FC Seoul vs. FC Anyang: Intriguing derby promises a classic | OneFootball

What a difference a week makes. After hugely damaging defeats in round 26, Seoul and Anyang head to Sangam on Sunday buoyed by stirring home performances to reignite their seasons. This will be the third, and final, installment of the Hometown Derby in 2025.

Match details

Match: FC Seoul vs. FC Anyang.

Date: Sunday, August 31st, 2025. 19:00.

Venue: Seoul World Class Stadium. Capacity 66,704.

Choi Jun evades Kim Jung-hyeon in February.

Record so far

FC Seoul

Played: 27 Won: 10 Drew: 10 Lost: 7 Points: 40

Goals For: 34 Goals Against: 33

Position: 5th

FC Anyang

Goals For: 33 Goals Against: 37

Position: 11th

How are they doing so far?

FC Seoul

This has been another turbulent season for FC Seoul under Kim Gi-dong. Supporters were somewhat sympathetic to the former Pohang Steelers boss after a strangely inconsistent 2024 season that saw the team finish fourth, 14 points shy of title winners Ulsan HD. Their reward was a spot in the ACL Elite (because Gimcheon Sangmu are ineligible to join). However, this season has been more of the same; wholly inconsistent form. The difference, however, came off the field. After club icon Ki Sung-yueng departed for Pohang, mass protests were sparked inside and outside the stadium. They had barely died down before Gimcheon hammered Seoul 6-2 10 days ago. It is unclear how stable Kim's position as manager is just yet, and with no Korea Cup to challenge for, the 52-year-old badly needs a good end to this season to bat away the detractors.

The healing process began with the 3-1 win over Ulsan last Sunday. Defeat this weekend to Anyang will not be accepted. Anyang is a complicated fixture. Not only are Seoul bigger, richer, more successful, and boast the caliber of player Anyang could only dream of, but there's history here. I tried to get several members of Anyang Supporters Union to help me preview this fixture from their point of view. What we now call FC Seoul spent close to a decade in Anyang as LG Cheetahs, before returning to Seoul in 2004. The club wasn't originally created in Anyang but the supporters felt it belonged to them. A championship was even won in Anyang. All this means the home fans will tolerate nothing other than three points on Sunday. With Daejeon spluttering, Seoul can advance into the top four but keeping tabs on Pohang will be tough. The Steelers have won four straight and look the best-placed team to finish miles behind Jeonbuk in second.

FC Anyang

Two weeks ago we previewed Anyang's home match with Gimcheon on K League United. The day before the game, I was in Anyang meeting Thomas Oude Kotte and Kim Jung-hyeon. It would be wrong to say the players were panicking, but there was frustration and tension in every sentence. Anyang haven't played badly during their first foray into League 1 at any point this year. In fact, for a promoted team, they've been surprisingly competitive for almost the entire campaign, home and away. But they were losing matches - usually by a single goal - with alarming regularity. Kim said "luck" has deserted his team; Thomas believed they need to take control of matches more, and not be worried about the crest on opposition teams. Sadly, the Pohang match went the same way as so many before; Anyang lost 1-0. They were in danger of being cut adrift from ninth, especially as Suwon FC's new players hit the ground running in Castle Park.

Suddenly Daejeon Hana were rolling into town. Daejeon held outside aspirations of a title push and things were looking good when João Victor opened the scoring inside a minute. Having leaked so early against Pohang, groans rumbled around Anyang Stadium. However, unlike for the Steelers' visit, Anyang mustered a response on the stroke of half time when Bruno Mota fed his compatriot Yago to slam home the equalizer. Daejeon retook the lead after the break but the match was blown open with 15 minutes to go. Ha Chang-rae was sent off, Matheus Oliveira fired home the free kick, and the Brazilian sealed all three points deep into injury time when he collected Ivan Jukić's through ball. Anyang Stadium erupted thanks to a combination of unbridled joy and relief. The losing streak halted, Anyang are a mere point from complete safety. And with every club up to Gwangju in 6th still in danger of being relegated, Ryu Byeong-hoon will fancy his team's chances of survival again.

Cho Young-wook. FC Seoul.

Cho was back among the goals against Ulsan.

So I thought Cho Young-wook's days at Seoul may have been numbered when Patryk Klimala arrived from Slask Wroclaw. It wasn't a massive secret that Seoul's forwards had struggled to score goals after the winter departure of Stanislav Iljutcenko, and Cho was feeling the pressure. The local boy wasn't just failing to find the net; he would go through several matches without even registering a shot on target. Cho was moved around in the opening months, often starting but rarely playing 90 minutes. Then he was demoted to the bench after leaving little impression against Anyang in May. Between late May and late July, Kim Gi-dong kept Cho on the bench altogether for five matches in seven, including four straight. This coincided with Klimala's signing and Marko Dugandzic's decent form. Cho returned to the side in round 23 away to Jeju SK, and notched his second of the season on 45 minutes. He was rewarded with starts against Daegu, Daejeon, Gimcheon, and Ulsan, scoring in the latter two. Still only 26-years-old, even though 2025 hasn't worked out the way he probably hoped, there's still plenty of time to leave a strong fingerprint on the season.

Matheus Oliveira, FC Anyang.

Matheus celebrates his first, and Anyang's second, last Sunday.

The Brazilian play-maker made a thrilling return to form on Sunday night, coming off the bench to inspire Anyang's late comeback win over Daejeon. Remarkably, the reigning K League 2 MVP has only registered one assist this campaign, after a league-best 11 last term. He has been forced to change his game to suit the demands of the top flight, and with that, he jumped to nine goals for the season, level with Lee Dong-gyeong. Teammate Yago has turned into the club's leading provider of assists. Matheus is slender in size. This has arguably impacted his contribution against bigger, stronger, and faster defenders in K League 1. Unlike like year, he has drifted in and out of games, and when his normally precise set piece delivery fails, he struggles to get into matches. Matheus is also playing in a more advanced role this season. However, as they say,form is temporary, class is permanent. Matheus whipped home a cracking free-kick to bring Anyang level, and then raced onto a through pass, kept his composure, and buried the winner against Daejeon. If his set pieces are on point this Sunday, Seoul will be in for a testing evening.

Record

Sunday marks just the third league meeting these new K League rivals. The first was during a bitterly cold late February meeting at the World Cup Stadium in front of 41,415 supporters. Anyang started their season with a win in Ulsan, but Seoul were beaten in Jeju. The pressure was on the home side and they delivered, but only after being given an almighty scare. The Violets edged a tense first half, playing with the sort of confidence you expect after securing a shock win in Munsu. The game, however, turned on its head two minutes after the break. A loose ball ricocheted off Jesse Lingard's ankle and spiraled into the net. Lucas made sure of the win with 12 minutes to play. They met again on May 6, this time in Anyang. Oliviera put the hosts ahead in the 50th minute only for Moon Seon-min to do what he does best; come off the bench and score a vital goal. Including a cup game many years ago, Seoul have two wins with one draw.

One thing we can say for certainty; this will not end goalless. Seoul have conceded ten in their last three games, and with Mota, Yago, and Matheus, the visitors have the cattle to cause problems. Anyang have leaked 37 in 27 matches, which is no disgrace, but they don't keep clean sheets. The last time they kept a home team scoreless was back in March, against Daegu FC. Confidence should be high after big home wins last weekend, and the two sides have very different reasons to win this match. Seoul need to keep pace with Pohang, and Anyang will desperately want to avoid a relegation-playoff. It is set up to be open, physical, with maybe some controversy thrown in for good fun.

FC Seoul 2-2 FC Anyang