| Clubname: | Gimcheon Sangmu |
| Upright: | 0.7 |
| Fullname: | Gimcheon Sangmu Football Club 김천 상무 프로축구단 |
| Founded: | (as Sangmu FC) (as Gimcheon Sangmu FC) |
| Ground: | Gimcheon Stadium |
| Capacity: | 25,000 |
| Owner: | Gimcheon Government and Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps |
| Chairman: | Mayor of Gimcheon |
| Manager: | Chung Jung-yong |
| League: | K League 1 |
| Season: | 2023 |
| Position: | K League 2, 1st of 13 (promoted) |
| Website: | http://gimcheonfc.com/ |
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Gimcheon Sangmu FC is a South Korean professional football club based in Gimcheon that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Sangmu is the sports division of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces.
Sangmu's playing staff is made up of young South Korean professional footballers serving their compulsory two-year military duty. Fifteen players join up at the start of every season and spend two years with the side before returning to their previous professional club. Sangmu are not allowed to sign any foreign players because of their military status.
This article also includes the predecessor military-based teams – Sangmu FC, Gwangju Sangmu FC and Sangju Sangmu FC – which are still separate legal entities.
Before the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps and its football club Sangmu FC were founded in 1984, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces had three football clubs: ROK Army FC, ROK Marine Corps FC, and ROK Air Force FC.
The ROK Army originally established football clubs of each corps, including CIC FC (Counter Intelligence Corps;[1] [2] also known as Seoul FC[3] or Seoul Club),[4] HID FC (Headquarters of Intelligence Detachment), Quartermaster Corps FC (consisted of only quartermasters), OPMG FC (Office of the Provost Marshal General; former Military Police Command FC), Engineer Corps FC, and Infantry School FC. Most of them (excluding Quartermaster Corps FC) were merged into the Engineer Corps FC in 1965. Lastly, these two clubs were united, and Army FC was established in 1969.
Afterwards, the Marine Corps FC renamed as ROK Navy FC due to the dissolution of the Headquarters Marine Corps in 1973.
| Until 1955 | 1956–1964 | 1965–1968 | 1969–1972 | 1973–1983 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Military Police Command FC | Army Engineer Corps FC | ||||
| Army Infantry School FC | |||||
| Other ROK Army clubs | |||||
Sangmu FC was founded on 11 January 1984, as the football side of Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps.[5] [6] Although Sangmu squad was composed of professional players from K League clubs, Sangmu FC competed in the semi-professional league (now Korea National League). Sangmu joined the K League for the 1985 season, but spent only one year in the league before dropping out.
The reserve side, Sangmu B, competed in the K2 League from 2003 to 2005 before joining the K League reserve league. Sangmu B was based in Icheon and finished as the runners-up in the 2003 K2 League season.
After establishing a home base in Gwangju in April 2002, the team participated in the Reserve League.[7] The club has rejoined the K League at the start of the 2003 season as Gwangju Sangmu Bulsajo FC. Between 2004 and 2010, the club has been known as Gwangju Sangmu FC.
Once Gwangju FC was established, Gwangju Sangmu FC was relocated to Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, as Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps moved to Mungyeong, near Sangju. The club name was officially changed to Sangju Sangmu Phoenix FC in January 2011.[8] [9]
Before the 2013 season, the club officially removed the word "Phoenix" in its name. In the same season, Sangju Sangmu became the first champions of the newly established K League Challenge (second division) and promoted to the K League Classic.[10] [11]
Sangju started the 2020 season already knowing they would be relegated to K League 2. The military club decided to move out of Sangju to a new, as yet undisclosed location.[12] Sangju has decided not to establish a football team which would be citizen-owned outfit and also played in K League 2.[13]
On 30 June 2020, the K League administration announced that the city of Gimcheon had officially submitted an application to host the team for at least the 2021 season, offering their local stadium as the football club's new home.[14] After a preliminary review and several meetings and assemblies involving local governors, the K League eventually approved the proposal and began the process of moving the club to Gimcheon.[15]
| Name | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Kim Young-bae | 11 January 1984 | 1984 | |
| Jang Jong-dae | 1985 | 9 July 1985 | |
| Kim Young-bae | 10 July 1985 | December 1989 | |
| Lee Kang-jo | 1990 | 27 October 2010 | |
| Lee Soo-chul | 28 October 2010 | 13 July 2011 | |
| Kim Tae-wan (caretaker) | 14 July 2011 | 29 December 2011 | |
| Park Hang-seo | 20 December 2011 | 11 December 2015 | |
| Cho Jin-ho | 18 December 2015 | 25 November 2016 | |
| Kim Tae-wan | 25 November 2016[16] | 9 December 2022 | |
| Sung Han-soo (caretaker) | 9 December 2022 | 25 May 2023 | |
| Chung Jung-yong | 26 May 2023 | present |
| Sangmu all-time records | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Teams | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=30 | width=30 | width=30 | width=30 | Position | Korean FA Cup | League Cup | Top scorer (league goals) | ||||||||
| Sangmu era | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985 | 8 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 23 | 30 | −7 | 19 | 6th | None | None | Hong Seok-min (6) | ||||||||
| Gwangju Sangmu era | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | 12 | 44 | 13 | 7 | 24 | 41 | 60 | −19 | 46 | 10th | Round of 16 | None | Lee Dong-gook (11) | ||||||||
| 2004 | 13 | 24 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 18 | 20 | −2 | 29 | 8th | Quarter-finals | 10th | Park Jung-hwan (4) | ||||||||
| 2005 | 13 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 23 | 38 | −15 | 17 | 13th | Round of 16 | 11th | Kim Sang-rok (5) | ||||||||
| 2006 | 14 | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 17 | 29 | −12 | 23 | 14th | Round of 16 | 11th | Kang Yong (4) Chung Kyung-ho (4) | ||||||||
| 2007 | 14 | 26 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 14 | 44 | −30 | 12 | 14th | Round of 16 | Group stage | Namgung Do (7) | ||||||||
| 2008 | 14 | 26 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 22 | 46 | −24 | 16 | 14th | Quarter-finals | Group stage | Kim Myung-joong (7) | ||||||||
| 2009 | 15 | 28 | 9 | 3 | 16 | 33 | 40 | −7 | 30 | 11th | Round of 16 | Group stage | Choi Sung-kuk (9) | ||||||||
| 2010 | 15 | 28 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 43 | −26 | 19 | 14th | Quarter-finals | Group stage | Choi Sung-kuk (4) | ||||||||
| Sangju Sangmu era | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 16 | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 36 | 53 | −17 | 29 | 14th | Round of 16 | Group stage | Kim Jung-woo (15) | ||||||||
| 2012 | 16 | 44 | 7 | 6 | 31 | 29 | 74 | −45 | 27 | 16th | Round of 16 | — | |||||||||
| Sangmu all-time records | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Division | Teams | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=30 | width=30 | width=30 | width=30 | Position | Korean FA Cup | ||||||||
| Sangju Sangmu era | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | K2 | 8 | 35 | 23 | 8 | 4 | 65 | 31 | +34 | 77 | bgcolor=gold | 1st | Round of 16 | |||||||
| 2014 | K1 | 12 | 38 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 39 | 62 | −23 | 34 | bgcolor=pink | 12th | Semi-finals | |||||||
| 2015 | K2 | 11 | 40 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 77 | 57 | +20 | 67 | bgcolor=gold | 1st | Third round | |||||||
| 2016 | K1 | 12 | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 54 | 65 | −11 | 43 | 6th | Round of 32 | ||||||||
| 2017 | K1 | 12 | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 41 | 66 | −25 | 35 | 11th | Quarter-finals | ||||||||
| 2018 | K1 | 12 | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 41 | 52 | −11 | 40 | 10th | Round of 32 | ||||||||
| 2019 | K1 | 12 | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 49 | 53 | −4 | 55 | 7th | Semi-finals | ||||||||
| 2020 | K1 | 12 | 27 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 34 | 36 | –2 | 44 | 4th | Round of 16 | ||||||||
| Gimcheon Sangmu era | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | K2 | 10 | 36 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 60 | 34 | +26 | 71 | bgcolor=gold | 1st | Quarter-finals | |||||||
| 2022 | K1 | 12 | 38 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 45 | 48 | –3 | 38 | bgcolor=pink | 11th | Third round | |||||||
| 2023 | K2 | 13 | 36 | 22 | 5 | 9 | 71 | 37 | +34 | 71 | bgcolor=gold | 1st | Third round | |||||||