Korea trip - the story so far

After an exhausting flight half way around the world, the FC United team, officials and fans finally landed in South Korea at about 7am (11pm UK time) and, after a brief rest and brush up, some were whisked off to a press conference to launch the trip officially.

On the table were Andy Walsh (General Manager), Team Manager Karl Marginson and players Sam Ashton and Jerome Wright as well as players and officials from Bucheon FC. Some pictures from the event can be viewed here.

We will try to keep this piece up to date with the latest happenings as they, er..., happen.

Craig Phillips provides a preview of the match below:

After Saturday’s success for the ’All stars’ team in Leek, FC United begin their pre-season campaign for real in a very different location as they take on Korean side; Bucheon 1995.

Margy has named a strong squad with a good mixture of freshness, youth and experience as United make the trip east for Saturday’s game.

One of those names in the squad is Ben Deegan who signed over the summer from Ashton United and managed to bag himself a second half hat-trick on his debut against Leek as he looks to fill the void left by Kyle Wilson; who was snapped up by Macclesfield Town at the end of last season.

Saturday’s match is a great opportunity to take FC United around the world and face another club who were formed in similar circumstances to our own formation.

Bucheon 1995 were officially formed on 1 December 2007 but the wheels had been set in motion almost two years before this as fans looked to take a stand against their top flight club, Bucheon SK, being moved 300 miles south to the island of Jeju-do to occupy the last vacant 2002 World Cup stadium.

Bucheon fans couldn’t believe their club was being uprooted and so decided to form their own club and the idea that eventually became Bucheon 1995 was put into motion.

Initial sights were set on joining the Korean National League for the 2007 season but strict financial regulations of the league meant that this had to be re-assessed and the club opted to work towards joining the K3 league for the 2008 season.

The club received financial sponsorships and indeed got enough backing to be formed for the 2008 season and in October 2007 it was officially announced that the team would be known as Bucheon 1995.

Saturday’s game has been labelled as the "World Football Dream Match"?? by our hosts and they hope to have around 20,000 fans inside the stadium on to see the two clubs play.

Notable names on the Bucheon squad list include Park Ji-Sung (not that one) and Kaka (who actually comes from Congo and not Brazil). Joking aside though, the game should be a great footballing occasion and those lucky enough to be out there will sample a great atmosphere of two football clubs with values and principles.

This is usually the point where we encourage you to get down to that football ground but obviously if you’re not already there or planning to go, Korea is a bit far to go on the spur of the moment.

Supporters can listen to the match on FCUM Radio from 10am on Saturday via the website as United look to get into their stride before the big kick off against Boston on 15 August.