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The Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma club, founded in 1989, is a professional football team in South Korea. With seven league crowns, it is the most successful K-League club in terms of Championship victories. Controversy has followed the club, however, because of ownership by one of Sun Myung Moon's organizations.[1]
The club is the most successful in Korean football history, having won K-League Championship 7 times with 2 times of third consecutive wins.
History
The club began life playing at Dongdaemun Stadium in Seoul, but after winning their third consecutive title in 1995 the league officials declared that all of the three teams based in the capital had to leave, so the club moved down to Cheonan.
Several unsuccessful seasons followed, and when they finished at the bottom of the league for the second time in 1999, the club moved up to the Seoul satellite city of Seongnam and renamed themselves Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. The move worked out very well, as the rejuvenated club went on to win the 2001, 2002 and 2003 K-League championships.
A disappointing 2004 campaign saw them meekly relinquish their title, but they reached the final of the Asian Champions League, where despite winning the away leg 3-1, they lost the home leg 5-0 to the Saudi Arabian team Al-Ittihad and lost the tie 6-3 on aggregate.
The club bounced back to the forefront of Korean football in style as they claimed their seventh K-League championship in 2006, defeating Suwon Samsung Bluewings 3-1 on aggregate in the championship playoff final. This was their 7th time to become K-League champion which is the highest championship record of all time in K-League.
Before they were defeated by Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2-1 on 15th July, 2007, they had not lost for 22 consecutive league matches. It was the third longest streak in the history of the K-league.
In the championship playoff final 2007, they were defeated by Pohang Steelers 4-1 agg. Despite finishing first place in the K-League, they failed to become a champion which brought up the controversy of the playoffs.
In 2008 they have moved their home stadium to Seongnam 1 Stadium for their summer season, due to rebuilding of Tancheon Sports Complex. However, due to the delay of reconstruction on Tancheon Sports Complex they came back to their home stadium.
Club honors
Domestic
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- 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006
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- 1992, 2007
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- 1999
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- 1997
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- 2002
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- 2000, 2004
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- 1992, 2002
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- 1995, 2000
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- 2004
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- 2006
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International
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- 1996
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- 1997, 2004
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- 1996
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- 2004
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Current squad
The players in bold have senior international caps.
As of July 10, 2008
2008 Season transfers
- In
- Out
External links
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Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma – current squad |
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