Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

K League

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Country
  
South Korea

Founded
  
1983

Domestic cup(s)
  
FA Cup

Confederation
  
AFC

Number of teams
  
22

Divisions
  
K League Classic (First Division) K League Challenge (Second Division)

K League (Korea Professional Football League) is South Korea's professional association football league including first division K League Classic and second division K League Challenge. The fact that both the first and second divisions have very similar names has caused some degree of confusion and controversy.

Contents

History

The K League Classic was founded in 1983 as the Korean Super League, with five member clubs. The initial five clubs were Hallelujah FC, Yukong Elephants, POSCO Dolphins, Daewoo Royals, Kookmin Bank FC. Hallelujah FC won the inaugural title, finishing one point ahead of Daewoo Royals to lift the crown.

In 1998, Korea's football league was reformed and renamed the K League (K League was official orthography by 2012). Since its creation, the league has expanded from an initial 5 to 16 clubs. Of the five inaugural clubs, only Yukong Elephants, POSCO Dolphins, and Daewoo Royals remains in the K League; Kookmin Bank FC dropped out of the league at the end of 1984, and Hallelujah FC followed the season after.

In 2013, K League introduced the division system. The first division's name is K League Classic, the second division's name is K League Challenge and the comprehensive brand name is K League.

Structure

Below the K League Classic, there is the K League Challenge, and below the K League Challenge, there is the National League, a closed semi-professional league with ten clubs, established in 2003. The fourth level of football in Korea is the K3 League.

There was no official system of promotion and relegation. However, beginning in 2013, the champions of K League Challenge is eligible for promotion to the K League Classic, provided they had met certain criteria. In 2012 season, two teams from K League Classic was relegated to K League Challenge, and in 2013, two teams will be relegated to K League Challenge, and 11th placed team from K League Classic and the first placed team from K League Challenge will have a relegation play-off.

  • First Division – K League Classic
  • Second Division – K League Challenge

    • Current K League Clubs

  • First Division – K League Classic – 12 clubs
  • Second Division – K League Challenge – 10 clubs

    • All-time K League Clubs

    As of 2017, There have been a total of 31 member clubs in the history of the K League – those clubs are listed below with their current names (where applicable):

  • K League's principle of official statistics is that final club succeeds to predecessor club's history & records.
  • Clubs in italic no longer exist.

    • [1] Yukong renamed to SK Energy
    [2] GS Group is separated from LG Group
    [3] Hanil Bank is merged by Woori Bank

    Champions

  • For details on K League Champions, see List of K League champions.
  • Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma are the most successful club 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's principle of official statistics is that final club succeeds to predecessor club's history & records.

    • Top Division

    References

    K League Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA