Coach Yoon Deok-yeo’s determination is unusual for Sejong Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team (hereinafter referred to as Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team) to prepare for the WK League in Korea in the 2024 season.
Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team, operated by Sports Toto Korea, a consignment company of Sports Toto, a sports promotion voting ticket issued by the National Sports Promotion Agency, expressed its determination to advance to the playoffs this year by replacing coaches and recruiting new players and transfer players ahead of the new season.
Coach Yoon Deok-yeo, who is in his fourth season, has a chance to rebound by ranking fifth last season and winning the National Sports Festival
I will repay Sejong citizens with the gift of advancing to the playoffs this season
As a former member of the national team, he made a name for himself by playing in the 90-year Italy World Cup and the Beijing Asian Games, and the past three years of Yoon Deok-yeo, who led the Korean women’s national team for about eight years, were especially regrettable compared to his stellar reputation. As a legend in the Korean soccer community, the expectations for Yoon may have been somewhat high and hasty.
Did Yoon’s efforts to meet these expectations finally come through? Last year, the Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team cruised with a completely different appearance at the beginning of the season. Although the pace has declined due to the aftermath of injuries since the second half of the year, it ranked fifth in the league, the highest since Yoon Deok-yeo took the helm.
In particular, at the 104th National Sports Festival, where he participated on behalf of Sejong Special Self-Governing City (Mayor Choi Min-ho), he won the general women’s soccer team and finally won the first trophy of Yoon Deok-yeo.
Based on these achievements, Coach Yoon Deok-yeo, who will be in her fourth season at Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team, expressed her determination to give the club and Sejong City fans who have trusted her and the team a valuable gift to advance to the playoffs in a different way this season.
In fact, according to Yoon, about 30% of the total number of players has changed this season, and Park Hye-jung, who became the vitality of the team last season, is regrettable, but she says her strength has stabilized because of the recruitment of talented veteran players. In addition to veteran players, the addition of talented rookie players such as No Ha-neul, No Ha-neul, Shin Hye-bin and Kim Yoon-joo, is also a big boost.
Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team also predicted a sensation this season by being considered a dark horse by coaches and major players of many WK League teams at the WK League 2024 Media Day held on the 12th.
During the offseason, manager Yoon Deok-yeo first recruited new GK coaches and physical coaches to strengthen the team’s internal stability while focusing on strengthening defense to minimize the loss of more than 1.5 points last season.
Park Kyu-hong, the new GK coach, has been in the WK League for years, including Boeun Sangmu and Gyeongju KHNP, and is more familiar with the goalkeeper, a vulnerable position in women’s soccer. In Sports Toto, a veteran goalkeeper named Kang Ga-ae has been firmly guarding the goal for years, but he is having some difficulties developing a player to succeed him.
In response, it is evaluated that the newly recruited coach Park Kyu-hong will not only strengthen his current power, but also contribute greatly to training goalkeepers for the future of the team.
In addition, physical coach Sung Ki-hoon joined the team to prevent injury to players who had held back the Sports Toto women’s soccer team at every important moment. Coach Sung, who has many years of physical coaching experience at Pai Chai University, is responsible for the team’s physical strength this season along with trainer Lee Eun-mi, who plays the role of Sports Toto’s master. If their skills are fully demonstrated, it is expected that they will serve as a strong bridgehead not only to prevent injuries but also to achieve the team’s goals.
In the offense, Kim So-eun, who scored five goals in the 2023 season, former national team transfer striker Jung Seol-bin, and Japanese mercenary Matsuka Sato will fill the positions where Hilda and her partner Gavi, who were responsible for the team’s scoring last season.
In particular, Jung Seol-bin, who moved from Incheon Hyundai Steel, is considered to be a striker who will be responsible for the score of the Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team based on her experience and skill. In the case of Jung Seol-bin, she will once again show her explosive power at the Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team, which faces a new challenge, as she has worked with coach Yoon Deok-yeo several times in preparation for the 2019 World Cup in France.
In the center and defense, Ji Sun-mi, who returned, and veteran Kim Do-yeon, who transferred from Hyundai Steel, will help. After joining Sports Toto in 2012, Ji Sun-mi returned to Sports Toto again after passing through Icheon Bridge. She spent three years at Suwon FC, but once again returned to Sports Toto to take care of the team’s waist.
Kim Do-yeon is a member of the South Korean women’s national team and has good memories of going to two World Cups with coach Yoon Deok-yeo, building a teacher-student relationship. Above all, as she is a seasoned defender with a lot of experience, she is expected to greatly contribute to strengthening the team’s defense.
Captain Lee Hyo-kyung, who met after the media day, said, “I think this season’s squad has become stronger because of the addition of confident rookies and the experience of veteran players who joined the team,” and added, “As a captain, if we value all team members as family members and share them, it will be a season that can grow to the next level as well as players.”
Meanwhile, Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team is vowing to win its home opening match against Gyeongju KHNP, the second round.
The home opening match, which will be held at Sejong Civic Stadium, the home of Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team, at 7 p.m. on the 21st (Thursday), will be attended by Sejong Mayor Choi Min-ho, City Mayor Lee Soon-yeol, Chairman Oh Young-chul, and Chairman Kim Soon-gong of the City Football Association to encourage the players, while team owners Song Young-woong and Lee Ho-young will also visit the stadium to support the team with Sejong citizens.
Sejong Civic Stadium, which was introduced through the last game of last season, is the home stadium of the 1,100-seat Sports Toto Women’s Soccer Team, and about 1,000 Sejong City soccer fans will visit the stadium to cheer enthusiastically in the opening game. 먹튀검증