Wolverhampton Wanderers, the club of South Korean national team forward Hwang Hee-chan, 30, has been officially relegated from the English Premier League (EPL) with five matches still to play.
The relegation was confirmed Sunday after Crystal Palace and West Ham United drew 0-0 in their Round 33 match of the 2025-2026 EPL season at Selhurst Park in London.
West Ham, occupying the 17th-place safety line, gained one point to reach 33 points (8 wins, 9 draws, 16 losses), widening the gap to 16 points over bottom-placed Wolverhampton, which has 17 points (3 wins, 8 draws, 22 losses). Wolverhampton cannot climb into the safety zone even if it wins all five remaining matches.
Wolverhampton, which was promoted after winning the Championship in the 2017-2018 season, will move to the English Championship (second division) for the 2026-2027 season.
A "worst-ever slump" that continued from the start of the season dragged Wolverhampton down. Opening the season with five consecutive EPL defeats, Wolverhampton suffered an 11-match EPL losing streak from October to late December 2025, going winless in its first 19 matches (3 draws, 16 losses). A 19-match winless streak was the first such humiliation in EPL — and indeed in English professional football history — since Bolton Wanderers in the 1902-1903 season, a gap of 123 years.
With Wolverhampton's relegation, all Korean players competing in the EPL face the prospect of disappearing from the league starting next season. Coventry City's Yang Min-hyuk (Tottenham) and Excelsior's Yoon Do-young (Brighton) are contracted to EPL clubs, but whether they will be called up remains uncertain.
The relegation is also expected to draw attention to Hwang's future. Although Hwang is under contract with Wolverhampton until 2028, a move to another club appears likely following the team's demotion.
