2022 K League 1

The 2022 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 40th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea, and the tenth season of the K League 1.

Hana 1Q
K League 1

Season	2022
Dates	19 February – 29 October 2022
Champions	Ulsan Hyundai (3rd title)
Relegated	Gimcheon Sangmu Seongnam FC
Champions League	Ulsan Hyundai Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Pohang Steelers Incheon United
Matches played	228
Best Player	Lee Chung-yong
Top goalscorer	Cho Gue-sung Joo Min-kyu (17 goals each)
← 2021 2023 →

After progressing 33 regular rounds as ever, 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

• Gwangju FC

Promoted from K League 2

• Gimcheon Sangmu

Locations

Seoul

Daegu

Gangwon
(Chuncheon)

Gangwon
(Gangneung)

Incheon

Jeonbuk

Gimcheon

Pohang

Seongnam

Suwon, Suwon FC

Ulsan

Jeju

Locations of the 2022 K League 1 teams

The following twelve clubs will compete in the K League 1 during the 2022 season.^[1]

Team	City/Province	Abbreviation
Daegu FC	Daegu	Daegu
Gangwon FC	Gangwon	Gangwon
Gimcheon Sangmu	Gimcheon	Gimcheon
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 FC	Suwon	Suwon FC
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Suwon	Suwon
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	Ulsan Hyundai	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Seoul World Cup Stadium	Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium	Suwon World Cup Stadium
Capacity: 66,704	Capacity: 44,102	Capacity: 44,031
Gimcheon Sangmu	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Gimcheon Stadium	Jeonju World Cup Stadium
Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 42,477
Gangwon FC
Chuncheon Songam Leports Town	Gangneung Stadium
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 22,333

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Main sponsor	Kit manufacturer	Other sponsor(s)
Daegu FC	Choi Won-kwon (caretaker)	Daegu Government	Goal Studio	DGB Daegu Bank AJIN Industrial Co., Ltd.
Gangwon FC	Choi Yong-soo	Gangwon Provincial Government	Fila	Kangwon Land
Gimcheon Sangmu	Kim Tae-wan	Republic of Korea Armed Forces Gimcheon Government	Kelme
Incheon United	Jo Sung-hwan	Incheon Government	Macron	Shinhan Bank Incheon International Airport
Jeju United	Nam Ki-il	SK Energy	Fila
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Kim Sang-sik	Hyundai Motor Company	Adidas
Pohang Steelers	Kim Gi-dong	POSCO	Puma	Pohang Government
Seongnam FC	Chung Kyung-ho (caretaker)	Seongnam Government	Umbro
FC Seoul	An Ik-soo	GS Group	Pro-Specs
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Lee Byung-keun	Cheil Worldwide	Puma	Samsung Electronics
Suwon FC	Kim Do-kyun	Suwon Government	Hummel
Ulsan Hyundai	Hong Myung-bo	Hyundai Heavy Industries	Adidas	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. Gimcheon Sangmu FC, being a military-owned team, is not allowed to sign any foreign players. A team could use five foreign players on the field each game, including at least one player from the AFC confederation.

North Korean player An Byong-jun was deemed as a native player in K League by South Korean law and passport.

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	Zeca	Daniel Penha	Keita Suzuki		Edgar Lamas
Gangwon FC	Kevin Höög Jansson	Balša Sekulić	Galego			Dino Islamović Momchil Tsvetanov Yuki Kobayashi
Incheon United	Elías Aguilar	Hernandes		Harrison Delbridge		Stefan Mugoša
Jeju United	Gerso Fernandes	Jonathan Ring				Oskar Zawada
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Modou Barrow	Gustavo				Stanislav Iljutcenko Takahiro Kunimoto
Pohang Steelers	Wanderson			Alex Grant		Manuel Palacios Moses Ogbu
Seongnam FC	Fejsal Mulić	Manuel Palacios	Miloš Raičković
FC Seoul	Osmar	Aleksandar Paločević	Stanislav Iljutcenko	Keijiro Ogawa		Ricardo Silva Ben Halloran
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Dave Bulthuis	Elvis Sarić	An Byong-jun[b]	Manabu Saitō		Sebastian Grønning
Suwon FC	Lars Veldwijk	Murilo	Urho Nissilä	Lachlan Jackson
Ulsan Hyundai	Valeri Qazaishvili	Leonardo	Martin Ádám	Jun Amano		Márk Koszta

1. Did not exist in the regulation of AFC.
2. Deemed as a native player in K League.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Ulsan Hyundai (C)	38	22	10	6	57	33	+24	76	Qualification for Champions League group stage
2	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	38	21	10	7	56	36	+20	73
3	Pohang Steelers	38	16	12	10	52	41	+11	60
4	Incheon United	38	13	15	10	46	42	+4	54	Qualification for Champions League play-off round
5	Jeju United	38	14	10	14	52	50	+2	52
6	Gangwon FC	38	14	7	17	50	52	−2	49
7	Suwon FC	38	13	9	16	56	63	−7	48
8	Daegu FC	38	10	16	12	52	59	−7	46
9	FC Seoul	38	11	13	14	43	47	−4	46
10	Suwon Samsung Bluewings (O)	38	11	11	16	44	49	−5	44	Qualification for relegation play-offs
11	Gimcheon Sangmu (R)	38	8	14	16	45	48	−3	38
12	Seongnam FC (R)	38	7	9	22	37	70	−33	30	Relegation to K League 2

Source: Soccerway
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
Ulsan Hyundai	6	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	4	5	7	9	11	11	8	6	4	6	5	5	3	2	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Pohang Steelers	1	7	3	2	2	4	4	3	3	3	2	4	5	4	5	4	5	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Incheon United	4	5	2	5	3	2	2	2	2	2	4	3	4	5	4	5	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Jeju United	12	10	9	7	4	3	3	5	5	4	3	2	2	3	2	2	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Gangwon FC	2	3	6	4	7	5	7	7	8	9	10	11	10	10	10	11	11	10	9	10	8	7	8	7	7	7	8	7	6	7	6	7	6
Suwon FC	8	11	12	12	10	8	9	9	7	7	9	10	11	11	11	10	8	8	8	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	6	7	6	7
FC Seoul	2	1	4	6	8	10	11	10	8	8	7	6	6	7	7	6	7	7	7	8	9	9	7	8	8	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	8
Daegu FC	10	9	8	10	6	7	6	8	10	11	8	8	9	6	6	7	6	6	6	7	7	8	9	9	9	9	10	10	11	11	11	10	9
Gimcheon Sangmu	6	2	5	3	5	5	5	4	6	5	6	7	7	9	9	9	9	9	10	9	10	10	10	11	10	11	11	11	10	10	10	11	10
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	8	8	10	8	8	9	10	11	11	10	11	9	8	8	8	8	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	11	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	11
Seongnam FC	10	12	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12

Source: K League

Round 34–38

Team ╲ Round	34	35	36	37	38
Ulsan Hyundai	1	1	1	1	1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	2	2	2	2	2
Pohang Steelers	3	3	3	3	3
Incheon United	4	4	4	4	4
Jeju United	6	6	5	5	5
Gangwon FC	5	5	6	6	6
Suwon FC	7	7	7	7	7
Daegu FC	9	9	8	8	8
FC Seoul	8	8	9	9	9
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	10	10	10	10	10
Gimcheon Sangmu	11	11	11	11	11
Seongnam 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	GCS	ICU	JJU	JHM	PHS	SNM	SEL	SSB	SWN	USH
Daegu FC	—	3–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	0–2	3–0	0–0	1–1
Gangwon FC	2–0	—	3–2	0–1	4–2	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–3
Gimcheon Sangmu	1–1	1–0	—	0–1	4–0	1–2	3–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–2
Incheon United	2–2	4–1	1–0	—	2–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–1
Jeju United	0–0	0–0	3–1	2–1	—	2–0	0–3	3–2	2–2	0–0	0–0	1–2
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	—	0–1	3–2	1–1	2–1	1–0	0–1
Pohang Steelers	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	—	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–0
Seongnam FC	1–1	0–2	0–3	0–1	1–2	0–4	1–4	—	0–0	2–2	2–2	0–2
FC Seoul	2–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–0	0–1	—	2–0	3–1	1–2
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	—	1–0	1–0
Suwon FC	4–3	2–4	3–2	2–2	1–3	0–1	1–0	3–4	4–3	3–0	—	1–2
Ulsan Hyundai	3–1	2–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–3	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	—

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	GCS	ICU	JJU	JHM	PHS	SNM	SEL	SSB	SWN	USH
Daegu FC	—	—	0–0	2–3	—	0–5	—	1–0	3–0	1–2	—	—
Gangwon FC	1–0	—	0–1	—	2–1	2–1	—	—	—	—	2–3	—
Gimcheon Sangmu	—	—	—	1–0	1–2	2–2	0–1	—	1–2	—	—	1–2
Incheon United	—	0–1	—	—	—	3–1	—	—	2–0	—	1–1	0–0
Jeju United	2–2	—	—	0–1	—	—	5–0	1–2	—	1–2	—	1–1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	—	—	—	—	1–0	—	2–2	1–0	0–0	—	—	1–1
Pohang Steelers	4–1	2–1	—	1–1	—	—	—	—	1–2	—	—	—
Seongnam FC	—	0–4	1–4	3–1	—	—	1–1	—	—	—	2–1	2–0
FC Seoul	—	1–0	—	—	0–2	—	—	2–0	—	1–3	2–2	—
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	—	2–3	0–0	3–3	—	2–3	0–2	4–1	—	—	—	—
Suwon FC	2–2	—	2–1	—	2–2	0–1	1–0	—	—	4–2	—	—
Ulsan Hyundai	4–0	2–1	—	—	—	—	1–2	—	1–1	1–0	2–0	—

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

Matches 34–38

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

Final A Home \ Away GWN ICU JJU JHM PHS USH Gangwon FC — 0–0 — — — 1–2 Incheon United — — 3–1 — 1–1 0–3 Jeju United 1–2 — — 1–2 — — Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 1–0 2–1 — — 3–1 — Pohang Steelers 1–0 — 1–2 — — 1–1 Ulsan Hyundai — — 1–2 2–1 — — Source: K League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final B Home \ Away DGU GCS SNM SEL SSB SWN Daegu FC — 1–1 — — — 2–1 Gimcheon Sangmu — — 1–1 — 1–3 — Seongnam FC 4–4 — — — 0–2 — FC Seoul 2–3 1–1 0–1 — — — Suwon Samsung Bluewings 1–2 — — 0–0 — 3–0 Suwon FC — 2–2 2–1 0–2 — — Source: K League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

The tenth-placed team and the eleventh-placed team played against the play-offs winners and the runners-up of the K League 2, respectively, in the relegation play-offs.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
FC Anyang	1–2	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	0–0	1–2 (a.e.t.)
Daejeon Hana Citizen	6–1	Gimcheon Sangmu	2–1	4–0

26 October 2022 (2022-10-26)

19:30 UTC+9

FC Anyang	0–0	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
	Report

Anyang Stadium, Anyang

Attendance: 4,863

Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok

29 October 2022 (2022-10-29)

14:00 UTC+9

Suwon Samsung Bluewings	2–1 (a.e.t.)	FC Anyang
An Byong-jun 17' Oh Hyeon-gyu 120'	Report	Acosty 55'

Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon

Attendance: 12,842

Referee: Lee Dong-jun

Suwon Samsung Bluewings won 2–1 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

---

26 October 2022 (2022-10-26)

19:30 UTC+9

Daejeon Hana Citizen	2–1	Gimcheon Sangmu
Cho Yu-min 36' Ju Se-jong 74'	Report	Mun Ji-hwan 22'

Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon

Attendance: 8,545

Referee: Lee Dong-jun

29 October 2022 (2022-10-29)

16:00 UTC+9

Gimcheon Sangmu	0–4	Daejeon Hana Citizen
	Report	Lee Jin-hyun 31', 53' Kim In-gyun 74' Kim Seung-sub 84'

Gimcheon Stadium, Gimcheon

Attendance: 2,918

Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok

Daejeon Hana Citizen won 6–1 on aggregate and was promoted to K League 1, while Gimcheon Sangmu was relegated to K League 2.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Cho Gue-sung, who appeared in less matches than Joo Min-kyu, won the top goalscorer award.^[2]

Rank	Player[3]	Club	Goals
1	Cho Gue-sung	Gimcheon Sangmu Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	17
	Joo Min-kyu	Jeju United
3	Stefan Mugoša	Incheon United	14
	Lee Seung-woo	Suwon FC
5	Modou Barrow	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	13
	Go Jae-hyeon	Daegu FC
	Oh Hyeon-gyu	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
8	Césinha	Daegu FC	12
	Um Won-sang	Ulsan Hyundai
	Kim Dae-won	Gangwon FC

Top assist providers

Rank	Player[3]	Club	Assists
1	Lee Ki-je	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	14
2	Kim Dae-won	Gangwon FC	13
3	Sin Jin-ho	Pohang Steelers	10
4	Zeca	Daegu FC	7
	Lars Veldwijk	Suwon FC
	Joo Min-kyu	Jeju United
	Gerso Fernandes	Jeju United
	Lee Yeong-jae	Gimcheon Sangmu
	Cho Young-wook	FC Seoul
10	Modou Barrow	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6
	Césinha	Daegu FC
	Um Won-sang	Ulsan Hyundai

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Joo Min-kyu	Jeju United	Gimcheon Sangmu	3–1	8 May 2022
Stefan Mugoša	Incheon United	Gangwon FC	4–1	22 June 2022

Awards

Weekly awards

Round Player of the Round Player Club 1 Lim Sang-hyub Pohang Steelers 2 Jun Amano Ulsan Hyundai 3 Jeong Jae-hee Pohang Steelers 4 Cho Gue-sung Gimcheon Sangmu 5 Edgar Daegu FC 6 Lee Seung-woo Suwon FC 7 Park Soo-il Seongnam FC 8 Sin Jin-ho Pohang Steelers 9 Lee Seung-woo Suwon FC 10 Elvis Sarić Suwon Samsung Bluewings 11 Um Won-sang Ulsan Hyundai 12 Lee Chang-min Jeju United 13 Jeon Jin-woo Suwon Samsung Bluewings 14 Jeong Jae-hee Pohang Steelers 15 Joo Min-kyu Jeju United 16 Takahiro Kunimoto Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 17 Stefan Mugoša Incheon United 18 Kim Dae-won Gangwon FC 19 Kim Seung-dae Pohang Steelers

Round Player of the Round Player Club 20 Heo Yong-joon Pohang Steelers 21 Jung Jae-yong Suwon FC 22 Yang Hyun-jun Gangwon FC 23 Manuel Palacios Seongnam FC 24 Martin Ádám Ulsan Hyundai 25 Park Soo-il Seongnam FC 26 Fejsal Mulić Seongnam FC 27 Kim Hyun Suwon FC 28 Jeon Jin-woo Suwon Samsung Bluewings 29 Sin Jin-ho Pohang Steelers 30 Zeca Daegu FC 31 Modou Barrow Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 32 Lee Seung-woo Suwon FC 33 Kim Young-bin Gangwon FC 34 Césinha Daegu FC 35 Martin Ádám Ulsan Hyundai 36 Césinha Daegu FC 37 Martin Ádám Ulsan Hyundai 38 Cho Gue-sung Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Monthly Awards

Month	Player of the Month		Young Player of the Month		Manager of the Month
	Player	Club	Player	Club	Manager	Club	Div.
February/March	Stefan Mugoša	Incheon	Jeon Seong-soo	Seongnam	Hong Myung-bo	Ulsan	1
April	Stefan Mugoša	Incheon	Yang Hyun-jun	Gangwon	Lee Jung-hyo	Gwangju	2
May	Cesinha	Daegu	Hwang Jae-won	Daegu	Nam Ki-il	Jeju	1
June	Lee Seung-woo	Suwon FC	Yang Hyun-jun	Gangwon	Kim Do-kyun	Suwon FC	1
July	Gustavo	Jeonbuk	Yang Hyun-jun	Gangwon	Kim Sang-sik	Jeonbuk	1
August	Hernandes	Incheon	Kim Jin-ho	Gangwon	Jo Sung-hwan	Incheon	1
September	Modou Barrow	Jeonbuk	Yang Hyun-jun	Gangwon	Lee Jung-hyo	Gwangju	2
October	Cesinha	Daegu	Hong Si-hoo	Incheon	Choi Won-kwon	Daegu	1

Month	Goal of the Month[a]		Performance of the Month
	Player	Club	Player	Club
February	Jun Amano	Ulsan	—
March	Cho Gue-sung	Gimcheon	—
April	Kim Gyeong-min	Gimcheon	—
May	Joo Min-kyu	Jeju	Lee Seung-woo	Suwon FC
June	Lee Seung-woo	Suwon FC	Choi Young-jun	Jeju
July	Yang Hyun-jun	Gangwon	Yang Hyun-jun	Gangwon
August	Kim Hyun	Suwon FC	Jeon Jin-woo	Suwon
September	Oh Hyeon-gyu	Suwon	Sin Jin-ho	Pohang
October	Um Won-sang	Ulsan	—

1. Officially known as the "G Moment Award".

Annual awards

The 2022 K League Awards was held on 24 October 2022.^[4]

Award	Winner	Club
Most Valuable Player	Lee Chung-yong	Ulsan Hyundai
Young Player of the Year	Yang Hyun-jun	Gangwon FC
Top goalscorer	Cho Gue-sung	Gimcheon Sangmu Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Top assist provider	Lee Ki-je	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Manager of the Year	Hong Myung-bo	Ulsan Hyundai

Position	Best XI
Goalkeeper	Jo Hyeon-woo (Ulsan)
Defenders	Kim Tae-hwan (Ulsan)	Park Jin-seob (Jeonbuk)	Kim Young-gwon (Ulsan)	Kim Jin-su (Jeonbuk)
Midfielders	Lee Chung-yong (Ulsan)	Cesinha (Daegu)	Sin Jin-ho (Pohang)	Kim Dae-won (Gangwon)
Forwards	Joo Min-kyu (Jeju)		Cho Gue-sung (Gimcheon, Jeonbuk)

See also

• 2022 in South Korean football
• 2022 Korean FA Cup