WK League News

After years of mid-table finishes, in recent seasons Hwacheon KSPO have been edging closer to the WK League title. In 2023, they finished the league season in second place, but lost out to third-ranked Suwon FC in the play-off. Last year, they were in first place in the league, but lost to Suwon FC in the championship final. Let’s take a look at the squad that will be attempting to go one step further in 2025…

Hwacheon have had a managerial change since the end of the 2024 season. Outgoing manager Kang Jae-soon had been at the helm of KSPO since its foundation (as Jeonbuk KSPO) in 2011. He decided to step down in 2024, going out on a high with Hwacheon’s best season yet. He is replaced as manager by Kang Sun-mi, who has been working as a coach under Kang Jae-soon at the club since 2020. Kang Sun-mi retired from football in 2013 and had a coaching role at Gangwon State University before joining Hwacheon KSPO. With the new manager being promoted from the existing coaching staff, and former manager Kang Jae-soon remaining in the background as a general director at the club, the managerial change seems unlikely to herald a major shift in direction for KSPO.

While Hwacheon don’t have as many comings-and-goings as some other WK League teams this year, there are a few changes. Midfielder Yoon Ha-yoon, onetime South Korea goalkeeper Jung Bo-ram, and KSPO club legend Choe Su-jin all hung up their boots at the end of the 2024 season. Defender Choe will be a particularly noticeable absence for Hwacheon — after two WK League seasons at the now-defunct Chungnam Ilhwa, she had played for KSPO continuously since its foundation, clocking up over 300 total WK League appearances.

Another veteran of Korean women’s football, defensive midfielder Son Yoon-hee, has transferred to Seoul City Amazones, where she will be bringing her years of experience to the role of club captain this year. She is joined in Seoul by former Hwacheon teammate Jo Ye-song. KSPO also bid farewell this winter to midfielder Lee Jung-eun, who is now playing for fourth tier Japanese side Renofa Yamaguchi FC Ladies.

Hwacheon recruited four rookie players at the 2025 WK League draft, signing Cheon Se-hwa and Choi Min-a, both of Ulsan Technical College, as their first and second picks respectively. Cheon is an energetic striker with proven goal-scoring ability who represented South Korea at the 2024 U-20 World Cup in Colombia, while teammate Choi is a defender. KSPO additionally recruited goalkeeper Hong Yoo-jin of Daekyung University and Daedeok University defender Jo Ye-jin, another member of the 2024 U-20 World Cup squad.

After the draft, Hwacheon added another youngster to their squad in Japanese striker Nonaka Hana, who pursued her studies at Daekyung University with ambitions of a career in the WK League. The club has also brought in Jang Yoo-bin, another striker who has three years of experience at Seoul City and six senior international caps, and Kim Yu-ri, a defender known for her excellent technical skills, who joins the club from Changnyeong WFC.

Lee Soo-bin, a familiar face at Hwacheon, is re-joining the club this season after completing only six months of a two year contract at Kobe INAC. Fans have speculated that her experience in Japan turned sour as she didn’t get as many minutes on the pitch as expected. Hwacheon will be glad to welcome Lee back into the fold. She ranked among the players with the most assists in the league last season (despite only being present for half of it), and could prove to be key in creating scoring opportunities for the team’s veritable band of strikers.

With six players leaving, one returning and seven new arrivals, much of Hwacheon’s roster, one of the larger ones in the league, is largely unchanged from last year. It’s a squad that boasts a lot of experience, and a lot of loyalty — once players arrive at Hwacheon, a lot of them seem to stay a while.

One returning player to keep an eye on is speedy striker Cheon Garam, who was signed as the first pick overall in the 2023 WK League draft. Her performances both in the league and for the national U-20 team in that year earned her a Player of the Year award from the KFA, but she didn’t score her elusive first goal for Hwacheon until July 2024. She’ll be hoping to get her name on the scoresheet more regularly this season. Teammates Moon Eun-ju and Choi Yoo-jeong are both fresh back from scoring goals for South Korea at the Pink Ladies Cup. Choi was one of the league’s top scorers last year with six goals in 16 appearances. KSPO’s back line is nothing to be sniffed at either. Jeong Ji-yeon will be leading the team as club captain this year, and Maeng Da-hee is another reliable player who always puts a shift in, fighting hard to shut down opposition attacks.

In both the managerial handover and the squad itself, Hwacheon’s theme is continuity. Of course there are a handful of new faces, but the majority of the team and their coaching staff have got to know each other well, both on and off the pitch, over years spent working together. It’s almost hard to pick stand-out talents and key players because there’s a lot of strength and consistency across the squad. Hwacheon is one of the most rurally located football clubs in South Korea, never mind just the WK League, but their player retention rate and enthusiastic home support seem to illustrate a club culture of pride and loyalty. Many of these players experienced the highs and lows together as the club has inched closer to the championship title over the past few years. Hwacheon’s ability to build on a mostly intact squad may give them the edge over old rivals Suwon FC this year, but Suwon’s new signings may provide some surprises. Besides, Hwacheon aren’t the only team that’s come tantalisingly close to the title only to fall short in the final stages. Gyeongju KHNP are just as determined to get their first WK League trophy. Whatever happens, Hwacheon KSPO will surely be among the title contenders towards the end of the season.

Hwacheon KSPO 2025 Squad

Changes from 2024