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K League 1
K League 1.svg
Organising body K League Federation
Founded 1983; 41 years ago (1983)
Country South Korea
Confederation AFC
Number of teams 12
Level on pyramid 1
Relegation to K League 2
Domestic cup(s) Korean FA Cup
International cup(s) AFC Champions League Elite
AFC Champions League Two
Current champions Ulsan Hyundai (4th title)
(2023)
Most championships Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (9 titles)
TV partners JTBC Golf&Sports
IB Sports
Sky Sports (South Korea)
Coupang Play
Next Level Sports
K League 1
Hangul K리그 원
Revised Romanization K rigeu one
McCune–Reischauer K rigŭ wŏn

The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the top flight of men's professional football in the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs.

History

The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1983 as the Korean Super League, with five member clubs. The initial five clubs were Hallelujah FC, Yukong Elephants, Pohang Steelworks, Daewoo Royals, Kookmin Bank. Hallelujah FC won the inaugural title, finishing one point ahead of Daewoo Royals to lift the trophy.

The Super League was renamed the Korean Professional Football League, and introduced the home and away system in 1987. It was once again renamed the K League in 1998. After the 2011 season, the K League Championship and the Korean League Cup were abolished, and the league was split into two divisions in 2013. The first division was named the K League Classic, while the newly created second division was named the K League Challenge, and both are now part of the K League structure. Since its creation, the league has expanded from an initial 5 to 22 clubs. Of the five inaugural clubs, only Yukong, Pohang and Daewoo still compete in the K League; Kookmin Bank dropped out of the league at the end of 1984, and Hallelujah followed the season after.

On 22 January 2018, the top-flight competition was renamed as K League 1.

Structure

On 5 October 2011, the league announced a plan to introduce a relegation system from the 2012 season, when two teams were relegated. In 2013, the bottom two teams were directly relegated, while the 12th team played a relegation playoff match against the winner of the newly formed K League Challenge. From the 2013 season, as the number of teams of K League was reduced, only the 12th team is automatically relegated, with the 11th team playing a match against the winner of the K League 2 promotion playoffs.

The league also introduced a split system like the Scottish Premier League in the 2012 season, where each club plays each other three times in the regular round, then the top and bottom six teams are split into Split A and Split B, in which a team plays every other team in the split once, to decide the final standings.

Other information

The K League season typically begins around March and runs to late November each year. The number of games, clubs and the systems used have varied through the years.

A number of the member clubs are owned by South Korean major conglomerates "chaebols". Those clubs have adopted local city names in an effort to integrate themselves more with the local communities. All other teams are owned by local governments.

The K League champions, runners-up, and third-placed team gain entry to the AFC Champions League the following season, with the exception of Sangmu FC due to their unique status as a military team. If the winners of Korean FA Cup cannot qualify for the AFC Champions League or already qualified for it, fourth place also can participate.

In the 2009 season, Gangwon FC joined the K League as its 15th member club. As such, the K League had one or more clubs in each province of South Korea. This was the first time in domestic South Korean professional sports history that there has been at least one club in each province.

Current clubs

Club Location Stadium First season Current spell Seasons Last title
Daegu FC Daegu DGB Daegu Bank Park 2003 2017– 19
Daejeon Hana Citizen Daejeon Daejeon World Cup Stadium 1997 2023– 20
Gangwon FC Gangwon Chuncheon Songam Stadium
Gangneung Stadium
2009 2017– 13
Gimcheon Sangmu Gimcheon Gimcheon Stadium 2022 2024– 2
Gwangju FC Gwangju Gwangju Football Stadium 2011 2023– 9
Incheon United Incheon Incheon Football Stadium 2004 2004– 20
Jeju United Jeju Province Jeju World Cup Stadium 1983 2021– 41 1989
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors North Jeolla Jeonju World Cup Stadium 1995 1995– 30 2021
Pohang Steelers Pohang Pohang Steel Yard 1983 1983– 42 2013
FC Seoul Seoul Seoul World Cup Stadium 1984 1984– 41 2016
Suwon FC Suwon Suwon Stadium 2016 2021– 5
Ulsan HD Ulsan Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium 1984 1984– 41 2023


Champions

Champions by season

Season Champions Runners-up
1983 Hallelujah FC Daewoo Royals
1984 Daewoo Royals Yukong Elephants
1985 Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso POSCO Atoms
1986 POSCO Atoms Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso
1987 Daewoo Royals POSCO Atoms
1988 POSCO Atoms Hyundai Horang-i
1989 Yukong Elephants Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso
1990 Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso Daewoo Royals
1991 Daewoo Royals Hyundai Horang-i
1992 POSCO Atoms Ilhwa Chunma
1993 Ilhwa Chunma LG Cheetahs
1994 Ilhwa Chunma Yukong Elephants
1995 Ilhwa Chunma Pohang Atoms
1996 Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i Suwon Samsung Bluewings
1997 Busan Daewoo Royals Jeonnam Dragons
1998 Suwon Samsung Bluewings Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
1999 Suwon Samsung Bluewings Busan Daewoo Royals
2000 Anyang LG Cheetahs Bucheon SK
2001 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Anyang LG Cheetahs
2002 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
2003 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
2004 Suwon Samsung Bluewings Pohang Steelers
2005 Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i Incheon United
2006 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Suwon Samsung Bluewings
2007 Pohang Steelers Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2008 Suwon Samsung Bluewings FC Seoul
2009 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2010 FC Seoul Jeju United
2011 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Ulsan Hyundai
2012 FC Seoul Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
2013 Pohang Steelers Ulsan Hyundai
2014 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Suwon Samsung Bluewings
2015 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Suwon Samsung Bluewings
2016 FC Seoul Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
2017 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeju United
2018 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Gyeongnam FC
2019 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Ulsan Hyundai
2020 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Ulsan Hyundai
2021 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Ulsan Hyundai
2022 Ulsan Hyundai Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
2023 Ulsan Hyundai Pohang Steelers

Performance by club

List of South Korean football champions

Broadcasters

South Korea

Broadcaster Summary Ref.
JTBC Golf&Sports Broadcast most matches live.
Sky Sports (South Korea) Broadcast one match live on every Saturday and Sunday respectively.
IB Sports Broadcast one match live on every Saturday.
KBS1 (terrestrial) Broadcast one match on every Sunday from 1:00 a.m.
Coupang Play Broadcast all the matches live on over-the-top media service.

Outside South Korea

As of 2024

Country/region Broadcaster
 Australia Optus Sport
Balkans Sportklub
 China K-Ball
CIS TV Start
 Hong Kong TVB
 Indonesia TVRI Sport
 Macau Macau Cable TV
 Malaysia Astro SuperSport
 United States FanDuel TV
Worldwide K League TV

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: K League 1 para niños

  • K League records and statistics
  • List of foreign K League 1 players
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