second week.

Ulsan pulled that off after returning from the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar in early February. After arriving back, they spent the first seven days at their clubhouse and were allowed to work out at an adjacent field, as long as they didn't come in contact with anyone from outside.

After 38 players, coaches and team officials tested negative for COVID-19, they spent the next seven days commuting from their homes to the training complex, on the condition that they wouldn't take taxis or public transit.

Ulsan didn't report any COVID-19 cases after the second week was up. And given their two straight victories out of the gate, Ulsan's travel to and from Qatar hasn't had any ill effects on the club's preparation for the new K League season.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved