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The K League decentralization policy in 1995 was a policy of moving K League clubs located in Seoul to other regions. It was an effort by the Government of South Korea and the K League Federation to increase popularity of football nationwide before the 2002 FIFA World Cup for which they bid. In accordance with it, the three K League clubs, Yukong Elephants, Ilhwa Chunma and LG Cheetahs, moved from Seoul to Bucheon, Cheonan and Anyang, respectively, in 1996.

Overview

By 1995, there had been three professional football clubs based in Seoul: Ilhwa Chunma, LG Cheetahs and Yukong Elephants. K League Federation wanted to spread football popularity nationally and secure football-specific stadiums for bidding of 2002 FIFA World Cup. In order to achieve this goal, K League and Blue House forced all three clubs in Seoul to move to other cities. The intention was to compensate for the decreased number of home cities under the new system.

This policy was not proceeded smoothly with the clubs affected by it, and brought resistances from them. K League Federation announced that if the clubs don't accept the decision, they will be excluded from the league. The federation also decided that one club among them could get the priority to return to Seoul, if it would build a football-specific stadium in Seoul. Then all three clubs agreed to move. Once the plan was announced, many city governments hoped to attract these clubs.

Details

Yukong Elephants

At first, Yukong Elephants threatened K League that they would dissolve the club if they have to move out of Seoul. However, they took Bucheon's offer to give a new 20,000-seater Bucheon Stadium and another football-specific stadium including two training fields. They decided to use Seoul Mokdong Stadium as their temporary home ground until the construction of Bucheon Stadium to be completed. They changed their name to Bucheon Yukong as a part of the policy on 4 January 1996.

Ilhwa Chunma

Cheonan promised Ilhwa Chunma that they would change the Cheonan Oryong Stadium into a football-specific stadium by paying ₩1.2 billion and would build another sports complex. Ilhwa accepted the offer, moved to Cheonan, and changed its name to Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma as a part of the policy on 29 March 1996.

LG Cheetahs

LG Cheetahs was regarding to move to Changwon as well, but decided to move to Anyang due to the popularity of football in the region and the local characteristics. They changed their name to Anyang LG Cheetahs as a part of the policy on 26 April 1996.

Aftermath

K League started perfect "home and away system" from 1996 after all clubs got their own stadiums as a result.

After the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Korea Football Association needed to pay Seoul Metropolitan Government ₩25 billion as their share of the construction of Seoul World Cup Stadium. KFA wanted to find a new club in Seoul and let the club to pay the whole share, but it didn't happen. Seoul Metropolitan Government understood that potential investment on a new Seoul club had not made due to the amount of the share, they agreed to cut ₩10 billion in the way of sponsoring the new team with the same amount of money. Also, KFA agreed to pay ₩10 billion of their share to reduce the burden to a new Seoul club, leaving only ₩5 billion to pay.

In the meantime, Anyang LG Cheetahs declared their interest in moving to Seoul and Seoul Metropolitan Government welcomed it, though KFA prioritized the foundation of a new club. But many candidate companies (including KT Corporation and Kumho Asiana Group), which received proposal from KFA and K League, refused to found a new Seoul-based club. On 6 February 2004, K League Federation officially allowed the existing K League club's move to Seoul and sent relocation proposal to all K League clubs. KFA declared that if an existing club wants to move to Seoul, they need to pay ₩15 billion, due to the KFA's ₩10 billion offer was only under the condition of foundation of a new club. A few days later, however, KFA cut the share to pay to a half, ₩7.5 billion, with a prospect of a new Seoul club in future to pay the other half.

Busan I'Cons also had declared their interest in being a new Seoul club, but later retreated their interest. Anyang LG Cheetahs finally returned to Seoul on 10 March 2004.

References

1. K League 30th Anniversary. Seoul, South Korea: K League. 2013. p. 307. ISBN 978-89-963178-4-5.
2. ^ Lee, Young Hoon; Fort, Rodney (31 October 2014). "The Sports Business in The Pacific Rim: Economics and Policy". ISBN 9783319100371.
3. 스카이박스 - 축구와 야구의 차이, 그리고 연고의식 (in Korean). XSPORTS NEWS. 16 March 2009.
4. 서울 연고 이랜드프로축구단 출범…FC서울과 '투톱' (in Korean). Korea Economic Daily. 1 May 2014.
5. 일화 유공 LG, 내년에 서울연고 없어 (in Korean). Monthly Football. December 1995.
6. Lee, Young-kyu (6 November 1995). 서울 한지붕 세가족 일화 LG 유공 "내년엔 모두 서울 떠난다" [Seoul Family Ilhwa, LG, Yukong "All Leaving Seoul Next Year"]. Sports Seoul (in Korean). p. 6.
7. ^ Lee, Young-hoon (2014). The Sports Business in The Pacific Rim: Economics and Policy. Springer. pp. 63–64. ISBN 9783319100371.
8. 일화·LG·유공"서울 포기못해" [Ilhwa, LG, Yukong,"Can't give up Seoul"]. The Hankyoreh. 13 December 1995. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
9. "프로축구 지역연고 먼길인가" (in Korean). The Hankyoreh. 9 November 1995.
10. ^ K League 30th Anniversary. Seoul, South Korea: K League. 2013. p. 178. ISBN 978-89-963178-4-5.
11. 줏대없는 프로연맹 이사회 (in Korean). Sport Seoul. 22 October 1995.
12. "FIFA Classic Football Clubs - Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
13. 프로축구 안양LG에 새둥지 (in Korean). The Dong-a Ilbo.
14. 서울 프로축구팀 창단의 조건 (in Korean). Retrieved 2 March 2017.
15. [프로축구]서울FC가 보고 싶다 (in Korean). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
16. ^ <프로축구 서울연고팀 창단 '급물살'> (in Korean). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
17. [프로축구]해법 못찾는 서울축구팀 (in Korean). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
18. 프로축구 지방구단 서울입성 길열렸다 (in Korean). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
19. 축구협, 안양 엘지 서울입성 '태클' (in Korean). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
20. 프로축구연맹 "서울입성 75억만 내라" (in Korean). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
21. 부산 아이콘스도 서울로 연고 이전 신청 (in Korean). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
22. 프로축구 부산, 연고지 잔류..LG 서울 입성 (in Korean). Retrieved 3 March 2017.

External links

• K League
• Football in Seoul
• Sport in Seoul
• Seongnam FC
• FC Seoul
• Jeju United FC
• Sports team and club relocations