Hwang Sun-hong, the No. 1 favorite selected by the coach and player of "Daejeon, Not Jeonbuk," said, "We will win."" [Media Day On-Site]

*This content was translated by AI.

Ahead of the new season of the professional soccer K League 1, the winning candidate selected by each team's coach and representative player was Daejeon Hana Citizen, not "defending champion" Jeonbuk Hyundai.

Daejeon, led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong, received the most six votes from the head coaches or representative players of 11 other clubs at the opening media day of Hana Bank's K League 1 2026 held at the Swiss Grand Hotel in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul on the 25th.

Daejeon, which had a fierce competition for the championship with Jeonbuk last season, unfortunately finished second and achieved a massive reinforcement of its power, including Um Won-sang and Rubik'sson in the winter transfer market. In response, Bucheon FC head coach Lee Young-min, Gangwon FC head coach Chung Kyung-ho, Gwangju FC head coach Jungkyu Lee, Pohang Steelers coach Park Tae-ha, Gimcheon Sangmu coach Joo Seung-jin, and Ulsan HD head coach Kim Hyun-seok (overlapping) pointed out Daejeon as the favorite ahead of the opening of the season.

Gangwon coach Chung Kyung-ho said, "As a leader who loves the K-League, the K-League should complete its infrastructure with more investment. Jeonbuk, Ulsan, and FC Seoul have made active investments, and Daejeon has recently made investments. I hope that the team that invested wins the championship, so that it can be loved by K-League fans and develops into a competitive league, he said. "Coach Hwang Sun-hong, I will support you."

Kimcheon coach Joo Seung-jin also said, "Hwang Sun-hong is running the team stably and developing it. "I think it's the right time to win," Pohang coach Park Tae-ha said, laughing, "That's the place to bear the burden." Coach Jungkyu Lee, who chose Jeonbuk and Daejeon at the same time, eventually gave a vote to Daejeon when asked by the host to "pick one team."

Daejeon manager Hwang Sun-hong, who couldn't hide his laughter throughout the flood of votes as a favorite, expressed strong confidence in winning by answering, "Daejeon will win," instead of naming another team as a favorite. Coach Hwang said earlier at the meeting to announce his new season's resolution, "It's a burden, but I think the burden is the weight of our team. I will play hard so that I can try to win at the top," he said, aiming to win.

Jeonbuk, the "defending champion" who left coach Gus Foye and made a fresh start under coach Chung Jung-yong, received three votes. Jeju SK coach Sergio Costa, FC Anyang coach Yoo Byung-hoon, and Ulsan coach Kim Hyun-seok voted. Anyang coach Yoo Byung-hoon pointed to Jeonbuk as the favorite, but added, "I think we can write history of Daejeon and Gangwon-do."

Pohang also received votes from Seoul coach Kim Ki-dong and Lee Myung-joo (Incheon United). Seoul coach Kim Ki-dong said, "We will do our best to compete for the championship together (with Pohang)." Coach Park Tae-ha, who received two votes as Pohang's favorite, smiled and said, "I feel like my heart is sinking," and added, "Thank you for that evaluation. I will do my best to achieve it," he said. In addition, Kim Tae-hwan (Jeonbuk Hyundai) voted for Ulsan, his former team, as the only candidate.

K League 1, where 12 clubs will compete, will kick off the new season starting with the official opening game of Incheon and Seoul (Incheon Football Stadium) on the 28th.

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*This content was translated by AI.