| K-League |
|---|
| ''K-League 2007'' |
 K-League.jpg |
| 'Founded' |
| 1983 |
| 'Nation' |
|
| 'Lower Division' |
National League
(No relegation) |
| 'Number of Teams' |
| 14 |
| 'Asian Qualification' |
AFC Champions League
A3 Champions Cup |
| 'League system' |
| Regular season where teams play each other home and away for a total of 26 matches. Upon completion of the regular season, the top six enter the championship playoff, beginning with sixth playing fifth and then upwards until the eventual championship final involving the prevailing side taking on the first placed team in a home and away series. |
| 'Cups' |
| FA Cup |
| Hauzen Cup |
| 'Current Champions (2006)' |
| Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma |
| 'Website' |
| Official |
The 'Korea Professional Football League (K-League)' is South Korea's professional club football league and is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football competitions.
The K-League was founded in
1983 as the Korean Super League, with five member clubs including amateur clubs. The initial five clubs were ''Hallelujah'', ''Daewoo'', ''POSCO'', ''Yukong Elephants'' and ''Kookmin Bank''. ''Hallelujah'' won the inaugural title, finishing one point ahead of ''Daewoo'' to lift the crown.
In
1994, Korea's football league was reformed and renamed the 'K-League'. Since its creation, the league has expanded from an initial five to fourteen teams. Of the five inaugural clubs, only Daewoo, POSCO and Yukong Elephants remain in the K-League;
Kookmin Bank FC dropped out of the league at the end of 1984, and
Hallelujah followed the season after.
A number of the member clubs are owned by major Korean
''Chaebols'', and the club names reflect that fact. Teams have adopted local city names in an effort to integrate themselves more with the local communities; for example, ''Daewoo'' evolved over the years into ''Daewoo Royals'', ''Busan Daewoo Royals'', ''Busan I'cons'' and latterly
''Busan I'Park''.
The ''Lucky Goldstar'' (
LG) corporation caused a huge controversy at the end of
2003 when they made the decision to uproot their ''Anyang LG Cheetahs'' team from the
Seoul satellite city of
Anyang and move into the empty
Seoul World Cup stadium, becoming
''FC Seoul'' which caused a strong supporter protest against the move from many fans around the league. Then following the 2005 season SK announced it was moving the Bucheon SK team to Jeju Island, where they have become Jeju United.
__TOC__
Korean football league structure
At present there is only one professional league in Korea, the K-League, and it contains fourteen member clubs.
Below the level of the K-League there is the
National League, a closed semi-professional/amateur league with twelve members, established in 2003.
It was planned that, subject to meeting certain financial requirements, the winner of the National League in 2006 would be promoted to the K-League. However Goyang Kookmin Bank caused controversy by winning the league but declining to move up. Team owners
Kookmin Bank cited a Korean law where banks in Korea were not allowed to be involved in profitable ventures outside of banking which of course a professional football team could be. However the more likely reason is the large financial losses that most K-League teams endure each year as the league struggles for sponsorship money and suffers through low crowd numbers. On top of that any National League champion seeking promotion from the second tier is required to pay an 'entry fee' of around 2 million US dollars simply to join the league. Goyang Kookmin Bank received several threats from the League ranging from being thrown out of the competition, to fines, to point deductions for the upcoming 2007 season. In the end the side received a points deduction penalty, to be split into ten point deductions in the first and second stages of the 2007 season.
Following the case involving Goyang, teams in the National League signed agreements indicating whether or not they would seek promotion to the K-League if they win the National League in 2007. The gap between the National League and K-League is massive in terms of the finances needed to run a team which may continue to cause problems for the league in coming years.
A third tier of football, the
K3 League, began in 2007 with the goal to have promotion and relegation between it and the National League in future seasons.
The league season
The K-League season typically begins around March/April and runs to late November each year. The amount of games, clubs and the systems used have varied through the years, but for 2007 the league will revert to a full stage regular season with a top six championship playoff system.
The fourteen member clubs play each other twice in the regular season giving a total of 26 matches. The top six sides at the end of the regular season will enter the championship playoffs. In the first two matches, the third-placed team will face the sixth-placed team and the fourth-placed team will face the fifth-placed team, with the two winners then playing off for the right to face the second-placed team. The winner of that match will then progress to the two-legged championship playoff final where the first-placed side lie in wait, with the overall winner of the home and away series being crowned champions for 2007.
The K-League champions gain entry to the
AFC Champions League the following season.
K-League member clubs in 2007
★
Busan I'Park
★
Chunnam Dragons
★
Daegu FC
★
Daejeon Citizen
★
FC Seoul
★
Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix
★
Gyeongnam FC
★
Incheon United
★
Jeju United FC
★
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
★
Pohang Steelers
★
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
★
Suwon Samsung Bluewings
★
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
K-League history
''Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma'' are the most successful team in terms of championship victories, having lifted the title on no less than seven occasions. The roll-call of champions is as follows (present-date names included where teams have changed names previously):
K-League champions
★
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma: 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006
★
Busan I'Park: 1984, 1987, 1991, 1997
★
Pohang Steelers: 1986, 1988, 1992
★
Anyang LG Cheetahs: 1985, 1990, 2000
★
Suwon Samsung Bluewings: 1998, 1999, 2004
★
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i: 1996, 2005
★
Hallelujah: 1983
★
Bucheon SK: 1989
Winners (year by year)
K-League Sponsors
★ 1983-1985: Korean Football Super League (No Sponsor)
★ 1986: Football Festival & Professional Football Championship (Two kinds of championships, No Sponsor)
★ 1987-1992: Korean Professional Football Championship (No Sponsor)
★ 1993-1995: Hite Cup Korean League
★ 1996-1997: Rapido Cup Korean League
★ 1998: Hyundai Cup K-League
★ 1999: Buy Korea Cup K-League
★ 2000: Samsung Digital K-League
★ 2001: POSCO K-League
★ 2002: Samsung PAVV K-League
★ 2003-present: Samsung Hauzen K-League
All-time K-League member clubs
There have been a total of 17 member clubs in the history of the K-League - those clubs are listed below with their current names (where applicable):
★
Hallelujah (1983-1985)
★
Busan I'Park (1983-present) (formerly Busan Daewoo Royals)
★
Jeju United FC (1983-present)
★
Pohang Steelers (1983-present)
★
Kookmin Bank (1983-1984)
★
FC Seoul (1984-present)
★
Hanil Bank FC (1984-1986)
★
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i (1984-present)
★
Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix (1985; 2003-present)
★
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (1989-present) (formerly Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma)
★
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (1994-present)
★
Chunnam Dragons (1995-present)
★
Suwon Samsung Bluewings (1996-present)
★
Daejeon Citizen (1997-present)
★
Daegu FC (2003-present)
★
Incheon United (2004-present)
★
Gyeongnam FC (2006-present)
Famous players
★ - formerly of
Busan I'Park.
★ - formerly of
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
★ -
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
★ - formerly of
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Anyang LG Cheetahs and
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Busan I'Park.
★ - formerly of
Anyang LG Cheetahs.
★ - formerly of
Anyang LG Cheetahs and
Incheon United.
★ -
Busan I'Park.
★ - formerly of
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
★ - formerly of
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Chunnam Dragons and
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
★ - formerly of
Pohang Steelers.
★ - formerly of
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma,
Suwon Samsung Bluewings and
Busan I'cons.
★ - formerly of
Busan I'cons and
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Anyang LG Cheetahs.
★ - formerly of
Pohang Steelers and
Busan I'Park.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Pohang Steelers.
★ -
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Pohang Steelers.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ -
FC Seoul.
★ -
FC Seoul.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Anyang LG Cheetahs and
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ - formerly of
Pohang Steelers and
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ -
Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
★ -
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
★ -
Daejeon Citizen.
★ -
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
★ - formerly of
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
★ - formerly of
Incheon United.
See also
★
List of football clubs in South Korea
★
List of South Korean footballers
★
List of Korea-related topics
★
Sports league attendances
External links
★
Official K-League website (Korean only)
★
ROKfootball.com website (English only)
★
Footcoreen.com website (French only)
★
K-League history and standings (English & French)
★
Regular K-League news and player profiles
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