Selling one player from Al Hilal could buy six Gwangju FC teams.
Gwangju FC will face Al Hilal in the elite quarterfinals of the 2025 AFC Champions League at Al Inma Bank Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the 26th at 1:30 a.m. (Korea time).
Gwangju departed for Saudi Arabia in the early morning on the 21st and is currently in Hanchang training. Gwangju players must also contend with the hot weather of the Middle East and the hostility of Saudi fans. All conditions are unfavorable.
The fact that the entire Korean football community supports Gwangju is a significant strength. K League champions Ulsan and Pohang also failed to reach the quarterfinals. Gwangju, as a civic club, is the first to reach the quarterfinals. Now that Gwangju has become a representative of Korea, it carries the pride of the K League and embarks on an Asian conquest.
What kind of team is Al Hilal, where Neymar played? It is considered one of the top clubs in the Saudi league, which has the most money in the world.
The most expensive player at Al Hilal is Kalidou Koulibaly (34). He is the 'senior' of Kim Min-jae, who played for Napoli until 2022. At that time, after Koulibaly left for Chelsea, Kim Min-jae filled the vacancy by transferring from Fenerbahçe. Kim Min-jae led Napoli to a Serie A championship for the first time in 33 years, marking the beginning of his success as a world-class player.
Koulibaly transferred to Al Hilal in 2023. Currently, Koulibaly earns a weekly salary of £559,526 (approximately 1 billion won). He is the fifth highest-paid player in the world. Koulibaly's weekly salary is higher than the highest salary of domestic players in Gwangju.
Koulibaly's annual salary is £29,095,364 (approximately 55.1 billion won). Gwangju spent a total expenditure of 9.66198 billion won for the 2024 season. It comes to a tremendous calculation that selling just Koulibaly could buy about six teams like Gwangju.
However, football is not determined solely by salaries. No matter how outstanding a player is, there are weaknesses. While individual capabilities are important, the organization and tactics of 11 players are the key to determining victory or defeat. This is what Gwangju, often viewed as the 'underdog' in the K League, excels at.
Gwangju also has clear advantages. The well-fed Al Hilal is not as desperate as Gwangju. The fact that Gwangju's overall strength is relatively veiled is also an advantage. If the strategy is well-designed, football can see a compact car defeat a sports car.
The prize money for winning the AFC Champions League is a whopping $10 million (approximately 14.5 billion won). It may not even equal the price of one player from Al Hilal, but for Gwangju, it represents two years' worth of budget. The motivation is highest for Gwangju.
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