1996 K League

The 1996 Korean Professional Football League was the 14th season of K League since its establishment in 1983. South Korean government and the Korean Professional Football Federation introduced a decentralization policy to proliferate the popularity of football nationally in preparation for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which they wanted to host, so some clubs located in the capital Seoul (LG Cheetahs, Ilhwa Chunma) moved to other cities according to the new policy in this season.

Rapido Cup
Professional Football League

Season	1996
Dates	Regular season: 11 May – 2 November 1996 Championship: 9–16 November 1996
Champions	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i (1st title)
Asian Club Championship	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i Pohang Atoms
Cup Winners' Cup	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Matches	144
Goals	448 (3.11 per match)
Best Player	Kim Hyun-seok
Top goalscorer	Shin Tae-yong (18 goals)
← 1995 1997 →

Regular season

First stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i	16	11	3	2	32	17	+15	36	Qualification for the playoffs
2	Pohang Atoms	16	10	5	1	24	12	+12	35	Qualification for the Asian Club Championship[a]
3	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	16	9	3	4	28	18	+10	30
4	Bucheon Yukong	16	5	5	6	28	29	−1	20
5	Jeonbuk Dinos	16	5	4	7	21	25	−4	19
6	Jeonnam Dragons	16	5	3	8	18	29	−11	18
7	Busan Daewoo Royals	16	4	3	9	23	28	−5	15
8	Anyang LG Cheetahs	16	4	3	9	21	28	−7	15
9	Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	16	2	5	9	17	26	−9	11

Source: RSSSF
Notes:

1. Qualified as defending champions of the Asian Club Championship.

Second stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	16	9	6	1	29	15	+14	33	Qualification for the playoffs
2	Bucheon Yukong	16	8	4	4	27	22	+5	28
3	Pohang Atoms	16	7	5	4	30	26	+4	26
4	Busan Daewoo Royals	16	5	6	5	22	23	−1	21
5	Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	16	6	3	7	35	37	−2	21
6	Jeonnam Dragons	16	4	6	6	22	24	−2	18
7	Jeonbuk Dinos	16	5	3	8	20	24	−4	18
8	Anyang LG Cheetahs	16	4	5	7	23	28	−5	17
9	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i	16	5	0	11	28	37	−9	15

Source: RSSSF

Championship playoffs

Main article: 1996 K League Championship

Summary

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i	3–2	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	0–1	3–1

Final table

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i (C)	Qualification for the Asian Club Championship
2	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup[a]

Source: RSSSF
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. The champions of the 1996 Korean FA Cup Pohang Atoms qualified for the Asian Club Championship, so the runners-up of the FA Cup Suwon Samsung Bluewings qualified for the Asian Cup Winners' Cup instead of champions.^[1]

Awards

Main awards

Award	Winner	Club
Most Valuable Player[2]	Kim Hyun-seok	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
Top goalscorer[3]	Shin Tae-yong	Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Top assist provider[3]	Rade Bogdanović	Pohang Atoms
Rookie of the Year[2]	Park Kun-ha	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Manager of the Year[4]	Ko Jae-wook	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i

Best XI

Position	Winner	Club
Goalkeeper	Kim Byung-ji	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
Defenders	Yoon Sung-hyo	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
	Kim Joo-sung	Busan Daewoo Royals
	Huh Ki-tae	Bucheon SK
Midfielders	Shin Tae-yong	Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
	Pavel Badea	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
	Hong Myung-bo	Pohang Atoms
	Ha Seok-ju	Busan Daewoo Royals
	Kim Hyun-seok	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
Forwards	Rade Bogdanović	Pohang Atoms
	Sergey Burdin	Bucheon SK

Source:^[2]

See also

• 1996 K League Championship
• 1996 Korean League Cup
• 1996 Korean FA Cup