2017 K League Challenge

The 2017 K League Challenge was the fifth season of the K League 2, the second-highest division in the South Korean football league system. Champions and winners of the promotion playoffs could be promoted to the K League 1.

KEB Hana Bank
K League Challenge

Season	2017
Champions	Gyeongnam FC (1st title)
Promoted	Gyeongnam FC
Matches played	180
Goals scored	454 (2.52 per match)
Best Player	Marcão
Top goalscorer	Marcão (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Bucheon 6–2 Anyang (19 June 2017)
Biggest away win	Daejeon 1–4 Seongnam (27 August 2017) Anyang 1–4 Gyeongnam (2 September 2017)
Highest scoring	Bucheon 6–2 Anyang (19 June 2017)
Highest attendance	10,683 Anyang 1–4 Gyeongnam (2 September 2017)
Average attendance	2,324
← 2016 2018 →

Teams

Team changes

Relegated from K League Classic

• Suwon FC
• Seongnam FC

Promoted to K League Classic

• Daegu FC
• Gangwon FC

Newly joined

• Ansan Greeners

Withdrawn

• Goyang Zaicro
• Chungju Hummel

Locations

Locations of the 2017 K League Challenge clubs

Stadiums

Ansan Greeners	FC Anyang	Asan Mugunghwa	Bucheon FC 1995	Busan IPark
Ansan Wa~ Stadium	Anyang Stadium	Yi Sun-sin Stadium	Bucheon Stadium	Busan Gudeok Stadium
Capacity: 35,000	Capacity: 17,143	Capacity: 19,283	Capacity: 34,545	Capacity: 12,349
Daejeon Citizen	Gyeongnam FC	Seongnam FC	Seoul E-Land	Suwon FC
Daejeon World Cup Stadium	Changwon Football Center	Tancheon Stadium	Seoul Olympic Stadium	Suwon Sports Complex
Capacity: 40,535	Capacity: 15,500	Capacity: 16,146	Capacity: 69,950	Capacity: 11,808

Personnel and sponsoring

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Managers	Kit manufacturer	Main sponsor
Ansan Greeners	Lee Heung-sil	Kelme	Ansan Government
FC Anyang	Kim Jong-pil	Astore	Anyang Government
Asan Mugunghwa	Song Sun-ho	Puma	Asan Government
Bucheon FC 1995	Jeong Gab-seok	Astore	Bucheon Government
Busan IPark	Cho Jin-ho	Adidas	Hyundai Development Company
Daejeon Citizen	Lee Young-ik	Astore	Daejeon Government
Gyeongnam FC	Kim Jong-boo	Hummel	Gyeongnam Government
Seongnam FC	Park Kyung-hoon	Umbro	Seongnam Government
Seoul E-Land	Kim Byung-soo	New Balance	E-Land
Suwon FC	Cho Duck-je	Hummel	Suwon Government

Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team could use four foreign players on the field each game.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player
Ansan Greeners	Luka Rotković	Raúl Tarragona		Bahodir Nasimov
FC Anyang	Jô	Lukian	Aubin Kouakou
Bucheon FC 1995	Nilson Júnior	Waguininho	Rodrigo Paraná	Bakhodir Pardayev
Busan IPark	Danny Morais	Rômulo	Léo Mineiro	Michihiro Yasuda
Daejeon Citizen	Bruno Cantanhede	Levan Shengelia	Cristian Dănălache
Gyeongnam FC	Alex Bruno	Marcão	Ivan Herceg
Seongnam FC	Dário Júnior	Marin Oršulić	Filip Hlohovský
Seoul E-Land	Wesley Alex	Daniel Lovinho	Tomoki Wada	Atsuki Wada
Suwon FC	Bruce Djite	Pedro Carmona	Vladan Adžić	Adrian Leijer

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Gyeongnam FC (C, P)	36	24	7	5	69	36	+33	79	Promotion to the K League 1
2	Busan IPark	36	19	11	6	52	30	+22	68	Qualification for the promotion playoffs semi-final
3	Asan Mugunghwa	36	15	9	12	44	37	+7	54	Qualification for the promotion playoffs first round
4	Seongnam FC	36	13	14	9	38	30	+8	53
5	Bucheon FC 1995	36	15	7	14	50	46	+4	52
6	Suwon FC	36	11	12	13	42	48	−6	45
7	FC Anyang	36	10	9	17	40	58	−18	39
8	Seoul E-Land	36	7	14	15	42	55	−13	35
9	Ansan Greeners	36	7	12	17	36	54	−18	33
10	Daejeon Citizen	36	6	11	19	41	60	−19	29

Source: K League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference; 4) Wins; 5) Head-to-head points.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Positions by matchday

  Leaders
  Qualification for the promotion playoffs

Round 1–18

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Gyeongnam FC	4	3	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Busan IPark	4	1	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Asan Mugunghwa	9	4	4	2	4	5	4	3	4	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	4	3
Bucheon FC 1995	1	6	7	5	5	3	3	4	5	4	4	3	4	5	5	4	3	4
Seongnam FC	9	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	9	9	7	7	7	6	5	5
Suwon FC	1	2	1	3	3	4	5	5	3	5	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	6
FC Anyang	6	10	10	8	7	7	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	4	4	5	6	7
Ansan Greeners	1	5	5	6	6	6	7	7	7	8	7	7	8	9	9	8	8	8
Seoul E-Land	6	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	7	8	8	9	8	8	9	9	9
Daejeon Citizen	6	7	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

Source: K League

Round 19–36

Team ╲ Round	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Gyeongnam FC	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Busan IPark	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Asan Mugunghwa	3	4	4	5	5	3	3	3	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	3	3	3
Seongnam FC	6	6	6	4	4	5	4	5	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	4	4
Bucheon FC 1995	4	3	3	3	3	4	5	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	5	5	5	5
Suwon FC	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	7	7	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	6	6
FC Anyang	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	7	7
Seoul E-Land	9	9	9	9	10	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Ansan Greeners	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Daejeon Citizen	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

Source: K League

Results

Matches 1–18

Home \ Away	ANS	ANY	ASM	BUC	BIP	DJC	GNM	SEN	SEL	SUW
Ansan Greeners	—	1–0	2–1	2–4	0–3	2–1	3–3	0–1	1–2	3–3
FC Anyang	2–1	—	0–2	3–1	0–1	3–2	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–2
Asan Mugunghwa	1–0	4–0	—	2–1	0–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0
Bucheon FC 1995	2–0	6–2	1–2	—	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–2	2–1	0–1
Busan IPark	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	—	2–1	1–1	1–2	3–0	2–2
Daejeon Citizen	1–2	0–2	1–1	0–1	2–3	—	0–2	1–1	2–1	4–3
Gyeongnam FC	3–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	—	1–1	3–0	2–0
Seongnam FC	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–2	—	0–2	0–1
Seoul E-Land	1–0	2–2	1–1	4–1	2–3	3–3	0–1	0–0	—	0–0
Suwon FC	0–4	3–3	0–2	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	0–1	2–2	—

Source: K League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36

Home \ Away	ANS	ANY	ASM	BUC	BIP	DJC	GNM	SEN	SEL	SUW
Ansan Greeners	—	2–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–0
FC Anyang	2–0	—	1–3	1–3	1–2	0–0	1–4	1–3	2–0	0–0
Asan Mugunghwa	0–0	2–0	—	1–1	0–1	1–2	2–3	0–2	2–0	2–1
Bucheon FC 1995	1–1	0–0	3–0	—	0–2	1–0	2–4	3–2	1–0	0–1
Busan IPark	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	—	4–2	1–2	0–0	2–1	2–2
Daejeon Citizen	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	—	2–1	1–4	0–1	2–0
Gyeongnam FC	3–1	0–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	4–2	—	1–0	2–1	2–2
Seongnam FC	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–3	—	2–2	3–0
Seoul E-Land	3–3	2–3	3–2	2–2	2–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	—	0–0
Suwon FC	0–2	4–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	3–2	2–1	0–0	3–1	—

Source: K League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion playoffs

Bracket

	First round					Semi-final					Final
						2	Busan IPark	3
						3	Asan Mugunghwa	0
	3	Asan Mugunghwa	1
	4	Seongnam FC	0
											Busan IPark		0	1	1 (4)
											Sangju Sangmu (p)		1	0	1 (5)

First round

15 November 2017

19:00 KST

Asan Mugunghwa	1–0	Seongnam FC
Jung Sung-min 65'	Report

Yi Sun-sin Stadium, Asan

Attendance: 3,840

Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok

Semi-final

18 November 2017

15:00 KST

Busan IPark	3–0	Asan Mugunghwa
Lee Jung-hyup 32' Lee Dong-jun 81', 90+4'	Report

Busan Gudeok Stadium, Busan

Attendance: 2,710

Referee: Kim Dong-jin

Final

The promotion-relegation playoffs were held between the winners of the 2017 K League Challenge playoffs and the 11th-placed club of the 2017 K League Classic. The winner on aggregate score after both matches earned entry into the 2018 K League 1.

22 November 2017

19:00 KST

Busan IPark	0–1	Sangju Sangmu
	Report	Yeo Reum 7'

Busan Gudeok Stadium, Busan

Attendance: 1,322

Referee: Lee Dong-jun

---

26 November 2017

15:00 KST

Sangju Sangmu	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Busan IPark
	Report	Rômulo 16' (pen.)
Penalties
Yeo Reum Sin Jin-ho Lim Chae-min Kim Ho-nam Joo Min-kyu	5–4	Rômulo Léo Mineiro Lee Dong-jun Ko Kyung-min Lim You-hwan

Sangju Civic Stadium, Sangju

Attendance: 2,714

Referee: Kim Seong-ho

1–1 on aggregate. Sangju Sangmu won 5–4 on penalties and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

Player statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC	22
2	Raúl Tarragona	Ansan Greeners	15
3	Waguininho	Bucheon FC 1995	12
4	Jung Won-jin	Gyeongnam FC	10
5	Ko Kyung-min	Busan IPark	9
	Lee Jeong-hyeop	Busan IPark
	Cristian Dănălache	Daejeon Citizen
	Park Sung-ho	Seongnam FC
	Jin Chang-soo	Bucheon FC 1995
10	Baek Sung-dong	Suwon FC	8
	Jeong Jae-hee	FC Anyang

Top assist providers

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Chang Hyuk-jin	Ansan Greeners	13
2	Jung Won-jin	Gyeongnam FC	10
3	Alex Bruno	Gyeongnam FC	8
	Kim Shin	Bucheon FC 1995
5	Atsuki Wada	Seoul E-Land FC	7
6	Rômulo	Busan IPark	6
	Lee Ho-seok	Daejeon Citizen
	Kim Shin	Bucheon FC 1995
9	Kim Bong-rae	Suwon FC	5
	Lee Ju-yong	Asan Mugunghwa
	Jeong Jae-hee	FC Anyang

Attendance

Attendants who entered with free ticket were not counted.

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	FC Anyang	60,078	10,683	1,360	3,338	+82.7%†
2	Seongnam FC	50,427	6,700	1,410	2,802	−58.4%†
3	Ansan Greeners	48,635	8,405	915	2,702	n/a†
4	Busan IPark	43,302	6,337	1,024	2,406	+56.8%†
5	Gyeongnam FC	39,273	7,278	713	2,182	+81.8%†
6	Daejeon Citizen	38,787	5,136	1,032	2,155	−15.2%†
7	Suwon FC	38,655	8,455	711	2,148	−51.0%†
8	Asan Mugunghwa	35,188	7,933	726	1,955	+94.5%†
9	Bucheon FC 1995	35,047	7,209	0	1,947	−6.4%†
10	Seoul E-Land	28,996	4,531	631	1,611	+22.9%†
	League total	418,388	10,683	0	2,324	+54.3%†

Updated to games played on 29 October 2017
Source: K League Classic
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in K League Classic.

Awards

The 2016 K League Awards was held on 20 November 2017.^[1]

Main awards

• Most Valuable Player: Marcão (Gyeongnam FC)
• Top goalscorer: Marcão (Gyeongnam FC)
• Top assist provider: Chang Hyuk-jin (Ansan Greeners)
• Manager of the Year: Kim Jong-boo (Gyeongnam FC)

Best XI

Position	Player	Club
Goalkeeper	Lee Bum-soo	Gyeongnam FC
Defenders	Choi Jae-soo	Gyeongnam FC
	Park Ji-soo	Gyeongnam FC
	Ivan Herceg	Gyeongnam FC
	Woo Joo-sung	Gyeongnam FC
Midfielders	Jung Won-jin	Gyeongnam FC
	Hwang In-beom	Daejeon Citizen
	Moon Ki-han	Bucheon FC 1995
	Bae Ki-jong	Gyeongnam FC
Forwards	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC
	Lee Jeong-hyeop	Busan IPark

Player of the Round

Round Player Club 1 Lee Jung-hyup Busan IPark 2 Heo Beom-san Busan IPark 3 Kim Eun-sun Asan Mugunghwa 4 Cho Seok-jae FC Anyang 5 Kim Min-kyun FC Anyang 6 Lee Jung-hyup Busan IPark 7 Jeong Jae-hee FC Anyang 8 Kim Min-kyun FC Anyang 9 Lee Seung-hyun Suwon FC 10 Kim Min-kyun FC Anyang 11 Raúl Tarragona Ansan Greeners 12 Marcão Gyeongnam FC 13 Marcão Gyeongnam FC 14 Lim Sang-hyub Busan IPark 15 Lee Kyu-seong Busan IPark 16 Cristian Dănălache Daejeon Citizen 17 Kim Shin Bucheon FC 1995 18 Danny Morais Busan IPark

Round Player Club 19 Baek Sung-dong Suwon FC 20 Lee Seung-hyun Suwon FC 21 Go Myeong-seok Bucheon FC 1995 22 Kim Dong-chan Seongnam FC 23 Hwang In-beom Daejeon Citizen 24 Jung Won-jin Gyeongnam FC 25 Marcão Gyeongnam FC 26 Choi Oh-baek Seoul E-Land 27 Choi Oh-baek Seoul E-Land 28 Ko Kyung-min Busan IPark 29 Kim Chan-hee Daejeon Citizen 30 Kim Hyun Asan Mugunghwa 31 Marcão Gyeongnam FC 32 Kim Kyeong-min Busan IPark 33 Marcão Gyeongnam FC 34 Ryu Won-woo Bucheon FC 1995 35 Jeong Hyeon-cheol Gyeongnam FC 36 Baek Sung-dong Suwon FC

Manager of the Month

Month	Manager	Club	Division
March	Jo Sung-hwan	Jeju United	K League Classic
April	Kim Jong-boo	Gyeongnam FC	K League Challenge
May	Choi Yun-kyum	Gangwon FC	K League Classic
June	Choi Kang-hee	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	K League Classic
July	Seo Jung-won	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	K League Classic
August	Hwang Sun-hong	FC Seoul	K League Classic
September	Kim Do-hoon	Ulsan Hyundai	K League Classic
October	André	Daegu FC	K League Classic

See also

• 2017 in South Korean football
• 2017 K League Classic
• 2017 Korean FA Cup