Busan IPark on verge of K League promotion as final playoff battle looms

After playing the past three seasons in the second division of South Korean football, Busan IPark are poised for promotion to the top competition for 2024 with one final playoff match scheduled for the weekend.

Busan will visit Suwon FC for the second leg of their K League promotion-relegation playoff at 2 p.m. Saturday at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, just south of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. The winner will play in the K League 1 next year, and the loser will end up in the K League 2 in 2024.

Busan last played in the top division in 2020. They had earned promotion after the 2019 season, but finished in last place in the K League 1 in 2020 to suffer direct relegation to the second division.

In the opening leg Wednesday, Busan prevailed 2-1 thanks to two second-half penalties converted by Bruno Lamas. After Suwon took a 1-0 lead late in the first half, Busan pulled even with the Brazilian forward's first penalty on 84 minutes. Lamas then completed Busan's comeback with another successful penalty during added time.

On the first penalty, Suwon FC's key midfielder Lee Seung-woo drew his second yellow card of the match, earning himself ejection from Wednesday's match and automatic suspension for the return leg. Lee led Suwon FC with 10 goals in the regular season and now must try to rally without the skilled 25-year-old.

Busan head coach Park Jin-sub said after the win that the biggest takeaway for his players was learning how to handle first-division opponents.

"I think the guys gained a lot of confidence by going up against a first-division club," Park said. "They are going to come out firing in the next match because they're trailing, but I think we will be able to lean on the confidence that we earned from this win."

The aggregate score after two legs will determine the winner. In 2022, the K League removed the away-goals rule, whereby the team with the more away goals was declared the winner in case of a tie in the aggregate score. If the clubs are tied after their two legs, then they will go to an extra period of 30 minutes, and then to a penalty shootout if necessary.

In the other promotion-relegation playoff, Gimpo FC of the K League 2 and Gangwon FC of the K League 1 ended their first leg in a goalless draw Wednesday. Their matchup shifts to Gangwon's home, the east coast city of Gangneung, at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Gimpo finished third in the K League 2 regular season in just their second year of existence and are now knocking on the K League 1 doors for the first time. Gangwon haven't played in the K League 2 since 2016.

The two sides traded few scoring chances in the opening leg. Gimpo boasted the stingiest defense in the K League 2 this year after conceding only 26 goals in 37 matches, and they lived up to that billing Wednesday.

Gimpo will still need to score Saturday. They only generated 42 goals this season to rank in the middle of the pack, but Luis Fabian Mina accounted for 17 of those to lead the K League 2.

Gangwon ranked last in the K League 1 with 30 goals this season.

Gimpo head coach Ko Jeong-woon said his defenders held their ground really well against the first-division club.

"We're going to have to address a few things for the next match, but overall, I thought we played fairly well," Ko said. "Our players can leave here with their heads held high."

Ko's counterpart, Yoon Jong-hwan, said the match was more difficult than his team had anticipated.

"We weren't able to create a lot of chances in the dangerous area and that's always been our biggest issue," Yoon said. "But I told the players that they won't have to be so down on themselves after this. We will try to get it done at home in the second leg." (Yonhap)