Four new recruits will join professional soccer’s K League 2 champions Gimcheon Commerce early next year as they move up to the first division.
The Armed Forces Recruitment Agency notified applicants individually for 30 days whether they passed the first batch of 2024 Armed Forces Sports Specialists.
Based on what the K League 1 and 2 clubs have learned about the players, Yoo Kang-hyun, Kim Min-duk (Daejeon), Cho Jin-woo (Daegu), and Lee Sang-min (Seongnam) will play for Gimcheon next season. They will join the team on January 2.
The team only recruited players who can play the striker and center back positions, so all applicants who played other positions were rejected.
In June, Gimcheon selected 17 players, including Baek Seung-ho, Song Min-kyu (formerly of Jeonbuk), Seol Young-woo, and Uhm Won-sang (formerly of Ulsan), as the second batch of 2023 Armed Forces Sports Specialists.
Among them, Baek Seung-ho, Song Min-kyu, Seol Young-woo, and Uhm Won-sang received military service benefits after competing at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and winning gold under the leadership of Hwang Sun-hong.
Cho Young-wook, who has been Gimcheon’s mainstay this season, also received an “early discharge” for his performance at the Asian Games. He completed his remaining military training and was discharged today.
Lee Sang-min was originally called up by Hwang to the final roster for the Asian Games.
However, it was later confirmed that he was caught driving under the influence of alcohol in 2020 and fined 5 million won ($4,000), making him ineligible for selection, and he ended up completing his military service through Gimcheon.
Competing in K League 1 in the 2022 season, Gimcheon fell to 11th place and was relegated to K League 2 after a promotion playoff.
The desperate Gimcheon (22 wins, 5 draws, 9 losses, 71 points), who won the K League 2 title this season over Busan I-Park (20 wins, 10 draws, 5 losses, 70 points), will return to the top division after one season. 토토사이트