K League
| Organising body | Ulsan Hyundai (2023) |
|---|---|
| Most championships | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (9 titles) |
| TV partners | JTBC Golf&Sports Sky Sports (South Korea) |
| Website | www |
| Current: 2024 K League 1 2024 K League 2 | |
K League (Korean: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2.[1][2]
History
Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National Semi-professional Football League and the National University Football League, but these were not professional leagues in which footballers could focus on only football. In 1979, however, the Korea Football Association (KFA)'s president Choi Soon-young planned to found a professional football league,[3] and made South Korea's first professional football club Hallelujah FC the next year.[4] After the South Korean professional baseball league KBO League was founded in 1982, the KFA was aware of crisis about the popularity of football.[5] In 1983, it urgently made the Korean Super League with two professional clubs (Hallelujah FC, Yukong Elephants) and three semi-professional clubs (POSCO Dolphins, Daewoo Royals, Kookmin Bank) to professionalize South Korean football. Then, the Super League accomplished its purpose after existing clubs were also converted into professional clubs (POSCO Atoms, Daewoo Royals) and new professional clubs joined the league. In the early years, it also showed a promotion system by giving qualifications to the Semi-professional League winners. (Hanil Bank in 1984, Sangmu FC in 1985)
However, the number of spectators was consistently decreased despite KFA's effort, and so the professional league, renamed as the Korean Professional Football League, operated home and away system to interest fans since 1987.
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's name was the K League Classic, and the second division's name was the K League Challenge at the time. The fact that both the first and the second divisions had very similar names caused some degree of confusion and controversy.[8] Beginning with the 2018 season, both divisions were renamed the K League 1 and the K League 2 respectively.
In February 2021, an OTT service for international markets called K League TV was officially launched.[9]
Structure
Below K League 1 is the second-tier K League 2, and both form the K League as professional championships. Under them, there are two semi-professional leagues (K3 League and K4 League) and three amateur leagues (K5, K6 and K7 Leagues). At present, promotion and relegation exists within each of the three levels (professional, semi-professional, and amateur) but clubs from K3 and below cannot be promoted to the K League. However, the KFA has announced plans to combine the three promotion-relegation systems into one from 2027.[10]
Since 2021, K League 1 and K League 2 teams have been permitted to field their reserve teams in the K4 League.[11]
