2021 K League 1

The 2021 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 39th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea, and the ninth season of the K League 1. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won their ninth title and fifth consecutive title.

Hana 1Q
K League 1

Season	2021
Dates	27 February – 5 December 2021
Champions	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (9th title)
Relegated	Gwangju FC
Champions League	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Ulsan Hyundai Daegu FC
Matches played	228
Goals scored	563 (2.47 per match)
Best Player	Hong Jeong-ho
Top goalscorer	Joo Min-kyu (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Ulsan 5–0 Gangwon (1 March 2021)
Biggest away win	Daegu 0–5 Jeju (31 October 2021)
Highest scoring	Seoul 3–4 Jeonbuk (5 September 2021)
Highest attendance	6,199
Lowest attendance	1,218
← 2020 2022 →

After progressing 33 regular rounds, the league was divided into two groups, the top six and the bottom six, and each team played five matches against other teams in its group.

Teams

Team changes

Relegated to K League 2

• Sangju Sangmu (renamed Gimcheon Sangmu)
• Busan IPark

Promoted from K League 2

• Jeju United
• Suwon FC

Locations

Seoul

Daegu

Gangwon
(Chuncheon)

Gangwon
(Gangneung)

Incheon

Jeonbuk

Gwangju

Pohang

Seongnam

Suwon, Suwon FC

Ulsan

Jeju

Locations of the 2021 K League 1 teams

The following twelve clubs competed in the K League 1 during the 2021 season.^[1]

Team	City/Province	Abbreviation
Daegu FC	Daegu	Daegu
Gangwon FC	Gangwon	Gangwon
Gwangju FC	Gwangju	Gwangju
Incheon United	Incheon	Incheon
Jeju United	Jeju	Jeju
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Jeonbuk	Jeonbuk
Pohang Steelers	Pohang	Pohang
Seongnam FC	Seongnam	Seongnam
FC Seoul	Seoul	Seoul
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Suwon	Suwon
Suwon FC	Suwon	Suwon FC
Ulsan Hyundai	Ulsan	Ulsan

Stadiums

Jeju United	Daegu FC	Incheon United
Jeju World Cup Stadium	DGB Daegu Bank Park	Incheon Football Stadium
Capacity: 29,791	Capacity: 12,415	Capacity: 20,891
Pohang Steelers	Suwon FC	Seongnam FC
Pohang Steel Yard	Suwon Stadium	Tancheon Stadium
Capacity: 17,443	Capacity: 11,808	Capacity: 16,146
FC Seoul		Suwon Samsung Bluewings Suwon FC
Seoul World Cup Stadium	Seoul Olympic Stadium	Suwon World Cup Stadium
Capacity: 66,704	Capacity: 69,950	Capacity: 44,031
Gwangju FC	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Gwangju World Cup Stadium	Gwangju Football Stadium	Jeonju World Cup Stadium
Capacity: 40,245	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 42,477
Gangwon FC		Ulsan Hyundai
Chuncheon Songam Leports Town	Gangneung Stadium	Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 22,333	Capacity: 44,102

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Main sponsor	Kit manufacturer	Other sponsor(s)
Daegu FC	Lee Byung-keun	Daegu Government	Goal Studio	DGB Daegu Bank AJIN Industrial Co., Ltd.
Gangwon FC	Kim Byung-soo	Gangwon Provincial Government	Applerind	Kangwon Land
Gwangju FC	Kim Ho-young	Gwangju Government	Kelme
Incheon United	Jo Sung-hwan	Incheon Government	Macron	Shinhan Bank Incheon International Airport
Jeju United	Nam Ki-il	SK Energy	Puma
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Kim Sang-sik	Hyundai Motor Company	Hummel
Pohang Steelers	Kim Gi-dong	POSCO	Puma	Pohang Government
Seongnam FC	Kim Nam-il	Seongnam Government	Umbro
FC Seoul	Park Jin-sub	GS Group	Le Coq Sportif
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Park Kun-ha	Cheil Worldwide	Puma	Samsung Electronics
Suwon FC	Kim Do-kyun	Suwon Government	Hummel
Ulsan Hyundai	Hong Myung-bo	Hyundai Heavy Industries	Hummel	Hyundai Oil Bank

Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to five per team, including a slot for a player from the Asian Football Confederation countries and a slot for a player from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. A team could use five foreign players on the field each game, including at least one player from the AFC confederation. Samuel Pungi, who played for Pohang Steelers, was deemed to be a native player as he had been granted South Korean nationality.

Players in bold were registered during the mid-season transfer window.

Team	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC player	ASEAN player[a]	Former player(s)
Daegu FC	Césinha	Edgar	Lamas	Tsubasa Nishi		Serginho
Gangwon FC	Vladimir Silađi	Momchil Tsvetanov	Matija Ljujić	Rustam Ashurmatov		Masatoshi Ishida
Gwangju FC	Reis	Aleksandar Andrejević	Johnathan			Felipe
Incheon United	Stefan Mugoša	Elías Aguilar	Negueba	Harrison Delbridge
Jeju United	Oskar Zawada	Gerso Fernandes				Islom Kenjaboev
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Modou Barrow	Gustavo	Stanislav Iljutcenko	Takahiro Kunimoto	Sasalak Haiprakhon
Pohang Steelers	Manuel Palacios	Mario Kvesić	Borys Tashchy	Alex Grant
Seongnam FC	Richard Windbichler	Fejsal Mulić	Sergiu Buș	Jamshid Iskanderov
FC Seoul	Osmar	Aleksandar Paločević	Gabriel	Connor Chapman		Ikromjon Alibaev
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Doneil Henry	Uroš Đerić	Nicolao Dumitru			Terry Antonis
Suwon FC	Lars Veldwijk	Murilo	Tardeli	Lachlan Jackson		Victor
Ulsan Hyundai	Dave Bulthuis	Valeri Qazaishvili				Jason Davidson Lukas Hinterseer

1. Did not exist in the regulation of AFC.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (C)	38	22	10	6	71	37	+34	76	Qualification for Champions League group stage
2	Ulsan Hyundai	38	21	11	6	64	41	+23	74	Qualification for Champions League play-off round
3	Daegu FC	38	15	10	13	41	48	−7	55
4	Jeju United	38	13	15	10	52	44	+8	54
5	Suwon FC	38	14	9	15	53	57	−4	51
6	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	38	12	10	16	42	50	−8	46
7	FC Seoul	38	12	11	15	46	46	0	47
8	Incheon United	38	12	11	15	38	45	−7	47
9	Pohang Steelers	38	12	10	16	41	45	−4	46
10	Seongnam FC	38	11	11	16	34	46	−12	44
11	Gangwon FC (O)	38	10	13	15	40	51	−11	43	Qualification for relegation play-offs
12	Gwangju FC (R)	38	10	7	21	42	54	−12	37	Relegation to K League 2

Source: K League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference; 4) Wins; 5) Head-to-head points
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league was split into two groups, the top six and the bottom six.

Positions by matchday

  Leaders, qualification for Champions League group stage
  Qualification for Champions League play-off round
  Qualification for relegation play-offs
  Relegation to K League 2

Round 1–33

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	2	4	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Ulsan Hyundai	1	1	1	1	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
Daegu FC	5	8	11	10	10	9	11	11	11	10	8	6	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	2	5	2	4	4	6	7	4	4	3	3	3	3	3
Suwon FC	5	9	10	11	11	12	12	12	12	11	12	12	12	11	7	8	8	8	7	6	5	6	5	6	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4
Jeju United	7	7	5	7	7	6	8	8	7	4	3	3	3	5	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	9	8	9	8	5	8	8	8	8	5	5	5
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	6	3	5	4	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	5	6	7	6	6	5	6	6	6
Pohang Steelers	3	2	4	4	6	7	6	9	8	6	4	5	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	3	6	6	6	5	3	5	6	5	7	6	7	7	7
Incheon United	9	6	8	9	8	8	10	10	10	12	11	11	9	10	10	7	7	7	8	6	7	5	7	7	8	4	5	7	7	7	8	9	8
FC Seoul	11	5	9	6	4	2	3	3	4	7	9	8	8	8	11	12	11	11	9	11	10	10	10	11	11	12	12	12	11	10	10	10	9
Gangwon FC	12	11	12	12	12	10	7	7	5	8	10	9	10	9	9	9	9	9	11	9	9	8	9	8	11	10	10	11	11	12	12	8	10
Seongnam FC	7	10	6	5	5	5	5	5	3	5	6	7	7	7	8	10	10	10	10	10	11	12	11	10	10	11	11	10	9	9	9	11	11
Gwangju FC	10	12	7	8	9	11	9	6	9	9	7	10	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	10	12	11	12	12	12	9	9	9	10	11	11	12	12

Source: K League

Round 34–38

Team ╲ Round	34	35	36	37	38
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	1	1	1	1	1
Ulsan Hyundai	2	2	2	2	2
Daegu FC	3	3	3	3	3
Jeju United	4	4	4	4	4
Suwon FC	5	5	5	5	5
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	6	6	6	6	6
FC Seoul	11	10	9	9	7
Incheon United	7	8	8	8	8
Pohang Steelers	8	7	7	7	9
Seongnam FC	9	9	10	10	10
Gangwon FC	10	11	11	11	11
Gwangju FC	12	12	12	12	12

Source: K League

Results

Matches 1–22

Teams played each other twice, once at home, once away.

Home \ Away	DGU	GWN	GJU	ICU	JJU	JHM	PHS	SNM	SEL	SSB	SWN	USH
Daegu FC	—	1–0	1–4	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1
Gangwon FC	3–0	—	0–1	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–3	0–0	0–0	3–0	0–0	2–2
Gwangju FC	0–1	3–1	—	2–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–1	3–4	2–0	0–1
Incheon United	2–1	1–0	2–1	—	0–3	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	4–1	0–0
Jeju United	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–4	—	1–1	1–0	2–2	2–1	2–1	1–3	1–2
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	3–2	2–1	3–0	5–0	1–1	—	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–3	1–1	2–4
Pohang Steelers	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–3	—	1–0	0–1	0–3	1–0	1–1
Seongnam FC	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–3	0–0	1–5	2–1	—	1–0	0–1	2–3	0–1
FC Seoul	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	3–4	1–2	2–2	—	0–3	3–0	0–0
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	3–2	1–3	1–1	1–0	1–2	—	1–2	3–0
Suwon FC	2–4	2–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	1–0	3–4	1–2	1–1	0–0	—	0–1
Ulsan Hyundai	2–1	5–0	2–0	3–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	3–2	1–1	2–5	—

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

Matches 23–33

Teams played each other once, either at home or away.

Home \ Away	DGU	GWN	GJU	ICU	JJU	JHM	PHS	SNM	SEL	SSB	SWN	USH
Daegu FC	—	—	1–2	—	—	—	—	3–1	—	0–2	0–0	2–1
Gangwon FC	2–0	—	2–1	—	2–2	0–1	1–0	—	1–4	—	—	—
Gwangju FC	—	—	—	1–0	0–3[a]	1–2	2–3	2–0	—	—	—	—
Incheon United	2–0	0–1	—	—	1–2	—	—	0–1	—	0–1	0–0	—
Jeju United	0–1	—	—	—	—	2–2	—	2–1	1–0	—	—	2–2
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	2–1	—	—	2–0	—	—	2–0	—	3–2	1–0	2–2	—
Pohang Steelers	1–2	—	—	0–1	2–4	—	—	—	—	0–0	3–1	1–2
Seongnam FC	—	2–0	—	—	—	0–0	1–0	—	1–1	—	—	2–1
FC Seoul	1–1	—	1–0	0–0	—	—	2–2	—	—	—	2–1	1–2
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	—	3–2	2–2	—	0–0	—	—	1–2	0–2	—	0–3	—
Suwon FC	—	1–0	1–3	—	1–0	—	—	3–1	—	—	—	0–3
Ulsan Hyundai	—	2–1	1–0	3–2	—	0–0	—	—	—	3–1	—	—

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

1. The match between Gwangju FC and Jeju United originally finished 1–1, but K League Federation awarded Jeju United a 3–0 win due to a violation of Gwangju FC, which exceeded substitutes allowance.^[2]

Matches 34–38

Teams played each other once, either at home or away.

Final A Home \ Away DGU JJU JHM SSB SWN USH Daegu FC — 0–5 0–2 2–1 — — Jeju United — — — 2–0 1–0 — Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors — 2–0 — — — 3–2 Suwon Samsung Bluewings — — 0–4 — — 0–0 Suwon FC 1–2 — 3–2 2–0 — — Ulsan Hyundai 2–0 3–1 — — 3–2 — Source: K League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final B Home \ Away GWN GJU ICU PHS SNM SEL Gangwon FC — — 1–1 — 2–1 — Gwangju FC 2–2 — 1–1 — — 3–4 Incheon United — — — 0–0 — 2–0 Pohang Steelers 4–0 1–2 — — — 1–2 Seongnam FC — 1–0 1–1 1–0 — — FC Seoul 0–0 — — — 3–0 — Source: K League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

The promotion-relegation play-offs were contested between the winners of K League 2 play-offs and the eleventh-placed team in K League 1.

8 December 2021

19:00 KST

Daejeon Hana Citizen	1–0	Gangwon FC
Lee Hyeon-sik 51'

Hanbat Sports Complex, Daejeon

---

12 December 2021

14:00 KST

Gangwon FC	4–1	Daejeon Hana Citizen
Lee Ji-sol 26' (o.g.) Lim Chae-min 28' Han Kook-young 31' Hwang Mun-ki 90+3'		Lee Jong-hyeon 17'

Gangneung Stadium, Gangneung

Gangwon FC won 4–2 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player[3]	Club	Goals
1	Joo Min-kyu	Jeju United	22
2	Lars Veldwijk	Suwon FC	18
3	Gustavo	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	15
	Stanislav Iljutcenko	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
5	Fejsal Mulić	Seongnam FC	13
6	Lee Dong-jun	Ulsan Hyundai	11
	Lim Sang-hyub	Pohang Steelers
8	Edgar	Daegu FC	10
	Song Min-kyu	Pohang Steelers Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
	Aleksandar Paločević	FC Seoul

Top assist providers

Rank	Player[3]	Club	Assists
1	Kim Bo-kyung	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	10
	Murilo	Suwon FC
3	Kang Sang-woo	Pohang Steelers	8
4	Lee Yeong-jae	Suwon FC	7
	Cesinha	Daegu FC
	Sin Jin-ho	Pohang Steelers
7	Elías Aguilar	Incheon United	6
	Na Sang-ho	FC Seoul
	Kim Tae-hwan	Ulsan Hyundai
	Lars Veldwijk	Suwon FC

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Lim Sang-hyub	Pohang Steelers	Suwon FC	3–4	18 May 2021
Gustavo4	Jeonbouk Hyundai Motors	Seongnam FC	1–5	6 June 2021
Lars Veldwijk4	Suwon FC	Ulsan Hyundai	2–5	25 July 2021

Awards

Weekly awards

Round Player of the Round Player Club 1 Kim In-sung Ulsan Hyundai 2 Na Sang-ho FC Seoul 3 Lee Dong-jun Ulsan Hyundai 4 Fejsal Mulić Seongnam FC 5 Stanislav Iljutcenko Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 6 Cesinha Daegu FC 7 Stanislav Iljutcenko Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 8 Valeri Qazaishvili Ulsan Hyundai 9 Lee Seung-gi Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 10 Kim Gun-hee Suwon Samsung Bluewings 11 Lee Han-do Gwangju FC 12 Edgar Daegu FC 13 Edgar Daegu FC 14 Cho Yu-min Suwon FC 15 Murilo Suwon FC 16 Song Si-woo Incheon United 17 Lim Sang-hyub Pohang Steelers 18 Cesinha Daegu FC 19 Lee Yeong-jae Suwon FC

Round Player of the Round Player Club 20 Go Young-joon Pohang Steelers 21 Lars Veldwijk Suwon FC 22 Ko Moo-yeol Gangwon FC 23 Moon Seon-min Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 24 Um Won-sang Gwangju FC 25 Lim Sang-hyub Pohang Steelers 26 Lee Chung-yong Ulsan Hyundai 27 Valeri Qazaishvili Ulsan Hyundai 28 Cesinha Daegu FC 29 Lee Chang-min Jeju United 30 Cesinha Daegu FC 31 Lee Ki-je Suwon Samsung Bluewings 32 Cho Young-wook FC Seoul 33 Lee Ho-jae Pohang Steelers 34 Takahiro Kunimoto Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 35 Edgar Daegu FC 36 Oh Se-hun Ulsan Hyundai 37 Hong Jeong-ho Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 38 Han Kyo-won Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Young Player of the Month		Manager of the Month			Goal of the Month
	Player	Club	Player	Club	Manager	Club	Div.	Player	Club
March	Ki Sung-yueng	Seoul	—		Kim Sang-sik	Jeonbuk	1	Kim Min-woo	Suwon
April	Edgar	Daegu	—		Lee Woo-hyung	Anyang	2	Fejsal Mulić	Seongnam
May	Cesinha	Daegu	—		Park Kun-ha	Suwon	1	Lee Ki-je	Suwon
June	—		—		Kim Tae-wan	Gimcheon	2	Paik Seung-ho	Jeonbuk
July	—		—		Jo Sung-hwan	Incheon	1	Lars Veldwijk	Suwon FC
August	Gustavo	Jeonbuk	Eom Ji-sung	Gwangju	Hong Myung-bo	Ulsan	1	Lee Chung-yong	Ulsan
September	Cho Young-wook	Seoul	Seol Young-woo	Ulsan	Lee Byung-keun	Daegu	1	Paik Seung-ho	Jeonbuk
October	Lee Dong-gyeong	Ulsan	Um Won-sang	Gwangju	Nam Ki-il	Jeju	1	Lee Hee-gyun	Gwangju
November	Hong Jeong-ho	Jeonbuk	Seol Young-woo	Ulsan	An Ik-soo	Seoul	1	Moon Seon-min	Jeonbuk

Annual awards

The 2021 K League Awards was held on 7 December 2021.^[4]

Award	Winner	Club
Most Valuable Player	Hong Jeong-ho	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Young Player of the Year	Seol Young-woo	Ulsan Hyundai
Top goalscorer	Joo Min-kyu	Jeju United
Top assist provider	Kim Bo-kyung	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Manager of the Year	Kim Sang-sik	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Position	Best XI
Goalkeeper	Jo Hyeon-woo (Ulsan)
Defenders	Kang Sang-woo (Pohang)	Hong Jeong-ho (Jeonbuk)	Dave Bulthuis (Ulsan)	Lee Ki-je (Suwon)
Midfielders	Lee Dong-jun (Ulsan)	Cesinha (Daegu)	Valeri Qazaishvili (Ulsan)	Lim Sang-hyub (Pohang)
Forwards	Lars Veldwijk (Suwon FC)		Joo Min-kyu (Jeju)

Controversies

On 12 December 2021, Gangwon FC and Daejeon Hana Citizen faced one another in the second leg of the Promotion-relegation play-offs, with the latter team finding himself in advantage after winning the first leg 1–0. Played at Gangneung Stadium, Gangwon's home soil, the match saw the hosts secure a 4–1 comeback victory and maintain their spot in K League 1. However, the game was marred by a series of incidents, occurring between the first and the second half. After Han Kook-young had scored Gangwon's third goal in the 31st minute, the ball boys around the stadium reportedly started to delay giving the ball back to Daejeon players, an event that happened multiple times during the match and was possibly meant to waste time in favour of the hosts: the fans in the away sector reacted furiously, with some of them throwing plastic bottles in direction of one of the ball boys. The game still went ahead, as six minutes of extra time were added at the end of the second half. The K League administration decided to open an official investigation on the controversial events.^[5][6]

When asked to talk about the incidents, Gangwon's director Lee Young-pyo originally dismissed them, pointing out that similar instances were already common in European football, but later apologized, saying that he felt "direct responsibility" for the "unsmooth match" and promising that he would work so that Gangwon FC would become "a mature club" in the future.^[5] Meanwhile, on 21 December, just hours before K League's final disciplinary meeting took place, the Daejeon board released an official response to the matter, stating that there was "clear evidence of the game delays being intentional and organized", as well as noticing that such acts violated the league's Code of Ethics for fair play and respect.^[5][7]

In the end, the league's administration decided to keep the final score unchanged: however, Gangwon FC was fined 30 million South Korean Won (US$25,000) for the episodes of time wasting, whereas Daejeon Hana Citizen was fined 2 million South Korean Won (US$1,677) for their fans' behavior towards one of the ball boys.^[5][6]

See also

• 2021 in South Korean football
• 2021 Korean FA Cup