K League coaches call for looser foreign player quota ahead of continental tournaments

Head coaches for the four South Korean clubs competing at upcoming Asian tournaments called for a rule change Thursday that will allow them to deploy more foreign players at continental competitions. Starting later in September, Ulsan HD FC, Gangwon FC and FC Seoul of the K League 1 will play at the top-tier Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite, while Pohang Steelers, another K League 1 side, will compete at the AFC Champions League Two. Currently, K League 1 clubs can sign up to six foreign-born players but can only play four of them at the same time. Other Asian clubs have much looser quota systems, and Johor Darul Ta'zim of Malaysia, for instance, have more than a dozen players from other countries, including Spain, England, Brazil, France and Argentina. This discrepancy can hurt South Korean clubs' competitiveness at AFC events, the coaches said at their joint press conference Thursday. "I absolutely think we have to loosen our foreign player quotas if we want to give any meaning to even playing at the AFC Champions League," Ulsan head coach Shin Tae-yong said. "Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times