On the 16th, the Korean women’s soccer team won the East Asian Cup in 20 years. However, only 597 people ‘intuition’ were ‘intuition’. The men’s team won the women’s team the day before (15th), but the male team gave trophy to Japan, but until the end, the audience could not be filled. In six years, the 2025 East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) eventually ended with an empty stadium.
According to the Korea Football Association, a total of 35,997 people entered 12 games on July 7-16. The male team was 32,136 people and 3861 women’s teams, with an average of 3,000 people per game. Yongin Mirstadium captivated 37,155 people, and the Suwon World Cup Stadium with women’s match was 4,2542, but less than half of the audience. More than 10,000 people (18,8418) were the only men and Japan on the 15th, and six games were only three -digit spectators. On the 13th, Taiwan and China (women) recorded 184 people with the lowest crowd, and 687 men in Japan and Hong Kong on the 8th.
Several analysis comes out of the box office. Overseas absence and heat are first discussed. The East Asian Cup is not a competition for the A -match period set by the FIFA. Korea also set up a team centered on K League. The Japanese football channel said, “The lack of European players will reduce interest in half.” The hot and humid weather of more than 30 degrees also hesitated fans.
It is not yesterday that interest in the East Asian Cup is far. During the first tournament in 2003, he has slowed down from 30,000 spectators to 7030 in Busan and 6396 in Japan in 2022. Even if you look at the men and Japan in the home, it has decreased by 10,000 this year from 29,252 in 2019.
The most convincing analysis is that the eye level of the competition has changed. In the age of Korea and Japan entering the World Cup finals and many Korean players watching the European big leagues on the world stage, local competitions are not as meaningful as in the past. Han Joon -hee, a Kupang Play commentator, said, “In the past, when the World Cup was a dream competition, I was concerned about local competitions, and the whole people cheered, but now the eye level of Korea and Japan is elsewhere.”
Various alternatives are discussed to raise awareness of the competition. The importance of pre -events that can attract fans is emphasized. There is also a claim that the A -match period should be used to participate in the foreign group. However, there is an opinion that the meaning of the competition should be placed elsewhere in that it is difficult to have difficulties such as tight schedules. Han Jun -hee, commentator, said, “The East Asian Cup is not a small meaning in testing overseas teams and preparing for generations and reinforcing squads.”
By Nam Ji -eun, reporter myviollet@hani.co.kr