Suwon FC

Suwon FC spend their days in K League 1 and they have twice found the top half of it — fifth in 2021, fifth again in 2024. That first fifth place came in a season when Lars Veldwijk scored 18 goals, the most anyone managed in the division that year.

The distinction the name carries matters in Suwon. Suwon Samsung Bluewings are the corporate side; Suwon FC were the citizens' side, and the derby between them turns on that as much as on the table. A second rivalry, with Seongnam FC, is known as the Flag Derby.

Promotion to the top division has come twice, in 2016 and in 2021, both times after a runners-up finish in K League 2 the season before. The 2020 campaign was carried by An Byong-jun, whose 20 goals were the most in the division.

Home is the Suwon Sports Complex, 11,808 seats — modest by the standards of the league they now play in.

Because before any of it there was a semi-professional team, founded on 15 March 2003 as Suwon City Football Club. Kim Chang-kyum managed it for the first eight years. It won the Korea National League in 2010 and the President's Cup twice before that. Full professional status was granted in December 2012; the club took the name Suwon FC and entered the second tier the following season.