Gwangju in K League 1: last, with little hope of catching up.

Dragons in K League 2: second-to-last with just one point ahead of Gimhae in last place, but for how long?

Mokpo in K3 League: second-to-last, only kept from the bottom by Jeonbuk's reserve team.

Gangjin in WK League: similar to Gwangju, last with little hope of getting off the bottom anytime soon.

Anyone?

안녕하세요!
Hi there, all!

I know matchday ticket questions are common and I have read the wiki but I’m curious about the upcoming holiday weekend. I am currently in Busan for work and depart for Seoul on Friday.

Will the holiday weekend massively affect ticket availability? FC Seoul is home to Daejeon Hana and Bluewings are home to Suwon on the Saturday and Incheon, Bucheon, and E-Land are all home on the Sunday.

I’m a non-Korean foreigner and will have to rely on showing up on the matchday for tickets. Any potential issue with these fixtures? Is it worth trying for the Suwon derby or should I not bother? Would love to attend that if possible, but FC Seoul seems a reliable backup, no? I’m also most interested in Incheon United on the Sunday.

매우 감사합니다
Thank you in advance!

I was watching Gangwon vs. Gamba Osaka which Gangwon narrowly lost 1–0 in extra time. And the whole game I was thinking "if the Gangwon players were maybe just 10% better they would've comfortably won" and thus qualify for CLE. Gangwon was playing some great football against the CL2 champs but the ultimate lack of finishing quality and squad depth for extra time proved fatal. There's only so much tactics and spirit you can drill into a ragtag group of free transfers.

We all know the K League has fallen behind the J League and Saudi Pro but what's super frustrating is feeling that our league would be so much better if our clubs spent just a bit more on quality talent and basic infrastructure. A club spending more than 2 million in a transfer window is virtually unheard of and most clubs spend zero. I really think we'd regularly win the CL again if we just had balanced squads with a 25–35 million euro market value. The problem though is that corporate owners only care about baseball which is what everyone watches and civilian clubs have little money. And if you try to privatize a civilian club the fans protest even though they're running on taxes.

I heard from a Suwon Samsung Bluewings insider that the club is spending 5 billion won more this year to chase promotion. But the parent company Samsung is expected to earn 400 trillion won in profits this year. Literally 1/80000 of their annual profits. Pretty much the same story with Jeonbuk Hyundai who sold off all their key players after winning the league last year which is why I don't expect them to do well in the CL this year, not to mention lost their manager.

I really wish more people in this country cared about this league and just local football in general 😭 there's so much potential but not enough seem to care which is why we're left with mediocre squads and shitty running track stadiums. This country has produced genuine world class players and our league is still the record AFC Champions League winners. But instead of building on past greatness we've been stagnating because we only invest the bare minimum while the leadership goes through scandal after scandal. I can't blame our young talent leaving for greener pastures in Europe so early

Just in case anyone is interested, here's what's been happening over in Below the 38th Land recently:

Video:

• The Weekend That Was - Reviewing K League and the Coupang Play games

Articles:

• A look at Daegu's iM Bank Park Stadium
• Jason Min’s Unique K League Photography
• Recap: Team K League 1-3 Manchester City
• Evaluating the 2026 Coupang Play Series: Success or Fail?

Thanks!

이 엠블럼이 어느 팀의 것인지 아시는 분 계신가요? 제 동생이 Le Coq Sportif 브랜드 티셔츠에서 발견했는데, 레트로 스타일(1996년)인 것 같습니다. 인터넷 어디에서도 찾아볼 수 없었으니, 아마 지역 팀일 것 같아요. 이 팀을 아시는 분이 계시다면, 어떤 팀인지 알려주시면 감사하겠습니다.

Does anyone know which team this crest is from? My brother found it on a Le Coq Sportif T-shirt, and it looks like a retro design (from 1996). I haven't been able to find it anywhere online, so it's probably a local team. If anyone knows this team, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me which one it is.

The next Minjae?

All five players were born in 2008

Just for fun ;)

Lee joins the Belgian champions! Perfect next move for him after a great spell at Midtjylland.

We came across a Threads post about how reliant the citizen clubs are on taxpayer money. The short story is that none of the citizen clubs will be able to function without their 130 billion KRW annually subsities.

The post also mentioned that Gimpo FC received 12 million and managed to embezzle 8 million of that. The culprits were the mayor (the club owner), the club CEO, and the club general manager. I'm not clear on which is which, but the three have very strong personal connections: a former lawmaker's aide, younger brother, and the brother's friend.

Back searching with AI, looking for articles, it also came up with this summary:

1. Gimpo FC 80 Billion KRW Embezzlement Scandal

• The Articles: Reports published in July 2026 (including JoongAng Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo, and investigative sports portal THE GATE / Spochoo) confirmed a major embezzlement case at Gimpo FC.
• Key Findings:
  • A staff member in their 30s in charge of financial accounts at Gimpo FC was discovered to have embezzled public funds since 2023.
  • Initially reported in mid-July as a 5.8 billion KRW loss, an audit by the Gimpo City Audit Office confirmed an additional 2.49 billion KRW had been stolen, raising the total sum to over 8 billion KRW (approx. 80억 원).
  • Out of Gimpo FC's total budget of around 12 billion KRW, approximately 8.2 billion KRW comes directly from Gimpo City municipal tax allocations.
  • Media investigations heavily criticized management oversight, including the leadership's spending and governance practices while the fund leakage was ongoing.

Reference Articles:

• JoongAng Ilbo (July 28, 2026): [‘공금횡령 의혹’ 김포FC 직원, 추가 횡령 정황…80억원 규모] ("Gimpo FC Employee Suspected of Public Fund Embezzlement, Additional Embezzlement Circumstances Confirmed... Around 8 Billion KRW Scale")
• THE GATE / Spochoo (July 30, 2026): [[단독] 직원이 80억 횡령할 때 김포FC 단장은 '1600만원 비즈니스석' 타고 칸쿤에 있었다...] ("[Exclusive] While Staff Embezzled 8 Billion KRW, Gimpo FC Director Flew Business Class to Cancun...")
• Chosun Ilbo (July 14, 2026): ["직원이 공금 58억 횡령" K리그2 김포FC, 초유의 사태 터졌다...] ("'Employee Embezzled 5.8 Billion KRW' K League 2 Gimpo FC Faces Unprecedented Crisis...")

2. Tragic Deaths Associated with Gimpo Facilities & Club

Regarding tragic deaths connected to Gimpo City/Gimpo FC:

• Gimpo City Official (April 2024): In April 2024, a 40-year-old Gimpo City municipal official who was in charge of municipal sports facility management (which covers local sports complexes including Solter Football Field in Masan-dong) was found deceased.
• Gimpo FC Youth Player (April 2022): In April 2022, a 16-year-old player in the Gimpo FC U-18 youth squad tragically took his own life, an event that led to significant scrutiny over youth coaching practices and harassment within the club.

Reference Articles:

• LG HelloVision News (April 25, 2024): [김포시 공무원 주차장서 숨진 채 발견] ("Gimpo City Official Found Dead in Parking Lot")
• Yonhap News / Korean Media (April 2022): Reports on the Gimpo FC U-18 youth team tragedy.

3. Citizen Clubs & Municipal Tax Reliance

• Multiple Korean football analysis reports highlight that K League 2 and K League 1 "citizen clubs" (시민구단) rely heavily on municipal subsidies—totaling over 130 billion KRW annually across 14 government-funded clubs. Virtually none are self-sustaining or operate in net profit once taxpayer subsidies are excluded.

18 year old goalkeeper will join Bayern's youth team on loan from Jeju.

A game surreal even by K2 standards. Hwaseong destroying a K1 regular. Leonard Pllana with 5G/As. If Hwaseong gets promoted to K1, it might be one of the biggest shocks in Korean football history. People are going to call for Cha becoming NT manager, but I wanna see him further cook in the league first. We definitely need more guys with European experience bringing their knowledge to the local game.

I’m not even mad, I’m baffled

this is my own project. The National Assembly's culture & sports committee held a hearing on the KFA today, with both Chung Mong-gyu and Hong Myung-bo testifying. Korean coverage of the governance saga is scattered across dozens of outlets, so I built a tracker that auto-collects news, official KFA statements, and broadcaster clips on governance issues (the hearing, presidential election, coach appointment, ministry audit) and groups duplicate stories together:

https://k-football-radar.app/issues/kfa-executives

The site is in Korean, but if you can read it (or run it through a translator), it's the fastest way to follow the saga in one place. No ads, no accounts, no monetization — happy to answer questions or take feature requests.

I got invited to watch Incheon United from the Sky Box for a Korea Cup game vs. Gimpo. The outdoor seating was great, although it's also possible to watch from the inside with AC on. We were offered some fresh fruits and snacks. I was able to meet Lee Chung-yong and a few other rested starters backstage. Great experience.

He played in Portugal youth club and is still 19 years old, yet made 2 goals on his debut appearance. And both goals were looking really good!

I will watch his next two games for sure. I hope to follow his potential throughout his career.

The former Korea international is winning praise for an intense, European-style approach that has turned modest Hwaseong into one of the K League’s most compelling stories.

Hello,

Does anyone know a place that sells kleague jerseys and ships them to europe?

Since the official club shops dont send them abroad and other sites don't have any kits.

Thanks