On the 29th of last month, Gyeongnam FC striker Won Ki-jong sent his final message to fans who entered the training center to join the Armed Forces Sports Unit (Kimcheon Sang-mu).
Won Ki-jong joined Gyeongnam on a loan transfer in July 2022 and became the main gun of Gyeongnam when he moved completely the following year.
It was only the presence of fans who chose Gyeongnam. Desperate to secure playing time, he grew up with the energy of fans under the soil of Gyeongnam.
In a recent interview with Best Eleven, he said, “Gyeongnam is a team that has a really big atmosphere like a fan’s family. They created an environment and atmosphere where fans can play freely in their home stadiums. That was the biggest reason for choosing Gyeongsangnam-do.”
Of course, there were mixed feelings of disappointment. Gyeongnam advanced into the promotion playoff by ranking fifth in the 2022 season, but had to put off its dream of promotion as it was defeated by FC Anyang just before the promotion PO. In the second half of the season, he couldn’t play due to a big orbital fracture, but returned to the match against Anyang for a short period of time.
“I’ve never had such a big injury in my soccer life. It was really hard, but I wanted to help the team even a little bit, so I came back early. I wasn’t in 100% of my condition at the match against Anyang, but I was put in early unexpectedly due to an injury to my teammate. I was really frustrated and upset that my body didn’t follow me even though I was digesting a lot of time,” he said.
He nourished his disappointment. Last year, he scored 11 goals and made three assists in the league, renewing his career high. “Personally, it was a satisfactory record. What a striker can help his team is a goal after all. I think he did to some extent in that regard.”
Still, he knelt again in his second promotion PO. His opponent was Gimpo FC. Won scored the equalizer to make it 1-1 in the 36th minute, but his team lost 1-2, conceding one more goal to the opponent.
“The team’s goal was promotion, but I remember not achieving it. If I had done better, the team would have cheered up and succeeded,” Ki said. “It was such a shame that I couldn’t express it in words. After the game, I was so frustrated that I couldn’t do anything and had a hard time.” 안전놀이터
With the decision to go to Sangmu, he was showing off his peak skills with five goals and one assist in eight K-League matches, and his admission could have been disappointing. He said, “The coach also told me a lot to do as I want. I wanted to do better than last year because I believed that I had to develop as a player every year,” he said.