K-League

Related Topics:
Kent_League

Both section winners join the two teams with the best overall record in an end-of-season Championship playoff.

K-League

Founded
1983
Current member clubs
14
Current Champions
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
League system
Two sections of 13 matches each.

The Korea Professional Football League(K-League) was founded in 1983 by the name of 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, after the long doldrums on the league, the Korea's soccer league was reformed and renamed as the K-League, since then, the league has expanded to fourteen teams for the 2006 season. Of the five initial clubs of the former professional league, 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.

Most of the member clubs in the league 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.

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Korean football league structure

At present there is only one professional league in Korea, the K-League, and it contains fourteen member clubs. It is a closed league with no promotion and relegation. Below the level of the K-League there is the K2 League, a closed semi-professional/amateur league with twelve members, established in 2003.

Plans are afoot for promotion and relegation between the K-League and K2 to be introduced in time for the 2007 season, with a rumoured K3 division sometime in the future.

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 2006 the league will continue to use the two-part season with championship play-offs at the end of the year, as previously used in 2004 and 2005.

The fourteen member clubs play each other once in the first and second stages, giving a total of 26 matches. The winners of both stages advance to the championship play-offs, together with the two teams holding the best overall record from the combined stages. The winner of the play-off tournament (two semi-finals at a neutral venue followed up by a home and away final) will be declared league Champion.

The K-League champions gain entry to the Asian Champions League the following season.

K-League history

Ilhwa Chunma are the most successful team in terms of championship victories, having lifted the title on no less than six occasions. The roll-call of champions is as follows (present-date names included where teams have changed names previously):