The WK League is the highest tier of women’s football in Korea. Officially, it is a semi-professional league, but players in the better-funded teams often earn enough to be fully professional.
Most teams are operated by companies like Hyundai Steel, but not the two teams I'll watch tonight. The home team is Seoul City Hall, also known as Seoul Amazones, operated by Seoul City. The visiting team is the reigning WK League champions, Suwon FC Women. They are operated by Suwon FC, a professional team currently competing in the K League 1.
This season, all matches other than the opening round are played on weekday evenings, meaning that, practically speaking, Seoul is the only team I’m able to reach. I planned to attend a match a week ago, but there was a problem with the trains into Seoul. There was no telling how long the trip, which normally takes an hour, would take when trains are standing at stations for 15 minutes at a time.
The route to Seoul World Cup Stadium is a familiar one that I've made so many times for FC Seoul matches, and I make the transfers almost without thinking. It feels strange to approach and arrive here without a mass of Black-and-Red-clad passengers pouring out of the train. The exact opposite, in fact. Not a single person is wearing FC Seoul colours, and only about 5 other people are heading up and out of the station.
Tonight, I'm not heading to the World Cup Stadium itself, but to the auxiliary field, possibly my favourite football venue in Korea. It's the perfect size for a Korean semi-professional team, football-specific, with no running track to distance us from the action. The stand here is raised, meaning there are no significant blind spots either. The pitch itself is something called a hybrid surface. I’m not sure what that means, but I'm told it's not the normal artificial stuff used on all the community pitches around the country. All that matters to me is that the surface is always green and smooth.
I don’t head to the pitch right away. Instead, I head towards the main stadium. The bowels of the stadium are filled with shops and restaurants, and a HomePlus. You would expect more shoppers, given the number of apartments near the stadium, but it's oddly quiet tonight. The quiet is disconcerting when compared to the chaos of an FC Seoul match day. After a quick walk about scanning the open restaurants, I settle on curry. Finally, some curry! It's no surprise that I’m the sole patron, and I can't help but wonder how the shops and restaurants turn a profit with so few weekday customers.
Dinner done, it’s time to find snacks for the match. At HomePlus I find something called a Ginger Highball. *sigh* “Highball” has been a thing in Korea for a couple of years now. The preferred term used to be cocktail, but I guess that doesn't sound trendy enough any more. A highball is a specific kind of alcoholic mixed drink, but the way it’s used in Korea has made the word meaningless. Anything that is not straight beer, wine, soju or whiskey is called a highball. Take the drink I chose as an example. It’s not a mix of anything and nothing more than an alcoholic ginger beer. I know, for a fact, that you can brew alcoholic ginger beer, because I’ve done it, and if you can brew it, then surely it’s not a “highball” or even a cocktail any more? This rant has nothing to do with football, and I apologise.
Ginger beer and, sorry, “Highball” and crisps in hand, I head to the auxiliary field. Most of the spectators are already there, including the usual collection of old men sitting outside on the park benches next to the fence. I always wonder if they are aware that there is no entrance fee. As I walk past them, one red-faced man stares at me, almost falling off the bench as he turns to follow my path. Next to him is a paper cup and an open bottle of cheap makgeolli. I wish I'd brought my home brew tonight because I'd have loved to pour him a cup. I suspect it would get me in trouble as he'd want to talk, and odds are, it would not be an English conversation. I have experience with drunk people wanting to chat, not grasping that I only understand about 20% of what comes out of their mouths, babbling on until I excuse myself. But you never know, many people in Korea know a lot more English than they're willing to admit, and alcohol tends to remove people’s inhibitions to speak English. The reverse is probably true as well, and if I were more social and willing to get drunk, I might've been a bit more proficient in Korean by now. Of course, I mentally resolve to start studying Korean again so I can sit down and have a small conversation with other spectators. (I'm glad to report that since that day, I've put in a serious effort to get back to studying Korean.)
As usual, I sit on the side of the visitors. As far as I know, there are no rules in the WK League preventing fans from mixing in the stands, or at least the rules aren't enforced. However, the habit is for home fans to sit on the right when facing the field, and away fans on the left, behind their respective dug-outs. Three of Suwon’s chanting supporters are here with a drum and a loudspeaker, but if they chant 10 times, then it’s a lot. They're mostly there as vocal supporters to encourage the players and shout at the ref. The rest of the supporters are quiet and only half-heartedly join in when the cheer squad launch into a simple “Su-Won-Eh-Feu-She!” chant. The spectators show more life when they laugh at the Suwon coach throwing a fit at an on-field decision. To be fair, he is quite entertaining.
Side rant: The most basic Suwon FC chant of “Su-Won-Eh-Feu-She!” is why I can't be a Suwon fan. The letter "F" is a single letter, it does not have syllables! Suwon FC's baseball neighbours are just as bad, trying to chant KT Wiz as “K-T-Wee-Geu!” Wiz is one single syllable, without a G! Why do they insist on a name their supporters can’t chant properly?!
Throughout the match, we're accompanied by what I like to call “Sexy Mosquitoes”. They look like mosquitoes when on the ground, just bigger and jet-black. But when they fly, their bodies hang down, like they're struggling to carry their own weight. And I call them “Sexy Beasts" because they mate in the air, in front of us, while we're trying to watch football. I did not come for this. Shameful!
On the field, Suwon is doing well. The defending champions have had a terrible 2025 season, but today they've come to win. They score first, on the opposite end from where their substitutes sit. Substitutes aren't allowed to rush onto the field to congratulate the scorer, so instead they stand next to the field, waving their arms like fan girls, trying to get their teammate’s attention. It is funny, but also adorable. Speaking of adorable, the women's teams have a way of doing the most basic thing and making it look cute. For instance, they don't just line up for a team photo; they strike poses. Nothing big, maybe just a hand on the face here, two “victory” fingers there, but it's so unlike the men who line up with a "get it over with" attitude. The players often know supporters in the stands, and sometimes they spot someone they know, followed by a beaming smile and arm-waving. Don't let that fool you, though. When the whistle blows, they play hard. They are competitors, and they want to win as much as any other athlete. It's a league that's easy to like.
In the second half, Seoul managed to score an equaliser. The score stayed like that, and the match ended in a draw. But it was no tame draw, though, and both teams fought to the end, with control and momentum swinging from side to side.
Near the end of the match, I notice a German man sitting in my vicinity. I’m not sure when he arrived, but as I leave, I overhear him discussing the upcoming FC Seoul vs Barcelona FC match. Before heading to the subway station, I take some night photos of the main stadium, which allows him to catch up and ask if I know how to buy a ticket for the aforementioned match. More specifically, he wants to know if there is a way around the common problem in Korea of needing Korean-issued ID and phone number to register for the ticketing sites. Maybe he is a tourist, or on a short-term work VISA. Whatever the situation, he's unable to register and buy tickets online. Unfortunately for him, I don’t care about that match. If I lived in Seoul, I might have offered to buy the ticket, but I’m not travelling an hour just to give someone else a ticket for a match I’m not watching myself.
All in all, it was another good day out at the World Cup Stadium, and I'll be back when Changnyeong visits to sport my brand new custom pink away shirt.
2025.06.23 - Seoul World Cup Stadium Auxiliary Field
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