2024-25 Premier League season to end with a Korean derby

The 2024-25 Premier League season will end with a Korean derby, although not one involving veteran midfielder and the inimitable face of Korean football Son Heung-min.

From left: Hwang Hee-chan, Son Heung-min and Kim Ji-soo [SCREEN CAPTURE; AFP; REUTERS/YONHAP]

The 2024-25 Premier League season will end with a Korean derby, although not one involving veteran midfielder and the inimitable face of Korean football Son Heung-min.

Instead, it will be Wolverhampton Wanderers, home of midfielder Hwang Hee-chan, that host west London club Brentford on May 25, the final day of the 2024-25 campaign. Brentford recently promoted young Korean defender Kim Ji-soo to the club’s first team.

The Wolves-Brentford clash will cap off a season that should see at least six Korean derbies — two each between Wolves-Spurs, Spurs-Brentford and Wolves-Brentford.

Spurs will host Brentford in the first Korean derby on Sept. 21, with Wolves then traveling to west London to take on the Bees on Oct. 5.

Son and Hwang will have their first clash of the season on Dec. 29 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, before the north London club head across town to take on Brentford on Feb. 1.

Wolves and Spurs will face off again in the midlands on April 12, with the Wolves-Brentford match capping off the Korean-on-Korean schedule for the season.

Outside of the all-out Korean fixtures, Wolves will start their season on Aug. 17 on the road in London as they face the tough challenge of taking on Arsenal at the Emirates on opening day.

Brentford start their season a day later on Aug. 18 at home against Crystal Palace, while Spurs head to Leicester for the final game of opening weekend on the evening of Aug. 19.

More Korean players could still be added to the mix when the transfer window opens next month.

Hwang In-beom, perhaps the unluckiest man in Korean football, could be about to turn a corner in his career as he has reportedly been linked to both Wolves and Crystal Palace.

Red Star Belgrade's Hwang In-beom, left, vies for the ball with Young Boy's Joel Monteiro during a UEFA Champions League Group G match in Belgrade, Serbia on Oct. 4, 2023. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Hwang Ui-jo, meanwhile, is set to return from loan in Turkey to rejoin Nottingham Forest over the summer, although whether the club will actually have a place for him remains unclear. Hwang, who has been through a tumultuous couple of years, has not made an appearance for Forest since joining the club two years ago.

Son, Hwang Hee-chan and Kim are all expected to return to their Premier League clubs in the next couple of weeks as pre-season training slowly kicks off at the end of the month, although without any players active in the Euros or Copa America.

Prior to the 2024-25 campaign, Spurs are headed to Asia where they face Vissel Kobe in Tokyo on July 27 before playing Team K League on July 31 and Bayern Munich on Aug. 3, both in Seoul.

Wolves head further west for the Stateside Cup, facing West Ham, Crystal Palace and RB Leipzig in a series of fixtures up the west coast of the United States.

Brentford are staying in Europe this year, spending some time in Portugal at the end of July where they will face Primeira Liga clubs Benfica and Estrela da Amadora, before returning home to play Championship side Watford and host Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]