Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC (Korean: 전북 현대 모터스) is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Jeonbuk have won the K League a record nine times, including five consecutive titles between 2017 and 2021, and the Korean FA Cup five times.[1] The club have also won the AFC Champions League twice, first in 2006, becoming the first club from East Asia to win the tournament since it was launched in its current format in 2003. The club's home ground is the Jeonju World Cup Stadium.
History
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors' predecessor was founded in January 1993 under the name Wansan Pumas. Oh Hyung-keun was the founder of the team, the first to be named after its home location in K League history. However, they failed to raise enough funds and the club went bankrupt before they could take their place in the K League. Many people wanted to keep the club and Bobae Ltd., a local alcohol producer, offered financial support to the club. In 1994, they joined the K League after renaming as Chonbuk Buffalo, but ran into financial problems and were dissolved after the final match of the 1994 season. In 1994, South Korea was in the campaign to host the 2002 FIFA World Cup, so Hyundai Motors took over the Buffaloes' players and formed a new club called Chonbuk Dinos on 12 December 1994. The K League's official policy is that Chonbuk Buffalo and Chonbuk Dinos (later renaming as Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors) are two different clubs.[1]
Since 1994, Jeonbuk had not seriously challenged for the K League title, often languishing in mid-table.[1] After Choi Kang-hee was appointed manager in July 2005, Jeonbuk won the Korean FA Cup in December of that year.[1] In 2006, Jeonbuk finished a disappointing eleventh in the K League, however, they won their first AFC Champions League title.[1] En route to the final, they defeated the Japanese champions, Gamba Osaka, and China's Shanghai Shenhua,[2] as well as Ulsan Horang-i, the South Korean champions, in the semi-finals.[3] They then triumphed 3–2 on aggregate over Al-Karamah, the champions of Syria, in the final.[4]
As AFC Champions League winners, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors qualified for the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup.[5] They lost their first game 1–0 to América in the quarter-finals on 10 December, however, they defeated Auckland City 3–0 on 14 December and finished fifth in the tournament.[5] In 2009, Jeonbuk became the Korean champions for the first time after beating Seongnam Ilhwa 3–1 on aggregate in the K League Championship.[1][6] They repeated the feat in 2011 and won their second domestic title after defeating Ulsan Hyundai 4–2 in the final.[7][8] The same year, they also reached the AFC Champions League final, where they lost to Al-Sadd after a penalty shoot-out.[9]
On 26 November 2016, Jeonbuk won their second AFC Champions League title after defeating Al-Ain 3–2 on aggregate.[10]
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