2025 Season Preview: Incheon United | OneFootball

For the first time in their history, Incheon United embark on a season in K League 2. With the disappointment of last year’s calamitous season fresh in mind, the Blue-Black aim to bounce back at the first attempt. The road ahead is paved with community stadiums and running tracks around the pitch. But what can we expect from Yoon Jong-hwan as the new season dawns?

What Happened?

For much of the previous decade, Incheon had been relegation strugglers, scratching and clawing to stay up through last-day wins, good runs at the end of the season, or another team's unexpected capitulation. That was until 2021, when Incheon finished in a comfortable 8th position. The following year, the team qualified for the Asian Champions League for the first time in its history. In 2023, the club narrowly missed out on continental qualification again. It was all sunshine and roses.

Fans would be forgiven for thinking that the club had turned a corner: improved budgets and sponsorship, bigger attendances, and a Jeonbuk-esque penchant for releasing special edition kits midseason. The Blue-Black had, it seemed, turned a corner. And then it all went wrong.

A frustrating and tepid season in Korea’s northwest saw the team plummet from mid-table in the spring to bottom of the pile by autumn. An over-reliance on the goals of Stefan Mugosa and two managers who refused to adapt their tactics when things weren’t working saw Incheon in freefall. The club was relegated before the final game, and the unthinkable had happened. Had this been the dire years of the late 2010s, nobody would have been surprised. But this relegation caught everyone off guard. The team had the ability to put in better performances and, on paper, weren’t the worst team in the league, but when matchday came, nobody was pulling in the same direction.

Notable Moves

Often when clubs are relegated, there is a whole-squad turnover, with many players leaving and a host of new faces being brought in to try and turn things around. This hasn’t been the case with Incheon, as the club has been shrewd in the transfer market, targeting specific areas of weakness in a bid to secure an immediate return to the top flight.

The biggest signing is pacy winger Mo Barrow, who joins on a free transfer. Most recently playing for Abha in the Saudi First Division, he is perhaps best known in these parts for his three-year stint with Jeonbuk Hyundai, where he won the league once and finished runner-up twice. He has also played for Reading, Blackburn Rovers, Swansea City, Nottingham Forest, and Leeds United in England.

Lee Ju-yong is a familiar face at Incheon, having played for the Blue-Black on loan in 2022. He brings a lot of experience to the squad, having played over 200 career games across K League, the AFC Champions League, and the Korean national team.

Lee Sang-ki is another versatile player joining the Incheon ranks. Signing on a free from Gwangju, Sang-ki can feature anywhere on the right flank and has previously played for Pohang and Gimcheon Sangmu. He was also part of the Gwangju team that won promotion back to K League 1 in 2022.

At the conclusion of the season, a number of players also left the club. Notably, Choi Woo-jin has joined Jeonbuk Hyundai for a reported fee of around US$700,000. Polo M'Poku, under-utilised and underappreciated during his time in Korea, left on a free transfer. Matej Jonjic returned to Japan, where he has signed for J3 "project club" Tochigi City after the club declined to take up a one-year option on his contract. Jeong Dong-yoon joined Suwon Bluewings after seven years in Incheon. Song Si-woo joined Gyeongnam but will make a swift return to Incheon with the club’s opponents on opening day, and Kwon Han-jin moved to Busan as a player-coach, reunited with manager Jo Sung-hwan. Oh Banseok and Kim Jun-yeop also left and are presently without clubs. Each, at 36 years old, may choose to retire.

Key Player

Stefan Mugosa

Last year's K League 1 Golden Boot winner and part-time goalkeeper turned down offers from Korea and abroad to stay at Incheon. He recently stated in an interview that he expected to retire here. Having given so much to the club since his arrival in 2018—and his return in mid-2023 following a tumultuous year in Japan—the pain on Mugosa's face after the confirmation of Incheon's relegation was clear to see.

He, along with other senior members of the squad, appears determined to get Incheon back up at the first attempt. Everyone knows how difficult K League 2 is to escape, but if Mugosa can maintain last year's form, the task might be a little more straightforward.

Young Player to Watch

Park Seung-ho

A familiar face in the Incheon squad over the past year and a half, you’d be forgiven for not realising that Seung-ho is still only 21 years old. Selected to represent Korea at various youth levels, he has four goals and two assists for Incheon so far. This year could be a coming-of-age season for Park, given Yoon Jong-hwan’s willingness to give youth a chance, as we saw last year at Gangwon.

Biggest Question

Can Incheon go back up at the first time of asking?

The only question that really matters to Incheon fans is whether the club will have a one-and-done stay in K League 2 or whether it will be a more prolonged visit. Incheon can look to teams like Jeju United (now Jeju SK), who were relegated from K League 1 in 2019 and bounced back immediately in 2020 with former Incheon manager Jo Sung-hwan in charge. Even more recently, Gwangju were relegated in 2021, promoted back to K League 1 in 2022, and finished third in 2023.

A lot will be expected of the players who have stayed: Stefan Mugosa, Gerso Fernandes, Lee Myung-joo, Kim Do-hyeok, and Harrison Delbridge. Each could have found another club and walked away, but instead they stayed and have spoken about wanting to make right the wrongs of last year.

The new players joining the club with experience in K League 2 will look to prove they deserve to be playing at a higher level. Kim Myung-sun saw game time at Jeju but developed further as a player at Cheongju. Park Ho-min started his career at FC Seoul but found his feet at Bucheon. Lee Ju-yong played for Asan Mugunghwa when it was a military team, the year they won K League 2.

All the components are there, and with manager Yoon Jong-hwan at the helm, you have to think Incheon will challenge. But K League 2 is notoriously difficult to escape. Some clubs spend the best part of a decade languishing, while others are relegated and never recover. Nothing will be easy, and every point will be hard-fought.

Reason to Watch

Incheon is widely regarded as having one of the best football-specific stadiums in the country, and with an extended standing area – for the second season running – the atmosphere in the ground should be electric. Incheon start with seven home games in the first ten, and will look to build immediate momentum. With a plethora of local derbies and first-time meetings in the offing this year, fans can expect the unexpected. Stand-out games against Suwon Bluewings, plus first-time league meetings with Gimpo FC, Bucheon FC, Ansan, and others, mean that this season will be far from predictable.

Tickets start from 14,000 Won (US$10) and are available on the day from the stadium or through the TicketLink app.