Professional soccer’s K League One Ulsan Hyundai clinched an early title in the 2023 season with a win over Daegu FC, becoming the first club in history to win back-to-back titles.

Ulsan won the Hana OneQ K League 1 2023 Final A Round 35 home match against Daegu 2-0 on Monday at 2 p.m. at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, Korea, thanks to back-to-back goals from substitutes Kim Min-hyuk and Jang Si-young.

With the win, Ulsan reached the 70-point plateau and extended its lead over Pohang Steelers (60 points), who drew 1-1 with Jeonbuk Hyundai the previous day, to 10 points, clinching an early title regardless of the outcome of their remaining three matches.

Ulsan reached the top of the league for the first time in 17 years last season with a win over Gangwon FC with one game to spare, but this season the trophy came sooner than that.

It is the club’s first back-to-back league titles and fourth overall (1996, 2005, 2022, 2023). It is tied with Suwon Samsung and Busan I-Park for the fifth most wins in the top tier of professional soccer. For reference, Jeonbuk leads the category with nine.

Hong Myung-bo led Ulsan to back-to-back championships, becoming the sixth manager in history to lead a team to back-to-back K League titles.

Previously, the late Park Jong-hwan (Seongnam 1993, 1994, 1995), Kim Ho (Suwon 1998, 1999), Cha Kyung-bok (Seongnam 2001, 2002, 2003), Choi Kang-hee (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018), and Jose Morais (Jeonbuk 2019, 2020) won back-to-back titles.

Daegu is in sixth place (49 points), the bottom of Final A.

It wasn’t easy for them to secure an early victory. The team came from behind to win against Daegu, who are known to “like to sprinkle ashes on their feast”.

Daegu had the first good scoring chance of the game. In the seventh minute of the first half, Keita’s pass from the left flank found its way past the Ulsan defense to Go Jae-hyun, but his shot was blocked by Ulsan goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo.

Ulsan also fought back. In the 23rd minute, Seol Young-woo collected a loose ball in the opponent’s half and attempted a powerful left-footed shot from near the penalty box, but it was saved by the goalkeeper.

As the offense continued, Ulsan head coach Hong Myung-bo made a quick change. In the 25th minute, he took off Kang Yoon-koo and brought on Ataru to bolster the defense. 짱구카지노 도메인

Daegu head coach Choi Won-kwon made an unwanted substitution in the 31st minute, bringing on Edgar for Vaselus, who was feeling unwell.