Bucheon Supporters Controversy Over 'Cursing and Throwing Foreign Substances' at Ulsan Players who were in reinforcement training

*This content was translated by AI.

Controversy is brewing over some fans of Bucheon FC in the K League 1 of professional football swearing at Ulsan HD players who were in reinforcement training after the end of the game and throwing foreign substances. Attention is also being paid to whether the Korea Professional Football Federation will discipline the club, with some fans criticizing it as an act that poured cold water on the club, which was drawing attention immediately after its first promotion to the first division.

According to the soccer community on the 16th, some fans in Bucheon threw abusive language and foreign substances at Ulsan players who were undergoing reinforcement training using the entire ground after losing 1-2 in the third round of the Hana Bank K League 1 2026 at Bucheon Stadium the previous day. While the crowd was leaving the stadium, Ulsan players were running from the opposite goalpost to the Bucheon supporters' seat. Coincidentally, this scene became known as a video taken at the Bucheon supporters' seat spread through the community.

Bucheon fans could have misunderstood the other team's players running to the supporters' seats as a provocative intention. However, soccer officials explain that this training, called a "top-up session" in technical terms, is a standard conditioning process for professional football. It is an official training session to match the amount of exercise of players who did not participate or who did not participate in the training on the same day as the main players. In the FIFA World Cup or the Asian Football Confederation Champions League, it is mandatory immediately after the end of the game.

Ulsan clubs have also been conducting the same session immediately after the end of the game, regardless of the results of the game or the other team. The same was true of the match against Bucheon. A club official said, "There was no intention at all to stimulate the other team or fans. It is a professional routine for player protection and power management." Jung Seung-hyun, who was running, was eventually seen approaching the cheering section and explaining it due to strong protests from Bucheon fans, but the problem is that something flew from the Bucheon supporters' seats and fell near the Ulsan players.

Throwing foreign substances in the ground by spectators is subject to disciplinary action. According to the Korean Professional Football Federation reward and punishment regulations, when spectators throw foreign substances, the club will be punished by holding a home game without spectators or a home game in a third region designated by the federation, imposing sanctions of more than 3 million won, and closing cheering and away cheering seats. As the cases in which spectators' actions are directly subject to disciplinary action are the two cases in which spectators' unrest or the spectators' throwing of foreign substances in the ground, the federation also takes foreign substances seriously. Even after the end of the game, the timing is irrelevant as there were players on the ground at the time.

Even the Bucheon club has already been disciplined by the league for throwing foreign substances from spectators. In October 2024, it was a match against Chungcheongbuk-do in the K League 2. At that time, throwing took place after the game was over. Lee Han-sam, the owner of Chungcheongbuk-do, approached the Bucheon supporters' net to raise goalkeeper Jeong Jin-wook, and some of the Bucheon supporters cursed at Lee Han-sam as a group and Lee Han-sam also confronted fans. In the process, Bucheon fans threw ice and other foreign substances to the ground. At that time, the federation imposed a fine of 5 million won on the Bucheon club and two games of the home game's cheering seats.

On top of that, attention is also being paid to the possibility of disciplinary action at the level of the federation, as there have been cases of throwing foreign substances at Ulsan players "once again" in the Bucheon supporters' seats. Even if the game supervisor failed to confirm the situation at the time, disciplinary action may be considered after confirming the facts, depending on the case. An official from the federation said, "The legal team of the federation is already aware of the issue that occurred in the Bucheon-Ulsan match. First of all, we will check the facts with the Bucheon club," he said.

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*This content was translated by AI.