K League 1
The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs.
 | |
| Organising body | K League Federation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 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 |
| Current champions | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (2020) |
| Most championships | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (8 titles) |
| TV partners | JTBC Golf&Sports IB Sports Sky Sports |
| Website | kleague.com |
| Current: 2021 K League 1 | |
| K League 1 | |
| Hangul | K리그 원 |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | K rigeu one |
| McCune–Reischauer | K rigŭ wŏn |
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 crown.
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. It had the current format by abolishing the K League Championship and the Korean League Cup after the 2011 season, and being 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 official name was changed to "K League 1".[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 every provinces 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[lower-alpha 1] | Last title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daegu FC | Daegu | DGB Daegu Bank Park | 2003 | 2017– | 16 | — |
| Gangwon FC | Gangwon | Chuncheon Songam Stadium | 2009 | 2017– | 10 | — |
| Gwangju FC | Gwangju | Gwangju World Cup Stadium | 2011 | 2020– | 7 | — |
| Incheon United | Incheon | Incheon Football Stadium | 2004 | 2004– | 17 | — |
| Jeju United | Jeju-do | Jeju World Cup Stadium | 1983 | 2021– | 27 | 1989 |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | North Jeolla | Jeonju World Cup Stadium | 1995 | 1995– | 27 | 2020 |
| Pohang Steelers | Pohang | Pohang Steel Yard | 1983 | 1983– | 39 | 2013 |
| Seongnam FC | Seongnam | Tancheon Stadium | 1987 | 2019– | 31 | 2006 |
| FC Seoul | Seoul | Seoul World Cup Stadium | 1984 | 1984– | 38 | 2016 |
| Suwon Samsung Bluewings | Suwon | Suwon World Cup Stadium | 1996 | 1996– | 26 | 2008 |
| Suwon FC | Suwon | Suwon Stadium | 2016 | 2021– | 2 | — |
| Ulsan Hyundai | Ulsan | Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium | 1984 | 1984– | 38 | 2005 |
- As of the start of the 2021 season.
Champions
Titles by season
Titles by club
Clubs in bold compete in the top flight as of the 2021 season.
| Club | Champions | Runners-up | Winning seasons | Runners-up seasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 | 2012, 2016 | ||
| Seongnam FC | 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 | 1992, 2007, 2009 | ||
| FC Seoul | 1985, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2012, 2016 | 1986, 1989, 1993, 2001, 2008 | ||
| Pohang Steelers | 1986, 1988, 1992, 2007, 2013 | 1985, 1987, 1995, 2004 | ||
| Suwon Samsung Bluewings | 1998, 1999, 2004, 2008 | 1996, 2006, 2014, 2015 | ||
| Busan IPark | 1984, 1987, 1991, 1997 | 1983, 1990, 1999 | ||
| Ulsan Hyundai | 1996, 2005 | 1988, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2019, 2020 | ||
| Jeju United | 1989 | 1984, 1994, 2000, 2010, 2017 | ||
| Hallelujah FC | 1983 | — | ||
| Jeonnam Dragons | — | 1997 | ||
| Incheon United | — | 2005 | ||
| Gyeongnam FC | — | 2018 |
Broadcasters
South Korea
| Broadcaster | Summary | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| JTBC Golf&Sports | Most matches | [2] |
| Sky Sports | One match each on weekend (two matches per weekend) | |
| IB Sports | One match per week on Saturday |
Outside Korea
| Country/Region | Broadcaster | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| International | YouTubeINT | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia |
Optus Sport | [3] |
 Austria |
Sportdigital | [4] |
 Germany | ||
 Switzerland | ||
| Arena Sport | [5] | |
 Brazil |
OneFootball | [6] |
 France | ||
 Italy | ||
 Spain | ||
 United Kingdom |
[7] | |
| BBC SportUK | [8] | |
 Brunei |
Astro SuperSport | [9] |
 Malaysia | ||
 China |
PPTV | |
 Hong Kong |
TVB | |
| Dream11 | ||
 Israel |
Charlton | |
 Netherlands |
ESPN | |
 Portugal |
Canal 11 | |
 United States |
Eleven Sports |
^UK – one opening match only.
^INT – one match per week via COPA90 with highlights of all matches via K League official channel, live coverage is not available in Australia, Balkans, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indian subcontinent, Israel, and Malaysia.
See also
References
- "프로축구연맹, 클래식→K리그1, 챌린지→K리그2 대회명 변경" (in Korean). K League Official Website. 22 January 2018.
- "K League announces domestic broadcasters for season start". SportBusiness Media. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- "Watch the K-League on Optus Sport from Friday". Optus Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- "Sportdigital nets much-needed live content with K League rights | News | Sportcal". www.sportcal.com. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- Daniels, Tom (7 May 2020). "Sportradar delivers the K League to 17 territories". Insider Sport. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- "K League nets free-to-view exposure on OneFootball in five major markets". SportBusiness Media. 6 August 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
- "🔴 LIVE K League on OneFootball!". Onefootball. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
- "Football-starved fans feast on BBC's 'surreal' live Korean K-League opener". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- "Astro secures K League 1 broadcasting rights | FOOTBALL News | Stadium Astro". Astro. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
External links
| National teams |
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League system |
| ||||||||
| Cup competitions |
| ||||||||
| Other competitions | |||||||||
| Lists |
| ||||||||
| |||||||||
