Following Son Heung-min, Lingard is also angry...K League's paddy field grass considers management plan

Following Son Heung-min, Lingard is also angry...K League's paddy field grass considers management plan

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The Seoul World Cup Stadium, "the holy site of Korean soccer," is being beaten with "the grass of paddy fields."

Following Son Heung-min, the national soccer team captain, Jesse Lingard, the captain of FC Seoul in the K League 1, complained, but it is difficult to expect a clear improvement right away.

Controversy arose after Seoul and Gimcheon Sangmu faced off in the third round of Hana Bank's K League 1 2025 on the 3rd.

Players from both teams struggled with hollow grass throughout the ground.

In the middle of the game, Lingard almost suffered a dizzying injury from the grass.

In the 23rd minute of the first half, he twisted his ankle while turning his body and complained of pain.

The next day, Lingard shared a video of him dribbling on a lawn on social media.

Judging from the 'golf' and 'angry' picture letters that ran together, it is interpreted as a message criticizing the worst grass.

This is not the first time the controversy over the "Nondureung Lawn" at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

In September last year, national soccer team captain Son Heung-min also complained after the first Group B match (0-0 draw) of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA World Cup between North Korea and the U.S.

At the time, Son Heung-min appealed, "There are many players with good skills, but even fans saw difficulties in ball control and dribbling. I hope those areas (zandhi) will be improved as soon as possible."

After the second away game (3-1 win) against Oman, he said, "The ground was good, so the players played more confidently," adding, "I hope (the grass) will improve when playing at home."

The grass problem of the K League is not just a concern at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

The vicious cycle has been repeated due to differences in opinions and practical limitations between the club and the stadium's management entities, including the Korea Facilities Management Corporation.

For example, the Seoul Facilities Corporation, which manages the Seoul World Cup Stadium, reportedly earned more than 1 billion won in K League 1 Seoul games alone last year, but grass management has not been done accordingly.

However, since the Seoul Facilities Corporation has difficulty in maintaining and repairing the stadium only with soccer games, it fills up profits by renting various events such as concerts, and the grass is deteriorating in the process.

In the end, this trend is an obstacle not only to the immediate game, but also to the bid to host the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, which Chung Mong-kyu, president of the Korea Football Association, made a fourth-term pledge.

Regarding the controversy over "Nondurung Sangambeol," an official at the Korea Professional Football Association, which oversees the K-League, said, "The team sent an official letter of plan to improve the turf. The staff in charge will also conduct due diligence. For now, it is best that we can continue monitoring the situation. It is difficult to intervene further than this."

"If the grass is not good at all times, I ask for an improvement plan. Recently, Jeonju World Cup Stadium was not good, but the federation, the Gyeonggi supervisor, and officials from Samsung C&T Lawn Research Institute visited the site for due diligence. First of all, Seoul will not have a home game until the 29th, so we will receive feedback like this," he added.

The Seoul Metropolitan Facilities Management Corporation said it will replace grass and manage grasses in response to a request for improvement of grass posted on the Citizens' Voice bulletin board. 토토사이트 "We will introduce a professional management system and establish a regular inspection and thorough management plan to manage it. We will do our best to ensure that the game proceeds normally in the future," he said.