WK League News

Sejong Sportstoto finished in fifth place in the 2024 WK League, a position not unusual for the club, which has finished in the bottom half of the table most years since joining the league in 2011. Their best result was in 2016, when a third place finish saw them qualify for the play-off match against Icheon Daekyo. Since then, they have only once managed to break into the top four, a feat that seems to be increasingly difficult for teams that are not Gyeongju, Hwacheon, Incheon and Suwon. On the last day of the 2024 regular season, as the top teams battled for play-off places, the stakes were lower for Sejong, a good few points short of fourth place. However, they did also finish eleven points clear of 6th-placed Seoul. Almost ten years since their first play-off appearance, could 2025 be the year that Sejong reassert themselves as a top half-worthy team?

Sportstoto are managed by Yoon Deok-yeo, whose over thirty years of coaching experience includes stints at professional men’s clubs such as Pohang Steelers, Gyeongnam FC, and Jeonnam Dragons, before managing the South Korea women’s senior team from 2013-2019. Yoon has been in charge at Sejong Sportstoto since 2021.

At the end of the 2024 season, Sejong’s Kang Ga-ae, Hwang Boram, Kim Inji and Sato Mizuka retired from football. Besides her prowess on the pitch, veteran goalkeeper Kang is a board member of the Korean Professional Footballers Association (KPFA) and was the recipient of the Football Players Worldwide 2024 Player Voice Award for her relentless drive to improve women’s football in South Korea. No doubt her advocacy will continue as she hangs up her gloves, but her determination and experience will be missed at Sejong. Hwang is another legend of Korean women’s football, known as a robust defender for club and country, as well as for becoming the first mother to play for South Korea (and the first mother to play in the WK League) when she returned to football in 2017 after the birth of her daughter.

The winter transfer window saw forwards Kim So-eun and Cho Mijin head to Incheon and Suwon respectively, while midfielder Kim So-yi departed for Australia’s Subiaco AFC. Kim Bitna also left the club following the end of the 2024 season.

With seventeen existing players renewing their contracts, Sportstoto have also bolstered their squad with a number of new signings. At the 2025 WK League draft, the club secured midfielders Kim Jihyun and Jang Jinyoung, both on three year contracts. Kim, an alumna of the Son Football Academy, is known for her technical ability and was selected for the national U20 team last year. Jang was named as the most outstanding university-level player nationwide at last year’s Women’s Football Awards after leading Uiduk University to victory in the 2024 Women’s Football Championship as captain.

Jang is joined at Sejong by two of her former Uiduk teammates, defenders Kim Jiyoon and Lee Chae-eun, both of whom joined Sportstoto after the draft. It’s not only the Uiduk alumnae who were reunited with some familiar faces in Sejong this winter. First pick draftee Kim Jihyun joins the club from Daeduk University, following in the footsteps of her university seniors and Sejong’s 2024 draftees Shin Hyebin and Noh Haneul. In this way Sportstoto have smartly recruited players who are not only talented in their own right, but also have a headstart in getting used to each other both on and off the pitch.

Arriving in Sejong from Seoul WFC this winter were Ryu Jisoo and Jo Haneul. Despite a late start to football and notably, a lack of college football experience, goalkeeper Ryu has made her name as a hardworking and resilient player. She has shown grit and determination at every step of a career that has taken her from personally telephoning the KFA as a teenager to ask for a school recommendation, to rightfully earning her spot in South Korea’s senior squad. Ryu was a standout player for Seoul WFC last season and while Kang Ga-ae is a tough act to follow, Ryu will be as determined as ever to prove herself worthy as Sportstoto’s starting keeper. For her part Jo has been at Seoul since 2021 and brings her league experience to Sejong as another midfield option. Returning to the WK League after a year away from football, Park Mideum, formerly of Hwacheon KSPO, has also joined Sejong Sportstoto this season.

Sejong’s final signing this winter was Eva Vlassopoulos, a left-footed striker originally hailing from Portland in the U.S.A. She played for the University of Redlands in California before becoming the college’s first athlete to sign a professional contract when she joined leading Greek side PAOK FC in 2022. Vlassopoulos will now be donning the number 10 shirt for Sejong, hoping to bring her goalscoring ability to the club as they attempt to finish in the top half of the league table for the first time in seven years.

Playing alongside Vlassopoulos up front will be Jung Seolbin, one of the oldest players in Sejong’s squad at 35 years of age. Over the course of her career so far, Jung has made over eighty appearances and scored 22 goals for South Korea (including as part of the bronze medal-winning squad at the 2014 Asian Games), as well as winning ten WK League titles with Incheon Hyundai before moving to Sejong last year. A key player to look out for in Sejong’s defence is left back Jo Minah, fresh from making her international debut for South Korea at this year’s Pink Ladies Cup. Jo has been at Sejong since her debut season in 2021, when she joined the team along with Kim Soojin, Kang Jiwoo and Kim Youmi, all of whom are still at the club together.

It can be easy to dismiss Sejong as a lower-half side, not necessarily because of their performance but because of the teams they have to compete with to have any chance of a better finish than last year. It won’t be enough for Sportstoto to beat the teams below them and settle for a draw against tougher opponents if they want to land in the top four by the end of the season. In 2024, in sixteen league matches against Gyeongju, Hwacheon, Incheon and Suwon (twice home, twice away against each) Sejong recorded only one win. These games will be crucial if Sportstoto are serious about their play-off ambitions. Sejong may not have the ‘big names’ of Korean football that some other clubs boast, but there’s still a whole lot of talent in their 2025 squad. With some promising new additions joining the fold, Sejong should be able to score more points this year than last, but they’ll need to stay fit and focused all season, and score those points in the ‘right’ matches for it to be enough to put them in play-off contention.

Sejong Sportstoto 2025 squad

Changes from 2024