It will not get much ― if any ― mention in the South Korean media but the first leg of the Asian Champions League final takes place Saturday. Whatever happens, a proud record is going to fall.
Fans of Pohang Steelers should pay at least a little attention to the game between Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Japan's Urawa Reds. Pohang has been champion of Asia three times. That is still a record and Pohang is still the most successful team in Asian history.
That is going to change. Urawa and Al Hilal have both been champions of Asia on two occasions and one of them is going to win it for a third time and equal Pohang's record.?
South Korea is the most successful nation when it comes to Asian club competitions and has 11 titles to its name, more than any other. Yet the country has a strange relationship with the Asian Champions League.
It is not a competition that enthuses the general public and it is only when teams reach the latter stages that fans and media really start to get on board.
It is the same with Pohang. The steel city, located down on the southeast coast, is not exactly on the tourist trail for the millions that visit the Land of the Morning Calm every year. As well as the steel produced in the city, the biggest and most successful export is the soccer team and a mention of Pohang overseas usually receives recognition from soccer fans.
The Steelers won the 1997 competition of what was then known as the Asian Club Championship. The season after, the club did it again. And then in 2009, Pohang went to Tokyo to defeat Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia and won what had become the Asian Champions League.?Much more should have been made of that third triumph at the time.
Take a trip down to Pohang and there is not much evidence that you are entering the most successful soccer city in the world's biggest continent. Perhaps when that accolade is about to be taken away then it will mean more.
To make matters worse, Pohang has had another underwhelming season at home. The men in red and black last won the Korean title back in 2013. Since then there has not been much challenge. The last three seasons have seen finishes in ninth, seventh and fourth, not great in a 12-team league. This season, Pohang is going through a good run of form but has been in mid-table, at best.
Pohang is in danger of losing its status as one of the giants of Korean football. The league and cup double in 2013 suggested that the club was entering a new era but there has not been another trophy since.
Instead, Pohang is in danger of becoming a middling K-League team, falling further and further behind the likes of Jeonbuk Motors and Ulsan Horangi.
So it should be a cause of some regret in Pohang that despite its amazing record in Asia, more was not made of it over the last decade. Soon, Pohang Steelers will not be the most successful club that the continent has ever seen.
