WK League News

There’s been a changing of the guard at the Incheon Asiad. After eleven championship titles on the trot, the Red Angels fell from grace in 2024, finishing outside of the play-off positions for the first time in WK League history. After the end of the season, manager Kim Eun-sook was called in for a chat, and she handed in her resignation before the club could give her the sack. Hyundai Steel held open recruitment for a replacement, and announced the appointment of Hur Jeong-jae on 27th November.

Regardless of her disappointing final season as manager, Kim Eun-sook has already solidified her status as a part of the Red Angels’ history. She herself played for the club from 1995 to 2001, and after coaching a number of school and university teams elsewhere, she returned to Incheon as a coach in 2012 and has been there throughout the team’s league dominance. She was asked to oversee pre-season training as acting manager after the departure of Jung Sung-chun in 2021, and was formally appointed as the new manager in 2022, becoming the first female manager to lead a team to the WK League championship title. She repeated the feat in 2023 before falling short in 2024.

Her replacement is Hur Jeong-jae, who is a newcomer to the WK League, but certainly not a newcomer to Korean women’s football.

55-year-old Hur had a brief playing career at Seoul Shintak Bank in the works football league, a forerunner to the present-day semi-pro K3 and K4 Leagues. He took up his first coaching position in 1999 at Poongsaeng Middle School in Seongnam, becoming the football team’s manager in 2010. Poongsaeng Middle School’s team serves as the youth division of Seongnam FC, known as Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma at the time. Hur managed the U-12 team there for a couple of years before being appointed as manager of the Poongsaeng High School team, also known as Seongnam FC U-18. There he coached the likes of FC Seoul’s Lee Si-young, Gwangju FC’s Park Tae-jun, and Kim Min-kyu of Seoul E-Land.

Hur’s career in women’s football began in 2016 when he was appointed manager of the South Korea U-17 national team. At the 2017 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship his squad came second in their group before beating Japan in a penalty shoot-out in the semi-final. Their performance wasn’t quite enough to claim victory over North Korea in the final, but it was enough to gain qualification for the 2018 U-17 World Cup. Sadly, the team was unable to repeat their continental success on the global stage, finishing fourth in their group, but the squad was praised for their efforts against tough opposition.

Hur was subsequently put in charge of the U-20 national team, taking them to the 2019 AFC U-19 Women’s Championship. After another group second-place finish and another loss to North Korea in the semi-final, the team smashed Australia 9-0 in the third place play-off to secure a spot at the 2020 U-20 World Cup. Unfortunately, that tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19, but the qualification was carried over to the 2022 edition.

During his tenure as manager of the U-20 team, Hur Jeong-jae was also looking after some of the other national youth teams. His involvement in the women’s national youth teams continued after stepping down as manager in 2020. Still employed full-time at the KFA, he was part of the coaching staff that accompanied South Korea’s team to the 2024 U-17 Women’s World Cup in the Dominican Republic.

It is with this experience that Hur joins the Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels. His squad there includes players he has directly managed in the youth teams: Incheon’s Moon Ha-yeon was in the squad at the 2018 U-17 World Cup, while Lee Deok-ju and new signing Jung Yoo-jin (previously at Seoul City) featured at the 2019 AFC U-19 Women’s Championship. Hur’s previous role will have made him very familiar with the WK League and its players, many of whom have played for the national youth teams.

Hur has also been working as a member of the KFA’s technology development committee, and is said to have a keen interest in analysis, keeping an eye on football trends around the world. This may also have appealed to Incheon, the only team in the WK League thus far with a dedicated analyst on their staff. As the WK League develops and as women’s football continues to grow globally, the Red Angels will be hoping to use technology and statistics to boost their on-pitch performance and maintain their reputation as the most successful women’s team in South Korea.

Hur has already had a chance to make an impact on the squad ahead of the new season. Despite somewhat of an exodus of players to overseas clubs, Incheon’s roster is still looking reasonably healthy, if slightly smaller than it was last year. Luck was on Hur’s side as he got first pick of the rookies at the new players’ draft, and since then he has added two experienced players to the squad in Kim So-eun and Jung Yoo-jin. Additionally, the Red Angels bade farewell to Seo Ji-yeon at the end of last season in an Instagram post, but she has since renewed her contract with the club.

The new manager has been overseeing the Red Angels’ winter pre-season training, supported by assistant coach Kim Dae-yeol, a former professional who most recently played for Ansan Greeners before retiring and beginning his coaching career a couple of years ago. The team’s new goalkeeping coach is Jo Jung-min, whose coaching experience includes a spell at Cheonan City (before they turned pro), as well as working with a number of youth teams including at Yongin Football Centre and Busan I-Park U-15s. Moon Min-sung, formerly of FC Seoul’s youth division, joins the Red Angels as physical coach.

Hur brings a wealth of knowledge and perhaps some fresh perspective as he begins his first season in the WK League. In this league, fixtures come thick and fast, with little recovery time between matches in far-flung corners of the country. With no WK League experience, the new coaching team may take some time to adapt to the relentless schedule. Furthermore, these coaches are accustomed to working with youth teams, but Incheon’s 2025 squad is made up of mostly very experienced players. Will this prove a challenge or will it be a meeting of the minds that returns the Red Angels to their former glory? Only time, and results, will tell.

Incheon host Mungyeong Sangmu on WK League opening day (15 March, kickoff at 14:00). They’re also in action the following weekend in the quarter-finals of the AFC Women’s Champions League (22 March, kickoff at 19:00). Both matches will take place at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium.