K League 1

For comprehensive South Korean professional football league including first division and second division, see K League.

K League 1
Organising bodyK League Federation
Founded1983; 42 years ago (1983)
CountrySouth Korea
ConfederationAFC
Number of clubs12
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toK League 2
Domestic cup(s)Korean FA Cup
International cup(s)AFC Champions League Elite
AFC Champions League Two
Current championsUlsan HD (5th title)
(2024)
Most championshipsJeonbuk Hyundai Motors (9 titles)
TV partnersJTBC Golf&Sports
IB Sports
Sky Sports (South Korea)
Coupang Play
Next Level Sports
Websitekleague.com
Current: 2025 K League 1
K League 1
Hangul
K리그 원
Revised RomanizationK rigeu one
McCune–ReischauerK rigŭ wŏn

The K League 1 (Korean: K리그1) is the top flight of men's professional football in the South Korean football league system, and is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Football Confederation, with its past and present clubs having won a record twelve AFC Champions League titles.[1]

History

Main article: K League

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.[2]

Structure

Main article: South Korean football league system

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[a] Last title
FC Anyang Anyang Anyang Stadium 2025 2025– 1 —
Daegu FC Daegu DGB Daegu Bank Park 2003 2017– 20 —
Daejeon Hana Citizen Daejeon Daejeon World Cup Stadium 1997 2023– 21 —
Gangwon FC Gangwon Chuncheon Songam Stadium
Gangneung Stadium 		2009 2017– 14 —
Gimcheon Sangmu Gimcheon Gimcheon Stadium 2022 2024– 3 —
Gwangju FC Gwangju Gwangju Football Stadium 2011 2023– 10 —
Jeju SK Jeju Province Jeju World Cup Stadium 1983 2021– 42 1989
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors North Jeolla Jeonju World Cup Stadium 1995 1995– 31 2021
Pohang Steelers Pohang Pohang Steel Yard 1983 1983– 43 2013
FC Seoul Seoul Seoul World Cup Stadium 1984 1984– 42 2016
Suwon FC Suwon Suwon Stadium 2016 2021– 6 —
Ulsan HD Ulsan Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium 1984 1984– 42 2024
class=notpageimage|
Location of the 2025 K League 1 teams
  1. ^ As of the start of the 2025 season.
  2. ^ a b Gangwon FC has two home stadiums.

Champions

See also: List of South Korean football 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
2024 Ulsan HD Gangwon FC

Performance by club

  • In accordance with the official K League policy, the current clubs inherit the history and records of the predecessor clubs.[3]
Club Champions Runners-up Seasons won Seasons runner-up
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
9
3
 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 2012, 2016, 2022
Seongnam FC[a]
7
3
 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 1992, 2007, 2009
FC Seoul[b]
6
5
 1985, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2012, 2016 1986, 1989, 1993, 2001, 2008
Ulsan HD[c]
5
10
 1996, 2005, 2022, 2023, 2024 1988, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2019, 2020, 2021
Pohang Steelers[d]
5
5
 1986, 1988, 1992, 2007, 2013 1985, 1987, 1995, 2004, 2023
Suwon Samsung Bluewings
4
4
 1998, 1999, 2004, 2008 1996, 2006, 2014, 2015
Busan IPark[e]
4
3
 1984, 1987, 1991, 1997 1983, 1990, 1999
Jeju SK[f]
1
5
 1989 1984, 1994, 2000, 2010, 2017
Hallelujah FC
1
0
 1983 —
Jeonnam Dragons
0
1
 — 1997
Incheon United
0
1
 — 2005
Gyeongnam FC
0
1
 — 2018
Gangwon FC
0
1
 — 2024
  1. ^ Including Ilhwa Chunma and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
  2. ^ Including Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso, LG Cheetahs, and Anyang LG Cheetahs
  3. ^ Including Hyundai Horang-i, Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i, and Ulsan Hyundai
  4. ^ Including POSCO Atoms and Pohang Atoms
  5. ^ Including Daewoo Royals and Busan Daewoo Royals
  6. ^ Including Yukong Elephants, Bucheon SK and Jeju United

Broadcasters

South Korea

Broadcaster Summary Ref.
JTBC Golf&Sports Broadcast most matches live. [4]
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. [5]

Outside South Korea

As of 2024[6]

Country/region Broadcaster
 Australia Optus Sport
Balkans[a] Arena Sport
 China K-Ball
CIS[b] TV Start
 Hong Kong TVB
 Indonesia TVRI Sport
 Macau Macau Cable TV
 Malaysia Astro SuperSport
 United States FanDuel TV
Worldwide K League TV
  1. ^ Includes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia.
  2. ^ Includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

See also

References

  1. ^ Nag, Utathya (6 May 2023). "AFC Champions League winners: Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal have maximum titles - full roll of honour". olympics.com. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  2. ^ "프로축구연맹, 클래식→K리그1, 챌린지→K리그2 대회명 변경" (in Korean). K League Official Website. 22 January 2018.
  3. ^ "The Official K League Annual Report" (in Korean). K League editorial division.
  4. ^ "K League announces domestic broadcasters for season start". SportBusiness Media. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. ^ K리그, 쿠팡플레이서도 생중계된다...포괄적 파트너십 체결 (Coupang Play will broadcast K-League on live.) (in Korean). Edaily. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  6. ^ "📍 Where will you be watching from? Let us know! 👇". Instagram. K LEAGUE International. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
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