Coach Kim Ki-dong said,

Coach Kim Ki-dong said,

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"The team bus must have been blocked a few times.... I got a great boost from your trust and support to the end."

FC Seoul coach Kim Ki-dong (53) said with a smile, "Looking back on the past year. I remembered the lackluster early days of the season, when I lost in five official matches that were held at home at one point. Fans had high expectations even before the opening of the season, so their disappointment must have been great. Instead of expressing discontent about poor performance, however, Seoul fans silently waited for Kim Ki-dong's rebound.

Consequently, Seoul has successfully rebounded in the second half of the year. It has advanced to the Final A stage for the first time in five years, and is also close to participating in the AFC Champions League. Kim, who had been desperate enough to say, "If we don't normalize the team, we will go out on our own," can now look back on the days with a smile. "Thanks to fans' long waiting for us, we gained momentum and gained strength in the second half of the year," Kim Ki-dong said. "This is just the beginning. We will make more efforts to achieve our goals in Seoul."

Kim Ki Dong-ho, who was disappointed as expected, started Seoul

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pressured. I felt pressured, but I wanted to test myself. I also had confidence in myself, so I think I always spoke with confidence in myself at the press conference. I was more excited about myself than afraid."

One of the biggest issues in the K-League ahead of the 2024 season was that Kim Ki-dong left Pohang Steelers and took the helm of Seoul. There was also a reinforcement effect, including the recruitment of Jesse Lingard (England) from the English Premier League (EPL), but the biggest reason why Seoul received attention as a team of sensation and a favorite ahead of the opening of this season was the presence of head coach Kim Ki-dong.

Of course, it was not an easy decision for Kim to leave Pohang and take the helm of Seoul. However, he decided that in order to take the manager to the next level, he needed to succeed and prove in a team other than Pohang. If he failed, his coach career could have been missed, but Kim boldly headed to Seoul.

Coach Kim Ki-dong said, "Since I retired from the team called Pohang and even served as a leader there, many people said that Kim Ki-dong is a Pohang man." He also said, "I would have done that much because it was Pohang," adding, "I thought I would be recognized only when I showed better performance in the team called Seoul. I think I wanted to challenge myself even more."

Seoul's poor performance at the beginning of the season was thus even more shocking.

Kim Ki-dong's debut match at home, which drew more than 50,000 spectators, ended up with a lethargic performance, and ended up losing five consecutive home games starting in April. Throughout the early and mid-season of the season, Seoul's K-League 1 performance remained in the middle of the league with four wins, six draws and seven losses. It was disappointing as much as it had high expectations. The audience booed him from the beginning of the season.

"In fact, in the beginning, I expected the team to show poor performance. As we started the winter training in January, the players were not in the team I wanted," Kim said. "The players' pie was already big and we had a lot of budget. We couldn't organize our players, but we weren't in a situation where we should bring in new players. Eventually, we prepared for the season with the existing players, but the problem was that most of the existing players were not able to play in games. Eventually, we thought that the composition of players should change to some extent, and that the culture of Seoul should change. I thought that it would be difficult until the culture changes."
"However, I thought, 'How bad is this?'" coach Kim said, expressing his frustration with the performance and results that were far worse than expected. "In the first half of the year, I thought it could be difficult, but the team began to falter as an own goal or a mistake came out. I expected it, but it was a time when I thought it would not go this far."

Fortunately, Kim Ki-dong and his players remained unwavering despite their performance falling far short of expectations, and fans also waited silently for him. This became an important stepping stone for Seoul to make a comeback in the second half of the year.

"Don't Worry" Kim Ki-dong's Confidence, Seoul's Glaring 'Return'

"When my team was in a slump, I always told my players, 'Don't worry, it will definitely get better in the second half of the year, and I'm confident about that.' I think I kept my balance because I thought it could get harder if I was in a hurry and said something I didn't like while shaking. When I met the chairman of the supporters, he said, 'Don't worry, if you don't normalize the team, I'll take care of it.' I said I will definitely repay him for not blocking the bus even after five consecutive home losses."

Kim Ki-dong's confidence, which remained unwavering despite Seoul's sluggish performance, soon became a reality. He started the season with three consecutive wins at the end of June. Since then, he has posted nine wins and two losses including five consecutive wins between July and August. His faltering performance in the first half disappeared, and the much-anticipated performance of Kim Ki-dong in Seoul before the season began to show up as a result of his performance and performance. Kim Ki-dong's tactics began to take root gradually, and players' presence in the summer transfer market combined.

Yazan (Jordan), the center back who was newly recruited in the transfer market, played in 12 games in the second half of the year and was named the best 11 in the K League 1 round six times. After the end of the season, he was even listed as the best 11 candidate in the K League 1 season. Kang Hyun-moo also joined the team and defended the goal firmly, while Lucas also helped by moving between the sides and the front. On top of that, as existing players who understood Kim Ki-dong's tactics took the lead, Seoul's performance and results have significantly changed compared to the first half.

"But I don't think Seoul got better all at once," coach Kim Ki-dong said. "It was when I taught my son (Kim Jun-ho) how to play soccer. I remember teaching him in anger because I couldn't teach him something very easy. Then about two weeks later, I am already doing what I taught him. After all, I need time."

"In the summer, we also recruited Kang Hyun-moo and defender Yazan. We also brought Lucas for technical reinforcement. During this period, the team gave me strength. They enabled me to choose the player I wanted. Players recommended by the team and players who had difficulty recruiting due to high transfer fees eventually listened to my opinion," Kim said. "It seems that we created a synergy effect as the part we prepared and thought about in the first half met with the newly recruited players. Over the past six months, we have continuously tried to change tactical and daily aspects, which started to emerge in the second half of the year."

In the end, Seoul finished the season with 16 wins, 10 draws and 12 losses (58 points) and ranking fourth in the K League 1. It is the first time in five years that the team has advanced to the Final A, and depending on the performance of the ALC elite and the K-League teams that are currently underway, it is now possible for the team to play in the ACL Elite or ACL2 in the 2025-26 season. Seoul, which lost its pride by staying in the Final B for the last four seasons, has finally rebounded.

Head coach Kim Ki-dong said, "I also made the performance I thought I would have made at first, but I also think I would have gone in a better direction if I had accumulated a little more points in the beginning. If I had overcome it quickly when I was in a bad situation at first, I think it was a year where I felt regret that all the players would be set up and trained, and if it went well from the beginning, I would have gone to a higher place."

Lingard is definitely a player who is expected to rebound in Seoul during the 2024 season and the second half of the season. He gave Kim Ki-dong a hard time in the early part of the season, but he also led the team after taking the role of captain of the team after the mid-season. In fact, in the early part of the season, Kim openly criticized him for "running around," and he had knee surgery to leave the team for four weeks in the first half.

"He has a good sense of soccer and he is a good player. That's why he must have played in the English Premier League," Kim said. "However, when I first met him, I was not physically fit although I had a good sense. He couldn't find a team for about a year and a half, and his knee was slightly abnormal while exercising individually, which made him feel uncomfortable when shooting. He said he was okay and the season has begun."

"In the first half of the year, we didn't get much chance to use Lingard," Kim said. "He said he was scared at first when getting knee surgery. I've never tried it before, and I think he was scared to get surgery in Korea," Kim added. "So I persuaded him by saying, 'Trust me and try it. It's not a surgery, but a procedure.' After the surgery, he said, 'Thank you so much, I feel so comfortable. I have increased my training capacity since then, and I think I have been able to get better."

In fact, after scoring a goal in the middle of this season, Lingard accumulated attack points one by one, and eventually garnered six goals and three assists in 26 games. In particular, most of his attack points were concentrated in the second half when Seoul's rebound started in earnest. However, the effect of Lingard was not limited to attack points. After the middle of this season, he even kicked the captain's armband instead of Ki Sung-yueng, who was out of the lineup due to injury. Consequently, he became Kim's trick.

Coach Kim said, "(Ki) Sung-yong got hurt and thought a lot about it. I thought I would work harder if I gave him responsibility, so I handed over the captain's armband to Lingard. Then I got a lot of talk and tried hard to lead the team," he said. "Sometimes I let go, and he advised me that 'the leader must act before words.' As Lingard led the team responsibly, other players also changed their view of Lingard."

"I was so grateful for the effort to adapt to Korea. For example, there were times when the training site was so hot this year that the training site was completely bare ground. They even refused to take part in the training. If they were other players, they would not have trained. However, Lingard was different. He expressed discontent about the condition of the training site, but continued to try to adapt by training. I felt grateful because I thought that he was really serious about soccer." Coach Kim Ki-dong also smiled while delivering an episode that touched Lingard.

"It was after the Gimcheon Sangmu match in the last game of the season 안전놀이터. After moving from Gimcheon to Seoul, I took a slow shower and came out, and Lingard was waiting for me outside the shower with an interpreter. I said, 'Why didn't you go? You said hello earlier,' and he was waiting for me, saying, 'It's the end of the season, and I will say hello before the vacation.' Other Korean players don't do that either, but an English player, a star player, said hello and waited for me to go. I was touched there. How pretty is that?"

To restore FC Seoul's glorious glory

Coach Kim Ki-dong, who finished his first season in Seoul, is busy preparing for the 2025 season even during his vacation. He is not satisfied with his entry into the "Final A" this season and his fourth place performance, and is preparing to go higher next year. Notably, in the next season, he will be able to prepare for the season in the direction that Kim Ki-dong wants, ranging from player composition to training. Naturally, both Kim and the Seoul team have high expectations for the new season.

"Actually, I have a headache about the formation of players," Kim Ki-dong said. "I have to set up players I want, and I have to start the new season on Feb. 15 starting with winter training. I am constantly communicating with the club about the formation of players. I am calling them every day and checking the situations in which they are going back."

Players who led the team's rebound in the second half of this season will now be the mainstay of the team from the beginning of the 2025 season. "Lingard is the first winter training session. I think I will be able to do better from the beginning next year," Kim said. "I tend to strain my hamstring in the second half of this season, but I think that will be eliminated if I prepare well in the winter.

Director Kim Ki-dong said, "It's the first time I've ever exceeded 500,000 spectators