Jeonbuk Hyundai and Dan Petrescu (Romania) will break up.
Multiple sources in the K-League said on Wednesday, "Jeonbuk Hyundai has parted ways with Petrescu. The club and the coach have reached a consensus that the mood needs to be changed due to the recent severe slump. As far as I know, there is only an official announcement left."
The club and head coach Petrescu had serious talks with Jeju United from the 4th, when the team returned from the 5th round away game of the "Hana Bank K League 1 2024" (lost to Jeonbuk on the 3rd, 0-2) and agreed to take their own paths. However, to minimize the confusion, head coach Petrescu is likely to keep his team until the 6th round home game of the regular league against Gangwon FC, which will be held at Jeonju World Cup Stadium on the 7th.
It is not known whether the team replaced him or resigned voluntarily, but their departure is a foregone conclusion. Jeonbuk is having a disastrous early part of the season. In fact, the club did its job. Jeonbuk, which boasts the most wins (nine times) in the K-League, finished fourth last season, missing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite (ACLE) ticket to begin in the 2024-2025 season. Since then, the team has made extensive efforts to strengthen its capacity in the winter transfer market in order to recover its self-esteem.
In the process, foreign strikers with proven skills in the K-League, such as Thiago and Hernandez, veteran right fullback Kim Tae-hwan, who played in Ulsan HD, and former national team striker Kwon Chang-hoon, who was with Suwon Samsung, wore green uniforms.
However, the reality was disastrous. After securing 2-0 home win in the first leg of the ALC round of 16 teams in the 2023-2024 season against the Pohang Steelers on Feb. 14, the team failed to accumulate wins. Jeonbuk, which ended its second away match with a draw, failed to advance to the semifinals as it had one draw and one loss in the quarterfinals against Ulsan.
Moreover, the team's regular league performance was not good either. It had only three draws and two losses in five matches since the opening of the season. The decisive blow was an away game to Jeju Island, which was held during weekdays. Jeonbuk had to win in this game, but it lost 0-2 after a flurry of matches, plunging to the bottom (12th). The last time the team ranked last in five league matches was in 2008.
What was as lamentable as the team's performance was the atmosphere in the squad. As the team continued to play helplessly across the league and ACL without taking advantage of the players it had carefully trained, its leadership in the bench hit rock bottom. Players lost confidence, and even the club had doubts about Petrescu's leadership, which has no clue. Amid such uncertainties within the team, Romanian media recently revealed that Petrescu is drawing attention from local teams.
Fortunately, the team has been preparing to appoint its next head coach at the club level. Jeonbuk has been steadily working to select candidates while opening up all possibilities since late last month. The "moment" has only come sooner than expected.
BY: 토토
