2026 K League 1
| Season | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Country | South Korea |
| Teams | 12 |
← 2025 2027 → | |
The 2026 K League 1, also known as the Hana Bank K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the ongoing 44th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea, and the thirteen season of the K League 1. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors is the defending champion. [1] Gangwon FC will play all their own home matches at Gangneung Stadium, Gangneung only.
Rule changes
The following rules were newly introduced for the 2026 season. [2]
- Abolish the quota on the number of foreign players a club may register but maximum of five foreign players will be permitted on the pitch or in the matchday squad.
- Foreign goalkeepers can be registered as ban lifted after 26 years.
- Clubs will now have five substitutions and the U22 mandatory appearance rule is lifted. However, the 20-man matchday squad still requires a minimum of two U22 players. Missing this threshold results in a reduced squad size (19 players for one U22, 18 for none).
- The affiliation agreement between the K League, the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps (Sangmu), and Gimcheon City expires at the end of 2026. As a result, if either Gimcheon establishes a new citizen-owned club or the Armed Forces Athletic Corps moves and forms a new K League club in a different city, both new clubs will enter the K League 2 competition starting in 2027.
- 2026 K League 2's top two teams will be automatically promoted to 2027 K League 1.
Teams
Team changes
Incheon United & Bucheon FC 1995 were promoted from the K League 2 for the first time in the club's history.[3][4] Incheon was promoted immediately after relegation in 2024. Suwon FC & Daegu FC were relegated to the K League 2 [5][6]
| Promoted from K League 2 | Relegated to K League 2 |
|---|---|
Locations
The following twelve clubs are competing in the 2025 K League 1.[7]
| Team | City/Province | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| FC Anyang | Anyang | Anyang |
| Bucheon FC 1995 | Bucheon | Bucheon |
| Daejeon Hana Citizen | Daejeon | Daejeon |
| Gangwon FC | Gangwon | Gangwon |
| Gimcheon Sangmu | Gimcheon | Gimcheon |
| Gwangju FC | Gwangju | Gwangju |
| Incheon United | Incheon | Incheon |
| Jeju SK | Jeju | Jeju |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | Jeonbuk | Jeonbuk |
| Pohang Steelers | Pohang | Pohang |
| FC Seoul | Seoul | Seoul |
| Ulsan HD | Ulsan | Ulsan |
Stadiums
| FC Anyang | Bucheon FC 1995 | Daejeon Hana Citizen | Gangwon FC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anyang Stadium | Bucheon Stadium | Daejeon World Cup Stadium | Gangneung Stadium |
| Capacity: 17,143 | Capacity: 34,456 | Capacity: 40,903 | Capacity: 22,333 |
| Gimcheon Sangmu | Gwangju FC | Incheon United | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
| Gimcheon Stadium | Gwangju World Cup Stadium | Incheon Football Stadium | Jeonju World Cup Stadium |
| Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 40,245 | Capacity: 20,891 | Capacity: 42,477 |
| Jeju SK | Pohang Steelers | FC Seoul | Ulsan HD |
| Jeju World Cup Stadium | Pohang Steel Yard | Seoul World Cup Stadium | Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium |
| Capacity: 29,791 | Capacity: 17,443 | Capacity: 66,704 | Capacity: 44,102 |
Personnel and sponsoring
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeju SK | Kim Jung-soo (Interim) | End of Interim | 1 December 2025 | |||
| Ulsan HD | Roh Sang-rae (Interim) | End of Interim | 1 December 2025 | |||
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | Gus Poyet [8] | Resigned | 8 December 2025 | Pre-season | ||
| Gwangju FC | Lee Jung-hyo | End of contract | December 2025 | Pre-season |
Foreign players
Each team may have up to six foreign players registered, but may only field up to five at any given time.[9] As a military-owned team, Gimcheon Sangmu are not allowed to sign any foreign players.
A North Korean player is considered to be a domestic player under South Korean nationality law. As of 2025, K League has a homegrown system under which players of foreign nationality who have grown up in Korea are considered to be domestic players when registering as new players.
Players in bold were registered during the mid-season transfer window. Players in italics left their respective clubs during the mid-season transfer window.
| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | Player 6 | Player 7 | Homegrown | Former[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC Anyang | Ivan Jukić | Bruno Mota | Eduardo | Matheus Oliveira | Yago | Thomas Oude Kotte | |||
| Bucheon FC 1995 | Jefferson Galego | Rodrigo Bassani | Thiaguinho Santos | Jhon Montaño | Kazuki Takahashi | ||||
| Daejeon Hana Citizen | Anton Kryvotsyuk | Diogo Oliveira | Hernandes Rodrigues | João Victor | Victor Bobsin | Masatoshi Ishida | Gustav Ludwigson | ||
| Gangwon FC | Bruno Oliveira | Vitor Gabriel | Marko Tući | ||||||
| Gwangju FC | Reis | Hólmbert Friðjónsson | |||||||
| Incheon United | Modou Barrow | Gerso Fernandes | Shota Saijo | Stefan Mugoša | |||||
| Jeju SK | Denílson | Evandro | Italo | Pedrinho | Tiago Alves | Yuri | |||
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | Tiago Orobó | Patrick Twumasi | Andrea Compagno | João Gamboa | |||||
| Pohang Steelers | Jorge Luiz | Juninho Rocha | Oberdan | Wanderson | |||||
| FC Seoul | Anderson | Leonardo Acevedo | Lucas Rodrigues | Yazan Al-Arab | Patryk Klimala | Gbato Seloh Samuel | |||
| Ulsan HD | Erick Farias | Marcão | Miłosz Trojak | Darijan Bojanić | Matías Lacava | Yago Cariello |
- ^ Left their respective clubs during the mid-season transfer window.
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FC Anyang | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for Champions League Elite league stage |
| 2 | Bucheon FC 1995 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for Champions League Elite play-off round |
| 3 | Daejeon Hana Citizen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for Champions League Two group stage |
| 4 | Gangwon FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | Gimcheon Sangmu[b] (R) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Relegation to K League 2 |
| 6 | Gwangju FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | Incheon United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | Jeju SK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 | Pohang Steelers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 11 | FC Seoul | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 12 | Ulsan HD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for relegation play-offs except Gimcheon Sangmu |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference; 4) Wins; 5) Head-to-head points
(R) Relegated
Notes:
- ^ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league was split into two groups, the top six and the bottom six.
- ^ Military-owned team Gimcheon Sangmu cannot qualify for AFC competitions. Gimcheon Sangmu will be relegated to K League 2 2027 season regardless of their own final place.
Positions by matchday
Leaders, qualification for Champions League Elite league stage
Qualification for Champions League Elite play-off round
Qualification for Champions League Two group stage
Qualification for relegation play-offs
Relegation to K League 2
Round 1–33
Results
Matches 1–22
Teams played each other twice, once at home, once away.
Statistics
Awards
Attendance
Attendants who entered with free ticket are not counted.
Reference
- ^ "The K League 1 Wrap-Up: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Win the Title".
- ^ "K League 1 set for shake-up in 2026, 2027".
- ^ "Bucheon FC 1995 Secures Historic Promotion to K League 1".
- ^ "Incheon United Sweeps K League 2 Title, Awards, Promotion".
- ^ "Daegu FC has been demoted".
- ^ "Suwon FC Relegated After Benching Top Scorer Ssabak". The Chosun Daily. 9 December 2025. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ "기록" [Records]. K League. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ "Jeonbuk confirm departure of title-winning coach Poyet".
- ^ Paik, Ji-hwan (6 December 2023). "K League to relax Asian quota in 2025, count 'homegrown' foreign players as Korean". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
See also
- 2026 in South Korean football
- 2026 Korean FA Cup
- 2026 K League 2
- 2026 K3 League
- 2026 K4 League