‘Hot firecrackers’ embroidered on the opening day of the Presidential Geumbae

The 56th Presidential Geumbae, a high school soccer tournament with the highest history and authority in Korea, started a fierce battle on the 20th in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province. From the opening game, he heated up the ground with high school football-like spirit, fighting spirit, and tireless performance. High school football fans went crazy with cool goal firecrackers that blew heat waves.

Gyeonggi Hwaseong City U-18 defeated Seoul Dobong FC U-18 8-0. Jeong Seung-bin and Lee Yoon-jae scored two goals each. Chungnam Seosan FC U-18 matched Seoul Gwangjin U-18 with one goal each in the second half, and Do-hee Yoo scored the winning goal just before the end of the match to win the first match of the group stage by winning 2-1. Seoul Joongang High School defeated Yeoju City U-18, Gyeonggi Province 4-0, and Gyeonggi Gwangmun High School defeated Incheon Ganghwa Sports Club U-18 U-18 2-0.안전놀이터

As rumors circulated that a large number of strong teams will participate in this year’s Presidential Geumbae, several teams, including last year’s champion, Pyeongtaek Jinwi FC, and runner-up, Gyeongbuk Yeongdeok High School, decided to participate in other competitions, so the number of participating teams was somewhat smaller than in previous years. But the heat remained the same.

In particular, the big match between Yeongdeungpo Technical High School in Seoul and Jecheon Jeil Classic in North Chungcheong Province, which was a big match in the group stage, was played with such great interest that the spectators almost filled the stands at Jecheon Soccer Center Stadium 1. Yeongdeungpo Technical High School, which won the Baegungi last February, is considered a candidate to win the tournament along with Boin High School in Seoul and Gangneung Jungang High School in Gangwon Province. Kim Hyeon-min of Yeongdeungpo Technical High School, who is attracting attention as a member of the runner-up in the Asian Football Confederation U-17 Asian Cup, which ended earlier this month, also started as a starting winger. Jecheon Jeil High School received applause for not being pushed behind by the cheering of the home fans in the homeroom.

The Presidential Geumbae was also held in Jecheon in 2020. At the time, the Jecheon Soccer Center, which was unable to play scheduled games due to heavy rain damage, was renovated and welcomed the players. This year too, until recently, there was a lot of rain and soil was pushed into the ground, but with the quick response of Jecheon City, the tournament opened on a clean lawn. An official from the event was satisfied, saying, “The city actively supported the event and started the event in a pleasant environment.”

31 teams participated in the Presidential Geumbae, co-hosted by the Kyunghyang Shinmun and the Korea Football Association, this year. After being divided into 8 groups, the top 2 teams in each group advance to the round of 16 tournament. Up to the quarterfinals, a total of five stadiums including the Jecheon Soccer Center and Bongyang Health Soccer Camp will be held, and the semifinals and finals will be held at the Jecheon Sports Complex. Except for the final (10:00 a.m.), all games will be held as night games after 5:00 p.m. to avoid the midday heat. This year’s Presidential Gold Cup will be broadcast live on the YouTube channel ‘Bpro TV’ from the preliminaries to the semifinals by BPro 11, the official supplementary data provider of the Professional Football Federation. The final will be broadcast live on SBS Sports.