Samsung Sports: Soccer/Volleyball Decline, Baseball/Basketball Rise

The ‘blue blood dynasty’ representing the professional league is a thing of the past.
Soccer Suwon Samsung, 2nd division next year… Volleyball Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, last place – disgrace of 9 consecutive losses
Samsung Lions, stretching for ‘dynasty revival’… Basketball Thunder, challenge for semifinals after 4 years in last place

Each professional team with the name ‘Samsung’ once built a dynasty that represented the league. We invested generously to bring in the best players, and received a report card commensurate with the investment. But today’s reality is quite different.

The worst situation is the professional soccer team Suwon Samsung Bluewings. Founded in 1995, the Bluewings have established themselves as a popular club representing the K-League by winning the K League 1 (First Division) four times and the Korea Cup five times. It has also produced star players such as ‘Gunbeoji’ Park Geon-ha (54), ‘Enfant Terrible’ Go Jong-su (47), and ‘Spider Hands’ Lee Woon-jae (52). ‘Terius’ Ahn Jung-hwan (49) and ‘Vacuum Cleaner’ Kim Nam-il (48) also wore this team’s blue uniform at one time.

However, the Bluewings ranked last (12th) in K League 1 in 2023 and were relegated to K League 2 (Second Division). Last year, they finished 6th in K League 2. This year, they won the right to participate in the promotion playoff (PO) by finishing in second place, but bowed out after losing all two games to Jeju, the 11th place team in K League 1. As coach Byun Seong-hwan (46) announced his intention to step down and take responsibility for the failure in promotion, the Bluewings are faced with the task of finding a sixth head coach after 2023.

The professional volleyball men’s division, Daejeon Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Bluefangs, is also in serious trouble. The Blue Fangs, who have won the V-League record eight times, the most among both men’s and women’s divisions, are in last place (7th place) in the men’s division with 7 points (2 wins, 13 losses) as of the 16th. On the 14th, the Blue Fangs lost 1-3 to Woori Card, leaving a disgraceful record of 9 consecutive losses, the most since the launch of the V-League. The Blue Fangs were unable to play ‘Spring Volleyball’ for 7 consecutive seasons, ending in the 2017-2018 season.

Because of this situation, some Samsung fans say, “I’m jealous of Hyundai fans.” Cheonan Hyundai Capital Skywalkers, a professional volleyball men’s team, achieved a treble (triple crown) last season by winning the cup competition, first place in the regular league, and victory in the championship game. This season, they are also in second place and are aiming to become the leader. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, a professional soccer team that suffered the humiliation of falling to promotion promotion PO level last year, immediately rebounded and rose to the top of K-League 1 this season.

Samsung transferred Samsung Sports, which was managed at the group level, to Cheil Worldwide in 2014. Starting with soccer, basketball, volleyball, and baseball are all currently operated by Cheil Worldwide. At the same time, there is an analysis that the investment trend has changed to lukewarm, affecting the club’s competitiveness.

However, this does not mean that all clubs bearing the Samsung name are experiencing difficulties. The professional baseball team Samsung Lions has gone through a dark period and has risen to the top again. The Lions, who finished this season’s regular season in 4th place and advanced to ‘Fall Baseball’ for the second consecutive year, defeated the 3rd place SSG Landers and advanced to the playoffs. Although they failed to advance to the Korean Series for two consecutive years after being blocked by the second-place Hanwha Eagles, the response from fans was favorable. The Lions captured both performance and box office success by mobilizing 1,640,174 spectators this year, setting a new record for the largest number of spectators in a professional baseball season. The Lions are steadily preparing to regain the top spot next season, including recruiting ‘slinger’ Choi Hyeong-woo (42) in the All Stove League. The Lions’ goal is to revive the glory of the ‘Samsung Dynasty’, which achieved four consecutive wins in the Korean Series (2011-2014).

A wind of change is blowing in professional basketball. The Seoul Samsung Thunders, a men’s professional basketball team that ranked last (10th) for four years until the previous season, is aiming to advance to the round of 6 playoffs this season. The Thunder are currently ranked 7th in the regular league (9 wins, 12 losses), closely following 6th place Suwon KT Sonic Boom (10 wins, 11 losses). The women’s professional basketball team, Yongin Samsung Bloomings, is also dreaming of returning to the top by consistently maintaining a mid-tier ranking.

Reporter Jong-ho Han [email protected]