K League 1

Lore & Background

The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1983 as the Korean Super League, with five member clubs: Hallelujah FC, Yukong Elephants, Pohang Steelworks, Daewoo Royals, and Kookmin Bank. Hallelujah FC won the inaugural title. The league was renamed the Korean Professional Football League in 1987, then the K League in 1998. After the 2011 season, the K League Championship and Korean League Cup were abolished, and the league split into two divisions in 2013. The first division was named the K League Classic, and the second division was named the K League Challenge. On 22 January 2018, the top-flight competition was renamed as K League 1.

Reader's Guide

The K League 1 uses a split system. 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. Relegation involves the 12th team being automatically relegated, while the 10th and 11th-placed teams contest promotion-relegation play-offs against K League 2 teams. The season typically begins around March and runs to late November. The number of games, clubs, and systems have varied through the years.

Did You Know?

• The league expanded from an initial 5 to 26 clubs since its creation.
• In the 2009 season, Gangwon FC joined as the 15th member club, giving the K League at least one club in each province of South Korea for the first time in domestic professional sports history.
• 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.