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K League
	;
Founded	; 1983;
Country	; South Korea;
Confederation	; AFC;
Divisions	; K League 1 (First Division); K League 2 (Second Division)
Number of teams	; 22
Domestic cup(s)	; FA Cup;
International cup(s)	; AFC Champions League;
Current champions	; Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (Classic); Gyeongnam FC (Challenge)
Most championships	; Seongnam FC (7)
Website	; Official website;

K League (Hangul: K리그) (Korea Professional Football League) is South Korea's professional association football league including the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2.^[1]^[2]

History

The K League Classic was founded in 1983 as the Korean Super League, with five member clubs. The initial five clubs were Hallelujah FC, Yukong Elephants, POSCO Dolphins, Daewoo Royals, and Kookmin Bank FC. Hallelujah FC won the inaugural title, finishing one point ahead of Daewoo Royals to lift the crown.

In 1998, Korea's football league was reformed and renamed the K League (K League was official orthography by 2012). Since its creation, the league has expanded from an initial 5 to 16 clubs. Of the five inaugural clubs, only Yukong Elephants, POSCO Dolphins, and Daewoo Royals remains in the K League; Kookmin Bank FC dropped out of the league at the end of 1984, and Hallelujah FC followed the season after.

In 2013, K League introduced the division system. The first division's name was K League Classic, the second division's name was K League Challenge and the comprehensive brand name was K League. The fact that both the first and second divisions had very similar names has caused some degree of confusion and controversy.^[3] Beginning with the 2018 season, the first division was renamed to K League 1 and the second division to K League 2.

Structure

Below the K League 1 is the K League 2, and below the K League 2 is the National League, a closed semi-professional league established in 2003. The fourth level of football in South Korea is the K3 League.

There was no official system of promotion and relegation. However, beginning in 2013, the champions of K League 2 are eligible for promotion to the K League 1, provided that they meet certain criteria.

Clubs

Current K League Clubs

First Division – K League 1 – 12 clubs

Second Division – K League 2 – 10 clubs

All-time K League Clubs

As of 2017, There have been a total of 31 member clubs in the history of the K League – those clubs are listed below with their current names (where applicable):

K League's principle of official statistics is that final club succeeds to predecessor club's history & records.

Clubs in italic no longer exist.

Club (duration)	Owner(s)	Sponsor(s)	Notes
POSCO FC (1973–1983) POSCO Dolphins (1983–1984) POSCO Atoms (1985–1994) Pohang Atoms (1995–1996) Pohang Steelers (1997–present)	POSCO		Founded as a Semi-Professional FC on April 1973 Transferred into a Professional FC on February 1984
Hallelujah FC (1983–1985)	defunct Shindongah Group		Inauguration date – 20 December 1980
Yukong Elephants (1983–1995) Puchon Yukong (1996–1997.09) Puchon SK (1997.10–2000) Bucheon SK (2001–2005) Jeju United (2006–present)	SK Energy^[1] in SK Group		Inauguration date – 17 December 1982
Saehan Motors FC (1979–1980) Daewoo FC (1980–1983) Daewoo Royals (1983–1995) Pusan Daewoo Royals (1996–1999) Pusan i.cons (2000–2002.07) Pusan I'Cons (2002.07–2004) Busan I'Park (2005–2011) Busan IPark (2012–present)	defunct Daewoo Group (1983–1999) HDC Sports in HDC Group (2000–present)		Founded as a Semi-Professional FC on 22 November 1979 Refounded as a Professional FC Inauguration date – 3 December 1983
Kookmin Bank FC (1983–1984)	Kookmin Bank		Played as a Semi-Professional FC
Hyundai Horang-i (1984–1995) Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i (1996–1998) Ulsan Hyundai Horangi (1999–2007) Ulsan Hyundai (2008–present)	Hyundai Motor Company in Hyundai Group (1984–1997) Hyundai Heavy Industries in Hyundai Heavy Industries Group (1998–present)		Inauguration date – 6 December 1983
Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso (1984–1990) LG Cheetahs (1991–1995) Anyang LG Cheetahs (1996–2003) FC Seoul (2004–present)	LG Group (1984–2004) GS Sports in GS Group^[2] (2004.06–present) 0 0		Inauguration date – 22 December 1983 0 0 0
Hanil Bank FC (1984–1986)	Hanil Bank^[3]		Played as a Semi-Professional FC
Ilhwa Chunma (1989–1995) Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma (1996–1999) Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (2000–2013) Seongnam FC (2014–present)	Ilhwa in Tongil Group (1989–2013) Government of Seongnam and Citizen Stockholder (2014–present)		Inauguration date – 18 March 1989
Chonbuk Buffalo (1994)		Bobae Soju (1994)	Inauguration date – 1993 Dissolution date – 1994
Chonbuk Dinos (1995–1996) Chonbuk Hyundai Dinos (1997–1999) Chonbuk Hyundai Motors (2000–2005) Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (2006–present)	Consortium of Hyunyang and Hyundai Motor Company in Hyundai Group (1995–1999.05) Hyundai Motor Company in Hyundai Motor Group (1999.05–present)		Inauguration date – 12 December 1994
Chunnam Dragons (1995–2013) Jeonnam Dragons (2014–present)	POSCO		Inauguration date – 16 December 1994
Suwon Samsung Bluewings (1996–present)	Samsung Electronics in Samsung Group (1996–2014) Cheil Worldwide in Samsung Group (2014–present)	Samsung Electronics	Inauguration date – 15 December 1995
Taejon Citizen (1997–2002) Daejeon Citizen (2003–present)	Consortium of defunct Dong Ah Group, Kyeryong Construction Company, Dongyang Department Store, Chungchong Bank (1997–2005) Government of Daejeon and Citizen Stockholder (2006–present)	Hana Bank	Inauguration date – 12 March 1997
Daegu FC (2003–present)	Government of Daegu and Citizen Stockholder	Daegu Bank	Inauguration date – 19 March 2003
Incheon United (2004–present)	Government of Incheon and Citizen Stockholder	Shinhan Bank Incheon International Airport	Inauguration date – 1 March 2004
Gyeongnam FC (2006–present)	Government of Gyeongsangnam-do and Citizen Stockholder	DSME Gyeongnam Bank	Inauguration date – 17 January 2006
Gangwon FC (2009–present)	Government of Gangwon-do and Citizen Stockholder	High1 Resort	Inauguration date – 18 December 2008
Gwangju FC (2011–present)	Government of Gwangju and Citizen Stockholder	Gwangju Bank	Inauguration date – 16 December 2010
Sangmu FC (1985) Gwangju Sangmu (2003–2010) Sangju Sangmu Phoenix (2011–2012) Sangju Sangmu (2013–present) 0 0 0	Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps (1985) Government of Gwangju and Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps (2003–2010) Government of Sangju and Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps (2011–present) 0 0 0 0		Founded as a Military FC (Semi-Professional) on 11 January 1984 Joined K League in 1985 Inauguration date – 4 January 2013 (Gwangju Sangmu) Inauguration date – 26 February 2011 (Sangju Sangmu) ※ Sangmu, Gwangju Sangmu and Sangju Sangmu, these clubs are separate legal entities by K League, not succeed the history and records
Police FC (2013) Ansan Police FC (2014–2015) Ansan Mugunghwa (2016) Asan Mugunghwa (2017–present) 0 0	Mugunghwa Athletic Club in Korean National Police University (2013) Government of Ansan and Mugunghwa Athletic Club in Korean National Police University (2014–2016) Government of Asan and Mugunghwa Athletic Club in Korean National Police University (2017–present) 0		Founded as a Police FC (Semi-Professional) on 29 March 1996 Transferred into a Professional FC and joined K League Challenge in 2013 Inauguration date – 16 March 2014 (Ansan Mugunghwa) Inauguration date – 16 January 2017 (Asan Mugunghwa) 0※ Ansan Police and Asan Police, these clubs are separate legal entities by K League, not succeed the history and records
Goyang Hi FC (2013–2016)			Founded as a Semi-Professional FC in 1999 Transferred into a Professional FC and joined K League Challenge in 2013 Transferred into an Amateur FC and left K League Challenge in the end of 2016
Chungju Hummel (2013–2016)	Hummel Korea		Founded as a Semi-Professional FC 9 December 1999 Transferred into a Professional FC and joined K League Challenge in 2013
Suwon FC (2013–present)	Government of Suwon and Citizen Stockholder		Founded as a Semi-Professional FC 15 March 2003 Transferred into a Professional FC in 2013 Joined K League Challenge
Bucheon FC 1995 (2013–present)	Government of Bucheon and Citizen Stockholder		Founded as Amateur FC on 1 December 2007 Transferred into a Professional FC and joined K League Challenge in 2013
FC Anyang (2013–present)	Government of Anyang and Citizen Stockholder		Inauguration date – 2 February 2013 Joined K League Challenge in 2013
Seoul E-Land FC (2015–present)	E-Land Group		Inauguration date – 22 August 2014 Joined K League Challenge in 2015
Ansan Greeners FC (2017–present)	Government of Ansan and Citizen Stockholder		Inauguration date – 21 February 2017 Joined K League Challenge in 2017

^[1] Yukong renamed to SK Energy
^[2]GS Group is separated from LG Group
^[3] Hanil Bank is merged by Woori Bank

Champions

For details on K League Champions, see List of South Korean football champions.

Seongnam FC are the most successful club in terms of championship victories, having lifted the title on seven occasions.

Records and statistics

For details, see K League records and statistics.

Records include K League 1 (top division), K League 2 (second division), and League Cup.

All statistics are correct as of end of the 2017 season.

Bold denotes players still playing in the K League.

Appearances

Rank	Player	Appearances	Notes
1	Kim Byung-ji	706
2	Choi Eun-sung	532
3	Kim Gi-dong	501
4	Lee Dong-gook	469
5	Kim Sang-sik	458
6	Oh Seung-bum	446	^[a]
6	Kim Yong-dae	446
8	Kim Eun-jung	444	^[a]
9	Woo Sung-yong	439
10	Hyun Young-min	437

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Clean sheets	Matches	Clean sheets per match	Notes
1	Kim Byung-ji	229	706	0.32
2	Choi Eun-sung	152	532	0.29
3	Lee Woon-jae	140	410	0.34
4	Kim Young-kwang	132	425	0.31	^[a]
5	Kim Yong-dae	132	446	0.30
6	Valeri Sarychev	114	320	0.36
7	Jung Sung-ryong	108	296	0.36
8	Shin Hwa-yong	107	320	0.33
9	Kwoun Sun-tae	90	301	0.30
10	Kim Ho-jun	84	271	0.31	^[a]

Goals

Rank	Player	Goals	Matches	Goals per match	Notes
1	Lee Dong-gook	202	469	0.43
2	Dejan Damjanović	173	303	0.57
3	Kim Eun-jung	123	444	0.28	^[a]
4	Woo Sung-yong	116	439	0.26
5	Kim Do-hoon	114	257	0.44
6	Kim Shin-wook	112	300	0.37
7	Jung Jo-gook	111	324	0.34
8	Kim Hyun-seok	110	371	0.30
9	Saša Drakulić	104	271	0.38
10	Yoon Sang-chul	101	300	0.34

Assists

Rank	Player	Assists	Matches	Assists per match	Notes
1	Yeom Ki-hun	99	311	0.32	^[a]
2	Lee Dong-gook	71	469	0.15
3	Mauricio Molina	69	209	0.33
4	Shin Tae-yong	68	401	0.17
5	Eninho	66	231	0.29
6	Hwang Jin-sung	65	322	0.20
7	Denis Laktionov	59	272	0.22
8	Kim Eun-jung	56	444	0.13	^[a]
9	Hyun Young-min	55	437	0.13
10	Kim Hyun-seok	54	371	0.15

^ ^a^b^c^d^e^f^g Including K League Challenge appearances (second division)

Foreign players

Season	Squad	Play in match	Notes
1983–1993	2	2
1994	3	2	If three players chosen to South Korea in one club, three foreign players can play.
1995	3	3
1996–2000	5	3	From 1997 season, foreign goalkeepers were restricted in play the match. * 1997 season : Two-third of all matches * 1998 season : one-third of all matches * From 1999 season : foreign goalkeepers were restricted in K League
2001–2002	7	3	Temporary operation due to support the World Cup.
2003–2004	5	3
2005	4	3
2006–2008	3	3
2009–	3+1	3+1	'+1' is Asian quota.

At the inception of the K League in 1983, only two Brazilian players made rosters. At the time, rules allowed each club to have three foreign players and that the three could also play simultaneously in a game. From the 1996 season, each team had five foreign players among whom three could play in a game at the same time. Moreover,
from the 2000 season to the 2002 season, the limit on foreign players was expanded seven but only three could play in a game at the same time. The limit was lower to five in 2003, four in 2005, and three in 2007. From the 2009 season, the number of foreign players went back up to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries.

In the 1985 season, Piyapong Pue-on of Thailand led foreign players in the league in scoring and assists. Other leading players were Rade Bogdanović, who had 10 goals and 10 assists in the 1996 season. Valeri Sarychev, the K League's most famous foreign goalkeeper, played in 320 league games from 1992 to 2004. He was eventually naturalized as a Korean citizen and given the Korean name Shin Eui-Son which means God's hand because of his stellar play.

In the 1990s, the trend was for the K League to get foreign players from Eastern Europe like Rade Bogdanović, Radivoje Manic, Saša Drakulić and Denis Laktionov. From 2000, Brazilians became the K League's priority such as Tavares, Mota, Nádson, Adilson and Edu. Since 2009, players from AFC have been fairly popular especially those from Australia, China PR, Japan and Uzbekistan.

Franchise system

Non-franchised Period (1983–1986): K League Clubs had franchise but clubs played the all game of round at one stadium.

Franchised period (1987–present): K League introduced home and away matches system in 1987.

Clubs which are not listed in the table don't have franchise relocations.

Franchise relocations

Club	Original City / area (joined year)	Non-franchised period 1983–1986	Franchised period 1987–present
Pohang Steelers	Daegu+Gyeongbuk (1983)	N/A	Pohang (1990 / 1988^[1]–present)
Jeju United	Seoul+Incheon+Gyeonggi (1983)	Seoul (1984)	Incheon+Gyeonggi (1987) ▶ Seoul (1991) ▶ Bucheon / Mok-dong, Seoul (1996)^[2] ▶ Bucheon (2001) ▶ Jeju (2006–present)
Busan IPark	Busan+Gyeongnam (1983)	N/A	Busan (1990 / 1989^[1]–present)
Ulsan Hyundai	Incheon+Gyeonggi (1984)	Incheon+Gyeonggi+Gangwon(1986)	Gangwon (1987) ▶ Ulsan (1990–present)
FC Seoul	Chungcheong (1984)	N/A	Chungcheong (1987) ▶ Seoul (1990) ▶ Anyang (1996) ▶ Seoul (2004–present)
Seongnam FC	Seoul (1989)	N/A	Cheonan (1996) ▶ Seongnam (2000–present)
Sangju Sangmu^[3]	Gwangju (2003)	N/A	Gwangju (2003) ▶ Sangju (2011–present)
Asan Mugunghwa^[4]	N/A(All matches were away matches) (2013)	N/A	Ansan (2014) ▶ Asan (2017–present)

^[1] K League officially began city franchise policy in 1990, But Pohang Steelers began in 1988 and Busan IPark began in 1989.
^[2] Actually Bucheon SK held all home matches at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul until 2000. Because Bucheon Stadium was under construction.
^[3] Gwangju Sangmu and Sangju Sangmu are sepate leagal entities by K League. Officially, not relocated and founded as a new club.
^[4] Ansan Police and Asan Police are sepate leagal entities by K League. Officially, not relocated and founded as a new club.

K League Awards

K League MVP Award

K League Top Scorer Award

K League Top Assistor Award

K League Rookie of the Year Award

K League Manager of the Year Award

K League Best XI

K League FANtastic Player

Sponsorship

Start	End	Name
1983	1993	None
1994	1995	Hite
1996	1997	Rapido
1998	–	Hyundai
1999	–	Buy Korea
2000	–	Samsung DigiTall
2001	–	POSCO
2002	2008	Samsung Hauzen
2009	–	None
2010	–	Hyundai Motor Company Sonata
2011	2016	Hyundai Oilbank
2017	2019	KEB Hana Bank

References

^ "In search of Korea's disappearing Red Devils-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily". Koreajoongangdaily.joins.com. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2014-02-01.

^ "South Korean Teams Fight for Attention at Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-02-02.

^ "위원석의 하프타임 'K리그'에 새로운 이름을 붙여주자" (in Korean). The Daily Sports Seoul. February 19, 2013. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013.

External links

Official K League website (in English)

Official K League website (in Korean)

[fn1-4] Including K League Challenge appearances (second division)

[1] "In search of Korea's disappearing Red Devils-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily". Koreajoongangdaily.joins.com. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2014-02-01.

[2] "South Korean Teams Fight for Attention at Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-02-02.

[3] "위원석의 하프타임 'K리그'에 새로운 이름을 붙여주자" (in Korean). The Daily Sports Seoul. February 19, 2013. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013.

v t e K League
K League 1 (2018)	Daegu FC Gangwon FC Gyeongnam FC Incheon United Jeju United Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeonnam Dragons Pohang Steelers Sangju Sangmu FC Seoul Suwon Samsung Bluewings Ulsan Hyundai
K League 2 (2018)	Ansan Greeners FC Asan Mugunghwa FC Anyang Bucheon FC 1995 Busan IPark Daejeon Citizen Gwangju FC Seongnam FC Seoul E-Land FC Suwon FC
Former clubs	Kookmin Bank Hallelujah Hanil Bank Chonbuk Buffalo Chungju Hummel Goyang Zaicro FC
Competitions	Promotion-Relegation Playoffs Reserve League Championship Playoffs (defunct) Super Cup (defunct) League Cup (defunct)
Players	K League 1 foreign players K League 2 foreign players
Statistics	K League records and statistics Champions 20–20 30–30 40–40 50–50 60–60 70-70
Awards	Most Valuable Player Manager of the Year Top Scorer Top Assistor Young Player of the Year Best XI FANtastic Player

v t e K League seasons
K League 1	1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
K League 2	2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

v t e Korean League Cup seasons
Professional Football Championship	1986
Korean League Cup	1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Korean League Cup (Supplementary Cup)	1997 1998 1999 2000

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