The 2021 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 39th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea, and the ninth season of the K League 1. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won their ninth title and fifth consecutive title.
After progressing 33 regular rounds, the league was divided into two groups, the top six and the bottom six, and each team played five matches against other teams in its group.
Source: K League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. Notes:
^The match between Gwangju FC and Jeju United originally finished 1–1, but K League Federation awarded Jeju United a 3–0 win due to a violation of Gwangju FC, which exceeded substitutes allowance.[2]
Matches 34–38
Teams played each other once, either at home or away.
On 12 December 2021, Gangwon FC and Daejeon Hana Citizen faced one another in the second leg of the Promotion-relegation play-offs, with the latter team finding himself in advantage after winning the first leg 1–0. Played at Gangneung Stadium, Gangwon's home soil, the match saw the hosts secure a 4–1 comeback victory and maintain their spot in K League 1. However, the game was marred by a series of incidents, occurring between the first and the second half. After Han Kook-young had scored Gangwon's third goal in the 31st minute, the ball boys around the stadium reportedly started to delay giving the ball back to Daejeon players, an event that happened multiple times during the match and was possibly meant to waste time in favour of the hosts: the fans in the away sector reacted furiously, with some of them throwing plastic bottles in direction of one of the ball boys. The game still went ahead, as six minutes of extra time were added at the end of the second half. The K League administration decided to open an official investigation on the controversial events.[5][6]
When asked to talk about the incidents, Gangwon's director Lee Young-pyo originally dismissed them, pointing out that similar instances were already common in European football, but later apologized, saying that he felt "direct responsibility" for the "unsmooth match" and promising that he would work so that Gangwon FC would become "a mature club" in the future.[5] Meanwhile, on 21 December, just hours before K League's final disciplinary meeting took place, the Daejeon board released an official response to the matter, stating that there was "clear evidence of the game delays being intentional and organized", as well as noticing that such acts violated the league's Code of Ethics for fair play and respect.[5][7]
In the end, the league's administration decided to keep the final score unchanged: however, Gangwon FC was fined 30 million South Korean Won (US$25,000) for the episodes of time wasting, whereas Daejeon Hana Citizen was fined 2 million South Korean Won (US$1,677) for their fans' behavior towards one of the ball boys.[5][6]
