15 December 1995 - The Bluewings Take Flight

On 15 December 1995, Samsung founded a new football club in the South Korean city of Suwon. Known as the Bluewings, they have become one of the most celebrated clubs in Asia.

Playing under former South Korean national team manager Kim Ho, the Bluewings joined South Korea's top flight, the K-League, in 1996 and nearly won it. After topping the table for the season's Second Stage, they narrowly lost the play-off against First Stage winners Ulsan Hyundai by the aggregate score of 3-2. After a slight dip in form in 1997, they won their first league title in 1998, then won another in 1999, part of a quadruple that included that season's Super Cup, League Cup, and the Adidas Cup.

International success soon followed, as the Bluewings won back-to-back AFC Champions League titles in 2001 and 2002 (the latter in a dramatic penalty shootout against fellow K-League side Anyang LG Cheetahs).

Former Bundesliga star Cha Bum-Kun replaced Kim Ho in 2004 and continued the club's winning streak by capturing the league title in his first season. Mire silverware followed, including two Korean FA Cups and another league title, before his retirement in 2010. Former Bluewing defender Yoon Sung-Hyo is their new manager as they prepare to start their 2011 campaign.

5 April 2002 - Suwon Says Goodbye To Anyang

On 5 April 2002, defending champions Suwon Samsung Bluewings met their fellow South Korean compatriots Anyang LG Cheetahs at Tehran's Azadi Stadium in the 2002 Asian Club Championship Final. The two teams had met earlier in the quarterfinals, where they played to a 0-0 draw, and the Final was an equally close contest.

The Asian Club Championship started in 1985 as a replacement for the previous Asian Champion Club Tournament, which had been played from 1967 to 1972. The new tournament was modeled after UEFA's European Cup, pitting the top Asian Football Confederation clubs against each other. For the first several rounds, the clubs were divided into Eastern and Western brackets, culminating in the quarterfinals, which were played as a group stage with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semifinals.

Suwon and Anyang opened the East Asian quarterfinals by playing to a scoreless draw on 17 February before finishing as the top two East Asian sides, while the top two West Asian sides were Iran's Esteghlal FC and Uzbekistan's Nasaf Qarshi FC. In the semis, Suwon easily dispatched the Uzbekistani side 3-0 while Anyang needed a 72nd-minute goal to edge the Iranians, 2-1.

The two South Korean sides were equally matched in the Final, playing to another scoreless draw through extra time. In the ensuing shootout, Suwon keeper Lee Woon-jae provided the edge, twice denying Anyang to give Suwon a 4-2 win on penalty kicks. It was Suwon's second consecutive Asian Club Championship trophy.

It was the last such trophy, as the following season, the AFC rebranded the tournament as the AFC Champions League.