'Lee Jeong-hyo's magic' lifted the three-year humiliation of 'famous' Suwon... Back to K League 1

Suwon Samsung, which was founded in 1995 and participated in the professional soccer K-League the following year, has established itself as an emerging prestigious club by winning the K-League 1 four times and the Korea Football Association Cup (FA Cup, now Korea Cup) five times. They also won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League twice, emerging as a powerhouse in Asia beyond the K-League.

However, in 2014, the parent company changed from Samsung Electronics to Cheil Worldwide, and the overall framework of the club's management changed to pursue profit through the sports business, leading to a decline in investment and performance began to decline.

In 2016, it fell to the bottom split for the first time since the split system was introduced. The season spent in the lower split became more frequent, and in 2022, they fell to 10th place and were pushed into the promotion playoffs (PO), but barely succeeded in remaining.

Afterwards, they entered the 2023 season without showing any movement that could be called reform, but eventually suffered the humiliation of falling to the second division by staying in last place.

Suwon, who thought they would return to Division 1 right away, had to spend three years in K League 2. In 2024, they were pushed back to 6th place in the 2nd division, and last year, they ranked 2nd in the league and were promoted, but their return to the 1st division was frustrated.

The person who led Suwon back to the first division was coach Lee Jeong-hyo (51), who took over as new coach ahead of this season.

Coach Lee Jeong-hyo is a leader who has proven his tactical ability and strong leadership by consistently producing results at Gwangju FC, where he took his first steps as a professional coach, despite the departure of key players every season and the financial limitations of the civic club.

As soon as he took office in 2022, when Gwangju fell to the second division, coach Lee led the team to the championship with the most wins (25 wins) and the most points (86 points) in K League 2 history and placed them in K League 1. In 2023, the first year of promotion, they finished 3rd in the league and qualified for the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) for the first time.

Afterwards, he led the city and city team's first ACLE quarterfinals (2024-2025 season) and its first Korea Cup runner-up (2025).

At the end of December last year, Suwon announced the appointment of coach Lee Jeong-hyo and said, "We judged that coach Lee, who has a clear soccer philosophy, excellent leadership ability, and strength in player development, is the right person to lead the club's leap forward."

Suwon not only offered the highest level of treatment in the league to coach Lee, who was receiving offers from several K-League clubs as well as overseas teams at the time, but also promised full support, including recruiting the so-called 'Lee Jeong-hyo Division', including coaches and support staff.

In addition, Suwon signed Coach Lee's 'favorite student' Jeong Ho-yeon, Ko Seung-beom, Hayes, Pesin, Hong Jeong-ho, Kim Jun-hong, Kang Seong-jin, and Song Joo-hoon in the transfer market last winter. A large-scale reorganization of the team was carried out, recruiting players with already proven skills across all positions, including Park Hyun-bin.

In the summer, they put all their efforts into promotion by reinforcing their attacking resources, including recruiting Luis Gudzi following Lebon and Dubitzkas.

Suwon gained momentum from the beginning, breaking the club record for the most consecutive wins since the opening game with 5 games.

Suwon, which has conceded the fewest team goals (25 goals) through the 31st round this season, but is ranked 4th in team scoring (50 goals), has struggled by showing a lack of goal-scoring ability against defensive teams, but has continued to compete for the league lead without losing consecutive games.

From August onwards, they never once lost the top spot, and even set a new club record for the most consecutive wins in the regular league with 7 consecutive wins, finally achieving promotion to the first division.

In particular, foreign striker Lewis, who was recruited from Gimpo FC this summer, is the top scorer with 15 goals (1 assist) this season, and he contributed greatly to promotion by scoring 5 goals in 8 games after joining Suwon.

Coach Lee Jeong-hyo, who threatened the existing strong team from the position of a challenger in Gwangju, took on the important responsibility of restoring his battered pride by producing results befitting the name of a prestigious club in Suwon.

However, Coach Lee emphasized the process of consistently implementing the soccer prepared by the team under any circumstances rather than the results.

Even after winning, he was upset and said, "I'm angry because I only scored one goal," and after the game, he ran to the players who had fallen on the ground and yelled at them to stand up, which clearly shows the direction of Coach Lee's team management.

As the head coach of Suwon, promotion was just a process for Coach Lee.

Even after Suwon set a new club record with 7 consecutive wins, he said bluntly, "Our goal is to advance to K-League 1. The K-League 2 record is meaningless."

Even ahead of promotion, Coach Lee scolded his players by saying things like, “We are now at the starting line, not the finish line,” and “You are players who should be in the first division. Have big dreams.”

Director Lee's leadership, which sometimes erupts so strongly that it seems 'threatening', is possible because it is based on communication.

Director Lee sets high standards, while also placing importance on the process of members understanding and accepting those standards. To achieve this, players are always asked what choice they should make in a game situation and are asked to find the answer on their own.

Coach Lee Jeong-hyo, who led Suwon's return to the first division, now faces both the task of 'rebuilding a prestigious club' and the opportunity to develop his soccer to the next level.

His tactical capabilities, player development ability, and leadership that values ​​the process rather than the result, which he proved in Gwangju and confirmed in Suwon, are already drawing attention to how they will unfold on the K-League 1 stage, where he will rise again on the blue wings of Suwon in 2027.