Season Review · Part 19
Season Review, Part 19: Kim Joo-hwan, Seven Starts and Seven Early Walks Off
A wing-back who has played on both flanks, started seven times, finished none of them and still had his best night in the win over Daegu: what Kim Joo-hwan has done well in 2026, what is missing from his game, and why the 3-4-3 may need him in the last six.
Part 18 covered Gabriel, a forward whose season has been one cross and one header. Part 19 is a defender whose season has been something similar in a quieter key: a squad full-back who starts when the plan calls for him, does the job he is given, and is almost always the first man taken off.
The season in one paragraph
Kim Joo-hwan came to Seoul E-Land in January 2025 in a trade with Ulsan HD that sent goalkeeper Moon Jung-in the other way. The club called him an attacking right-back with pace to overlap and a big engine, and he said he had chosen Seoul after watching the 2024 playoffs because it was “not a team that should stay in K League 2.” He played 20 league matches last year, made two assists and started the playoff defeat to Seongnam. In 2026 he has been a rotation piece: 11 appearances in Seoul’s 26 league matches, seven starts, 614 minutes, no goals, no assists and one yellow card. He has played right-back, left-back and wing-back on both sides. He has not finished a single match. And on September 19, in the match Seoul most needed to win, Kim Do-gyun started him at left wing-back against Daegu, took him off on the hour as planned, and Seoul won 2-1.
By the numbers
| 2025 (Seoul E-Land) | 2026 through Round 27 | |
|---|---|---|
| League appearances, starts | 20, 16 (plus 1 playoff start) | 11, 7 |
| Minutes | 614 | |
| Full 90 minutes | 1 | 0 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Assists | 2 | 0 |
| Yellow cards | 2 | 1 |
| Tackles, interceptions | 7, 6 | |
| Clearances | 11 | |
| Aerial duels won | 7 of 11, 64 percent | |
| Duels won | 24, 41 percent | |
| Dribbled past | 5 | |
| Pass accuracy | 81 percent | |
| Crosses completed | 2 of 11 | |
| Chances created | 1 | |
| Team record in his starts | W4 D1 L2 |
Across all 11 appearances Seoul are W6 D2 L3. He has been in 19 of the 26 matchday squads and unused on the bench in eight of them.
What he has done well
He was right for Daegu. Kim Do-gyun went back to a 3-4-3 for the Daegu match and picked two natural wing-backs, Kim Joo-hwan on the left and Oh In-pyo on the right, against Jang Sung-won and Choi Kang-min. Seoul won that contest on both flanks. In the 15th minute Kim came off the left into the middle and forced a save, and the K League’s match rating gave him 6.8, his best of the season. Before kickoff the manager had said he intended to change his left full-back in the second half so Seoul would be fresher late on. Kim was replaced by Son Hyuk-chan on 61 with Seoul 2-1 up. It was a plan, and it worked.
He plays either side. He started at right wing-back against Hwaseong in April, at right-back against Gimpo in May, at left-back in the new back four at Gimhae in July and on the left against Daegu. For a squad that lost Bae Jin-woo in June and has had Bae Seo-jun in and out, a full-back who can fill both channels without rehearsal is worth a place in the 18.
The results when he starts. Four wins, a draw and two defeats in his seven starts, including the 1-0 at Jeonnam in May, the 3-1 at Gimhae in July, the 2-1 over Gimpo and the Daegu win. None of those results was his doing alone, and two of the wins came with him already off the pitch. But he has not been a weak link that opponents targeted, and the team has not been worse for having him in it.
The Busan comeback. On August 2 he came on for Bae Seo-jun on 70 minutes with Seoul 1-0 down at Gudeok. Baek Ji-woong equalized two minutes later, Park Jae-yong won it on 84, and Seoul took three points off the side then second in the table. Coming on in that situation and holding the left side while the team pushed forward is exactly what a squad defender is for.
Where the same mistakes keep showing up
He never finishes. Seven starts, seven substitutions, two of them at halftime in back-to-back starts at Gimhae and Suwon FC in July. At Suwon FC he had been booked and Seoul were 1-0 down at the break. The early changes are partly by design, as the Daegu plan showed, but a full-back who is always the first change is a full-back the manager does not yet trust for 90 minutes.
The attacking full-back has not attacked. The club signed an overlapping right-back. In 2026 he has created one chance, completed 2 of 11 crosses and had two shots, and FotMob’s comparison with other full-backs puts him near the bottom of the division for chances created and shot attempts. Last season he made two assists, both in the autumn. This season the goal involvements from Seoul’s full-backs have come mostly from Oh In-pyo.
Duels. He has won 41 percent of his duels and been dribbled past five times in 547 tracked minutes. His one bad night, a 5.8 rating after coming on in the 3-0 defeat at Chungnam Asan in May, was the lowest of his season, and on the ground he can be beaten one against one.
Out of the picture for long spells. Seven matches out of the squad and eight more on the bench without getting on. He did not play at all between the Hwaseong draw on August 7 and the Daegu start on September 19. With Son Hyuk-chan settled on the left and Oh In-pyo on the right, his minutes depend on injuries and on the manager choosing a back three.
His strengths, and what they mean for the last six
The 3-4-3 needs two wing-backs. Kim Do-gyun has switched between a back four and a back three all season. If the Daegu shape stays for the run-in, Seoul need two players who can run a flank for an hour, and Kim is one of only a handful in the squad who has done it this year. Son Hyuk-chan, who replaced him against Daegu, was booked within minutes of coming on and is on four yellows, one short of a ban.
A planned hour. The Daegu template, Kim for 60 minutes and fresh legs after, suits a player who has not played 90 all season and suits a run of matches every week. Gimpo away on October 9 and Gimhae at home after it are the first two.
Chungnam Asan. One of his two assists last season came in a 4-1 home win over Chungnam Asan in October. Asan come to Mokdong in Round 33, and they beat Seoul 3-0 in May.
In the air. He wins 64 percent of his aerial duels, which is not a small thing for a 177-centimeter full-back against sides who will aim long balls at the back post when they need a goal.
The verdict at Round 27
Kim Joo-hwan is a squad full-back who has done most of what he was asked and not much beyond it. He has been available when needed, played on both sides, and started seven matches in which Seoul lost only twice. He has also contributed nothing going forward, never lasted 90 minutes, and spent six weeks of the summer out of the rotation entirely. The Daegu match was his best, and it was a reminder that in the right shape, for the right hour, he is useful.
Grade so far: C plus. A reliable fill-in who has not hurt the team and whose best performance came in its most important win. The plus is for Daegu. Without an end product or a full match, it cannot be higher.
Match log
| Round | Opponent | Result | Role or Minutes | Goals | Assists | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suwon Samsung (A) | L 1-2 | Start, 79 | Back four | ||
| 2 to 4 | Unused sub | |||||
| 5 | Daegu (A) | W 3-1 | Sub, 19 | On with Seoul 2-1 up | ||
| 6 | Suwon FC (H) | W 3-0 | Unused sub | |||
| 9 | Hwaseong (H) | L 1-2 | Start, 78 | Right wing-back | ||
| 10 | Gimpo (H) | W 2-1 | Start, 79 | Right-back | ||
| 11 | Chungnam Asan (A) | L 0-3 | Sub, 14 | Season-low 5.8 rating | ||
| 12 | Yongin (H) | D 2-2 | Unused sub | |||
| 14 | Jeonnam (A) | W 1-0 | Start, 63 | All-domestic XI in the heat | ||
| 16 | Gimhae (A) | W 3-1 | Start, 45 | Left-back in the new back four | ||
| 18 | Suwon FC (A) | D 2-2 | Start, 45 | Booked, off at halftime with Seoul behind | ||
| 20 | Busan (A) | W 2-1 | Sub, 20 | On at 0-1, Seoul won | ||
| 21 | Hwaseong (A) | D 0-0 | Sub, 45 | On for the injured Bae Seo-jun | ||
| 22 | Ansan (H) | W 3-1 | Unused sub | |||
| 24 | Seongnam (A) | D 1-1 | Unused sub | |||
| 26 | Suwon Samsung (H) | L 0-1 | Unused sub | |||
| 27 | Daegu (H) | W 2-1 | Start, 61 | Left wing-back, season-best 6.8 rating, planned change |
Not in the squad for Rounds 7, 8, 13, 15, 19, 23 and 25. Statistics from the K League record and the club site, with match detail from the season’s digests and Korean match reports. One correction to earlier digests: Kim Do-gyun’s pre-match plan to change the left side against Daegu referred to the left full-back, and it was carried out when Son Hyuk-chan replaced Kim Joo-hwan on 61, not with Lee Ju-hyeok’s halftime withdrawal. Part 20 follows.