New K League season kicks off on weekend with Jeonbuk seeking repeat

The new Korean football league season will kick off this weekend, as defending champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors chase a second straight title in the top flight.

The K League 1 season will begin with three matches on Saturday, followed by two more on Sunday and one on Monday.

Jeonbuk will begin their title defense at 2 p.m. Sunday against newly promoted Bucheon FC 1995 at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, North Jeolla.

Incheon United, back from K League 2 after one season in the second division, against FC Seoul at Incheon Football Stadium in Incheon at 2 p.m.

The 12 teams in the K League 1 will each play 33 matches and will then be split into Final A for the top six clubs and Final B for the bottom six teams. They will then play five more matches within their groups.

The league will take a break for the World Cup from the end of May to early July.

Jeonbuk, now under new head coach Chung Jung-yong, are widely considered favorites. Although they have parted ways with several veterans from their 2025 championship squad, they have filled those holes with other stars, including former K League 2 top scorer Bruno Mota, national team defender Park Ji-soo and former Pohang Steelers midfielder Oberdan.

After finishing as runners-up in 2025, Daejeon Hana Citizen FC will try to dethrone Jeonbuk and win their first title.

Key offseason signings include two former Ulsan HD players who won a title together in 2024 — wingers Um Won-sang and Gustav Ludwigson.

Daejeon head coach Hwang Sun-hong will try to lead his third club to a title after reaching the pinnacle with Pohang Steelers in 2013 and FC Seoul in 2016.

With the expansion of K League 2 to 17 clubs this year, the promotion-relegation system underwent changes for 2026.

As many as four teams from the second division can be promoted to K League 1 for the 2027 campaign.

The top two clubs in the K League 2 will be automatically promoted. Teams ranked from third to sixth will battle in two rounds of playoffs.

The final playoff winner will punch a ticket to K League 1, and the loser will take on the last-place team from K League 1 for the final spot in the top flight.

The Suwon Samsung Bluewings will be the team to watch in K League 2. Four-time champions in the top league, the Bluewings have languished in the second division for two seasons. After losing in a promotion-relegation playoff, they went through wholesale changes, starting at the top as ex-Gwangju FC head coach Lee Jung-hyo was brought in to take charge.

They then went out and signed proven K League 1 veterans, including former MVP Hong Jeong-ho in defense and ex-Ulsan star Ko Seung-beom in midfield.

The 2026 season will also see changes with the U-22 rules and foreign player regulations.

The K League will no longer require clubs to include one U-22 player in both the starting XI and on the bench if they want to make five substitutions, but will still mandate that clubs name two U-22 players to the bench to make five changes.

As for foreign player regulations, K League clubs are now allowed to register an unlimited number of foreign players, although only five can play per match in the top flight, while four are allowed to appear in a game in the second division.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN, YONHAP [[email protected]]

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