K League & Korean football

Wikipedia alt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_squads#South_Korea

Group stage (East) chaged from 12 teams to 16. Korea's slots up to 3+1 from 2+1. Presumably the group stage is still a "league" instead of going back to 4x4 groups. This means Gangwon have a chance at ACLE and FC Seoul are in ACL2.

Another disappointing campaign (so far) in my eyes. Ulsan obviously were on a huge downturn last season, but after a decent start, all of them had stinking results in the last few rounds. Gangwon and Seoul now have Machida and Kobe as their opponents in a couple of weeks, which aren't impossible ties, but it could have been better.

P.S. good luck to Pohang tomorrow

Gimhae FC, Yongin FC, and Paju Frontier FC are joining K2 for the 2026 season. K2 will have 17 clubs playing 32 games each, so 34 rounds in total.

Korean Super Cup is being revived after 20-year absence. Played between K1 winners and Korean Cup winners. Will be played 21 Feb between Jeonbuk and Daejeon (Jeonbuk won both, Daejeon were K1 runners up).

Pro-rel playoff between K2 and K3 (there's effectively a route from K4 to K1 now). I think it's happening at the end of the 2026 season? Between bottom K2 team and top K3 team, single game hosted by the K2 team. K3 would need to obtain a pro club licence for the playoff to take place.

Jeju beat Suwon Samsung in their pro/rel playoff. I don't think Suwon played badly, but they lost it comprehensively according to the scoreline. Another year in K2 awaits.

Bucheon shocked Suwon FC in their playoff to get to K1 for the first time ever. Well done them!

Jeonbuk and Daejeon go to ACLE, with Pohang having a playoff for ACLE (although they might go straight into ACLE depending on who wins the current ACLE/ACL2).

If Gwangju win the Korean Cup, they'll be in ACL2. If Jeonbuk win it, Gangwon will be in ALC2.

Daegu relegated. Jeju in a relegation playoff vs Suwon Samsung. Suwon FC in a relegation playoff vs Bucheon.

I'm impressed that whoever they asked to do the commentry bothered to find out how to pronounce everything.

The annual Team K League games are always a bit silly, but I still enjoy them a bit. Especially when K League wins.

A 2-0 win over a ten-man Iraq seal Korea's place in the top two of the group with game to spare.

The result was hardly suprising - basically a home game for Al Hilal and they've got top players in their squad from the Saudi investment money - but the scoreline was bad. Gwamgju still bagged a decent amount of money from the competition overall, though.

In general, it was pretty bad showing from Korean teams though. Gwangju managed to pull off some upsets and were genrally pretty good. Pohang were a bit up and down and were arguably unlucky not to progress after Shandong withdrew. Ulsan were just terrible. Down in ACL2 Jeonbuk were doing enough until they faced Sydney. Yes, they didn't get a home game because they had to use Yongin Mireu, but I would have expected them to proceed anyway.

After summer we'll be seeing Ulsan again, Gangwon, and possibly FC Seoul in ACLE; and Pohang in ACL2. I'm not that optimisitc about ACLE prospects (maybe one or two getting to the knockouts), but Pohang could do it.

When did they drop Incheon from their name? Anyway, well done to them, but it wasn't that unexpected. A bit weird that they qualified for this tournament over a year ago, and perhaps they're not as strong right now (Wuhan, who are on the other side of the bracket seem to have poached a couple of their players). No idea how they'll fare against Melbourne, and no idea where it will be hosted yet.

Can't remember a recent year when so many K2 teams got knocked out so quickly

3rd round fixtures:

Siheung (K3) vs Hwaseong (K2)

Gangneung (K3) vs Daejeon (K1)

Jeonbuk (K1) vs Ansan (K2)

Gimpo (K2) vs Cheonan (K2)

Sejong (K4) vs Anyang (K1)

Daegu (K1) vs Gimhae (K3)

Korail (K3) vs Namyangju (K4)

Bugakong (K3) vs Suwon FC (K1)

Gwangju (K1) vs Gyeongju (K3)

Incheon (K2) vs Pyeongchang (K4)

Bucheon (K2) vs Jeju (K1)

Gimcheon (K1) vs Suwon (K2)