2023 K League 2

The 2023 K League 2, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 2 for sponsorship reasons, was the 11th season of the K League 2, the second-highest division in South Korean football league system.

Hana 1Q
K League 2

Season	2023
Dates	1 March – 26 November 2023[1]
Champions	Gimcheon Sangmu (2nd title)
Promoted	Gimcheon Sangmu
Matches played	179
Goals scored	452 (2.53 per match)
Best Player	Valdívia
Top goalscorer	Luis Mina (14 goals)
Biggest away win	Jeonnam 0–5 Gyeongnam (5 March 2023)
Highest scoring	Ansan 3–7 Gimcheon (22 October 2023)
Longest unbeaten run	12 matches Gimpo FC
Longest winless run	20 matches Cheonan City
Longest losing run	7 matches Cheonan City
← 2022 2024 →

Following the regular season, in which each team played each other three times, Gimcheon Sangmu were the champions, gaining direct promotion to K League 1.^[2] After three rounds of play-offs, no other teams were promoted at the end of this season.^[3]

Teams

Team changes

2022 champions Gwangju FC and play-off winners Daejeon Hana Citizen were promoted to the K League 1, while Seongnam FC and Gimcheon Sangmu were relegated from the top flight.^[4]

Cheonan City and Chungbuk Cheongju, which played in the K3 League until 2022, joined the K League and made their professional debuts in the K League 2.

Incoming Relegated from K League 1 Gimcheon Sangmu Seongnam FC Promoted from K3 League Cheonan City Chungbuk Cheongju

Outgoing Promoted to K League 1 Gwangju FC Daejeon Hana Citizen

Locations

Gimpo

Bucheon

Seoul E

Seongnam

Anyang

Ansan

Cheonan

Chungbuk Cheongju

Chungnam Asan

Gimcheon

Gyeongnam

Busan

Jeonnam

Locations of the 2023 K League 2 teams

Team	City/Province	Abbreviation
Ansan Greeners	Ansan	Ansan
FC Anyang	Anyang	Anyang
Bucheon FC 1995	Bucheon	Bucheon
Busan IPark	Busan	Busan
Cheonan City	Cheonan	Cheonan
Chungbuk Cheongju	Cheongju	Chungbuk Cheongju
Chungnam Asan	Asan	Chungnam Asan
Gimcheon Sangmu	Gimcheon	Gimcheon
Gimpo FC	Gimpo	Gimpo
Gyeongnam FC	Gyeongnam	Gyeongnam
Jeonnam Dragons	Jeonnam	Jeonnam
Seongnam FC	Seongnam	Seongnam
Seoul E-Land	Seoul	Seoul E

Stadiums

Ansan Greeners	FC Anyang	Bucheon FC 1995
Ansan Wa~ Stadium	Anyang Stadium	Bucheon Stadium
Capacity: 35,000	Capacity: 17,143	Capacity: 34,456
Busan IPark		Chungnam Asan
Busan Asiad Main Stadium	Busan Gudeok Stadium	Yi Sun-sin Stadium
Capacity: 53,769	Capacity: 12,349	Capacity: 17,376
Cheonan City	Chungbuk Cheongju	Gimpo FC
Cheonan Stadium	Cheongju Stadium	Gimpo Solteo Football Stadium
Capacity: 26,000	Capacity: 16,280	Capacity: 5,000
Gyeongnam FC	Gimcheon Sangmu	Seongnam FC
Changwon Football Center	Gimcheon Stadium	Tancheon Stadium
Capacity: 15,074	Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 16,146
Jeonnam Dragons	Seoul E-Land
Gwangyang Stadium	Mokdong Stadium
Capacity: 13,496	Capacity: 15,511

Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to five per team, including a slot for a player from the AFC and ASEAN countries. 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 and ASEAN.

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)
Ansan Greeners	Thiago Henrique	Wandrew				Gabriel Honório
FC Anyang	Yago	Bruno Paraíba	Laércio			Jonathan Moya Andrigo
Bucheon FC 1995	Nilson	Gabriel Ramos	Jucie Lupeta	Kazuki Takahashi		Leonardo Kalil
Busan IPark	Bruno Lamas	Fessin	Franklin Mascote
Cheonan City	Bruno Mota	Damir Šovšić	Paulo Henrique	Vũ Minh Hiếu	Nguyễn Cảnh Anh	Rodolfo Axel Bakayoko
Chungbuk Cheongju	Paulinho	Jorge Luiz		Peter Makrillos		Kogileswaran Raj
Chungnam Asan	Róbson Duarte	Raphael Utzig	Wilinton Aponzá
Gimpo FC	Pablo González	Juninho Rocha	Luis Mina
Gyeongnam FC	Guilherme Castro	Gleyson	Léo Ceará			Mirandinha
Jeonnam Dragons	Leonard Pllana	Valdívia	Leo Mikić	Yuhei Sato	Asnawi Mangkualam	Robin Simović
Seongnam FC	Christy Manzinga	Denilson	Gabriel Honório	Patrick Flottmann
Seoul E-Land	Ronan	Bruninho		Tsubasa Nishi		Nguyễn Văn Toàn Renan Peixoto

1. Did not exist in the regulation of AFC.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Gimcheon Sangmu (C, P)	36	22	5	9	71	37	+34	71	Promotion to K League 1
2	Busan IPark	36	20	10	6	50	29	+21	70	Qualification for promotion play-offs final round
3	Gimpo FC	36	16	12	8	40	25	+15	60	Qualification for promotion play-offs second round
4	Gyeongnam FC	36	15	12	9	54	42	+12	57	Qualification for promotion play-offs first round
5	Bucheon FC 1995	36	16	9	11	45	35	+10	57
6	FC Anyang	36	15	9	12	58	51	+7	54
7	Jeonnam Dragons	36	16	5	15	55	56	−1	53
8	Chungbuk Cheongju	36	13	13	10	37	42	−5	52
9	Seongnam FC	36	11	11	14	43	50	−7	44
10	Chungnam Asan	36	12	6	18	39	46	−7	42
11	Seoul E-Land	36	10	5	21	36	54	−18	35
12	Ansan Greeners	36	6	7	23	40	72	−32	25
13	Cheonan City	36	5	10	21	33	62	−29	25

Source: K League Soccerway
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, promotion to K League 1
  Qualification for promotion play-offs final round
  Qualification for promotion play-offs second round
  Qualification for promotion play-offs first round

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	34	35	36	37	38	39
Gimcheon Sangmu	3	2	3	6	7	6	2	2	1	3	2	2	2	3	6	6	5	5	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Busan IPark	1	5	6	4	3	3	5	5	4	5	5	5	6	4	2	1	2	2	1	3	4	6	3	4	3	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
Gimpo FC	11	4	5	5	5	5	4	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	3	5	6	6	6	6	6	4	5	5	4	3	4	6	5	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3
Gyeongnam FC	5	1	1	2	1	2	3	1	3	2	4	4	4	6	5	3	1	3	2	1	1	2	2	3	2	4	3	4	3	5	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	4	4
Bucheon FC 1995	12	9	2	1	4	4	7	9	6	7	6	6	3	5	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	5
FC Anyang	5	3	4	3	2	1	1	4	5	4	3	3	5	2	1	2	3	1	4	4	3	3	4	2	5	5	5	3	6	6	7	7	8	7	8	8	7	7	6
Jeonnam Dragons	12	13	10	11	8	8	8	8	9	8	8	8	8	10	9	9	9	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	8	8	6	7	8	6	7	6	6	7
Chungbuk Cheongju	1	6	7	7	9	9	10	11	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	11	10	11	11	9	10	9	8	9	8	7	8	8	7	7	6	8	6	5	7	6	8	8	8
Seongnam FC	3	7	9	8	6	7	6	6	8	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	10	10	11	9	8	9	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	9	9
Chungnam Asan	9	12	12	10	11	10	9	7	7	9	9	9	10	9	10	10	11	9	9	10	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	10	11	11	10	10	10	9	10	10
Seoul E-Land	7	10	11	12	12	11	11	10	11	11	10	10	9	8	8	8	7	7	7	8	8	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	11	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	11
Ansan Greeners	9	7	8	9	10	12	12	12	10	10	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	13	13	13	12
Cheonan City	7	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	13

Source: K League
Notes: The match between Chungnam Asan and Chungbuk Cheongju on matchday 26 (13 August) was postponed to 14 October.

Results

Matches 1–26

Home \ Away	ASG	AYG	BCN	BSI	CNC	CBCJ	CNAS	GCS	GIM	GNM	JND	SNM	SUE
Ansan Greeners	—	1–1	0–2	1–2	2–1	0–2	1–0	2–3	2–3	1–1	1–0	0–3	1–2
FC Anyang	1–1	—	2–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	1–2	2–4	2–0	2–1	1–1
Bucheon FC 1995	1–0	2–4	—	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–3	2–0	2–0	5–2	1–0	0–1
Busan IPark	0–0	2–1	0–1	—	1–0	1–1	2–0	3–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–3	1–0
Cheonan City	1–1	0–4	0–3	2–3	—	2–2	0–1	0–2	0–2	2–3	1–3	3–2	0–0
Chungbuk Cheongju	3–0	2–1	0–4	1–1	2–1	—	0–4	0–2	0–0	0–2	3–1	0–0	2–1
Chungnam Asan	1–0	2–3	1–0	1–1	1–0	3–2	—	1–2	0–1	2–2	3–3	2–0	2–0
Gimcheon Sangmu	3–2	0–0	4–1	2–1	4–1	0–0	3–2	—	0–2	0–2	2–1	4–0	4–0
Gimpo FC	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	4–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	—	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0
Gyeongnam FC	3–1	3–2	1–0	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–1	0–2	0–0	—	0–2	2–2	1–2
Jeonnam Dragons	5–2	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	0–2	0–5	—	2–2	3–3
Seongnam FC	2–1	1–2	0–1	1–3	2–0	3–2	0–0	2–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	—	1–2
Seoul E-Land	4–1	1–2	2–0	1–2	3–2	2–3	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	1–2	—

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

Matches 27–39

Home \ Away	ASG	AYG	BCN	BSI	CNC	CBCJ	CNAS	GCS	GIM	GNM	JND	SNM	SUE
Ansan Greeners	—	2–3	1–2	—	—	0–1	0–1	3–7	1–1	—	—	—	—
FC Anyang	—	—	—	0–1	2–1	—	—	—	—	1–1	3–1	1–1	3–0
Bucheon FC 1995	—	1–1	—	—	—	—	1–0	—	0–0	1–0	4–1	—	1–0
Busan IPark	2–0	—	2–1	—	0–0	1–1	—	2–0	—	—	—	3–0	—
Cheonan City	1–1	—	1–0	—	—	0–0	—	1–3	0–0	—	—	3–1	—
Chungbuk Cheongju	—	2–1	0–0	—	—	—	1–0	—	1–0	1–1	—	—	0–1
Chungnam Asan	—	4–3	—	1–2	2–0	—	—	—	—	0–1	0–1	—	1–0
Gimcheon Sangmu	—	4–1	3–1	—	—	0–0	4–0	—	2–0	—	—	—	1–0
Gimpo FC	—	3–0	—	2–3	—	—	1–0	—	—	0–1	2–1	—	2–1
Gyeongnam FC	4–2	—	—	0–1	1–1	—	—	1–1	—	—	2–3	0–2	—
Jeonnam Dragons	3–2	—	—	3–0	1–3	3–0	—	2–1	—	—	—	0–0	—
Seongnam FC	0–2	—	2–2	—	—	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–4	—	—	—	—
Seoul E-Land	3–4	—	—	2–1	0–3	—	—	—	—	1–3	1–0	0–2	—

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

Promotion play-offs

The first round was contested between the fourth and fifth-placed teams, and its winners played the third-placed team in the second round. When the first and second round matches were finished as draws, their winners were decided on the regular season rankings without extra time and penalty shoot-outs.

The winners of the second round and the runners-up competed with the tenth and eleventh-placed teams of the K League 1, respectively, in the final round for the K League 1 spots of the next season. Each match of the final round was a two-legged tie.

Bracket

	First round					Second round					Final 1
						3	Gimpo FC	2
						4	Gyeongnam FC	1
	4	Gyeongnam FC	0
	5	Bucheon FC 1995	0
											Gimpo FC		0	1	1
											Gangwon FC		0	2	2
											Final 2
											Busan IPark		2	2	4
											Suwon FC (a.e.t.)		1	5	6

First round

Gyeongnam FC	0–0	Bucheon FC 1995

29 November 2023

19:00 KST

Changwon Football Center, Changwon

Second round

Gimpo FC	2–1	Gyeongnam FC
Luis Mina 30' Kim Jong-suk 45+1'		Won Ki-jong 36'

2 December 2023

16:30 KST

Solteo Football Field, Gimpo

Final round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Gimpo FC	1–2	Gangwon FC	0–0	1–2
Busan IPark	4–6	Suwon FC	2–1	2–5 (a.e.t.)

Gimpo FC	0–0	Gangwon FC
	Report

6 December 2023 (2023-12-06)

19:00 UTC+9

Gimpo Solteo Football Field, Gimpo

Attendance: 3,736

Referee: Jeong Dong-sik

Gangwon FC	2–1	Gimpo FC
Vitor Gabriel 51', 76'	Report	Cho Sung-gwon 59'

9 December 2023 (2023-12-09)

14:00 UTC+9

Gangneung Stadium, Gangneung

Attendance: 10,130

Referee: Lee Dong-jun

Gangwon FC won 2–1 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

---

Busan IPark	2–1	Suwon FC
Bruno Lamas 85' (pen.), 90+9' (pen.)	Report	Jang Jae-woong 43'

6 December 2023 (2023-12-06)

19:00 UTC+9

Busan Asiad Main Stadium, Busan

Attendance: 4,047

Referee: Ko Hyung-jin

Suwon FC	5–2 (a.e.t.)	Busan IPark
Kim Hyun 79' Lee Yeong-jae 86' Lee Gwang-hyeok 96' Jung Jae-yong 101' Ricardo Lopes 118'	Report	Choi Jun 16' Kim Jeong-hwan 115'

9 December 2023 (2023-12-09)

14:00 UTC+9

Suwon Sports Complex, Suwon

Attendance: 6,987

Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok

Suwon FC won 6–4 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player[5]	Team	Goals
1	Luis Mina	Gimpo FC	16
2	Valdívia	Jeonnam Dragons	14
3	Cho Young-wook	Gimcheon Sangmu	13
	Gleyson	Gyeongnam FC
	Jorge Luiz	Chungbuk Cheongju
6	An Jae-jun	Bucheon FC 1995	11
7	Won Ki-jong	Gyeongnam FC	10
	Bruno Lamas	Busan IPark
	Bruno Mota	Cheonan City
10	Yun Ju-tae	Ansan Greeners	9

Top assist providers

Rank	Player[5]	Team	Assists
1	Valdívia	Jeonnam Dragons	14
2	Joo Hyeon-woo	FC Anyang	9
3	Andrigo	FC Anyang	8
	Bruno Lamas	Busan IPark
5	Yago	FC Anyang	7
	Leonard Pllana	Jeonnam Dragons
7	Mo Jae-hyeon	Gyeongnam FC	6
8	10 Players		5

Awards

Weekly awards

Round Player of the Round Player Club 1 Jorge Luiz Chungbuk Cheongju 2 Guilherme Castro Gyeongnam FC 3 Valdívia Jeonnam Dragons 4 Luis Mina Gimpo FC 5 Christy Manzinga Seongnam FC 6 Park Jae-yong FC Anyang 7 Luis Mina Gimpo FC 8 Park Se-jik Chungnam Asan 9 An Jae-jun Bucheon FC 1995 10 Pablo González Gimpo FC 11 Kim Min-jun Gimcheon Sangmu 12 Lee Jung-bin Bucheon FC 1995 13 Chang Hyuk-jin Chungbuk Cheongju 14 Kim Chan Busan IPark 15 An Jae-jun Bucheon FC 1995 16 Jorge Luiz Chungbuk Cheongju 17 Jorge Luiz Chungbuk Cheongju 18 Kim Jeong-hyun FC Anyang 19 Gleyson Gyeongnam FC 20 Gleyson Gyeongnam FC

Round Player of the Round Player Club 21 Jin Seong-uk Seongnam FC 22 Valdívia Jeonnam Dragons 23 Paulo Henrique Cheonan City 24 Gabriel Honório Seongnam FC 25 Cho Young-wook Gimcheon Sangmu 26 Lee Joon-suk Gimcheon Sangmu 27 Ha Nam Jeonnam Dragons 28 Gabriel Honório Seongnam FC 29 Luis Mina Gimpo FC 30 Juninho Rocha Gimpo FC 31 Yoo Ji-ha Jeonnam Dragons 32 Moon Jung-in Seoul E-Land 33 Jung Chi-in Gimcheon Sangmu 34 Kang Hyun-muk Gimcheon Sangmu 35 Leonard Pllana Jeonnam Dragons 36 Choe Byeong-chan Gimcheon Sangmu 37 Valdívia Jeonnam Dragons 38 Park Tae-yong Jeonnam Dragons 39 An Jae-jun Bucheon FC 1995

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month
	Manager	Club	Division
February/March	Hong Myung-bo	Ulsan Hyundai	1
April	Ko Jeong-woon	Gimpo FC	2
May	Nam Ki-il	Jeju United	1
June	Lee Jung-hyo	Gwangju FC	1
July	Jo Sung-hwan	Incheon United	1
August	Choi Yun-kyum	Chungbuk Cheongju	2
September	Park Jin-sub	Busan IPark	2
October–December	Chung Jung-yong	Gimcheon Sangmu	2

Annual awards

The 2023 K League Awards was held on 4 December 2023.^[6]

Award	Winner	Club
Most Valuable Player	Valdívia	Jeonnam Dragons
Young Player of the Year	An Jae-jun	Bucheon FC 1995
Top goalscorer	Luis Mina	Gimpo FC
Top assist provider	Valdívia	Jeonnam Dragons
Manager of the Year	Ko Jeong-woon	Gimpo FC

Position	Best XI
Goalkeeper	Koo Sang-min (Busan)
Defenders	Choi Jun (Busan)	Lee Sang-min (Gimcheon)	Lee Han-do (Busan)	Kim Dong-jin (Anyang)
Midfielders	Mo Jae-hyeon (Gyeongnam)	Won Du-jae (Gimcheon)	Valdívia (Jeonnam)	Kim Jin-gyu (Gimcheon)
Forwards	Jorge Luiz (Chungbuk Cheongju)		Luis Mina (Gimpo)

Attendance

Attendants who entered with free ticket were not counted.

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Seoul E-Land	65,109	7,266	1,350	3,617	+213.2%†
2	Busan IPark	64,587	13,340	1,306	3,588	+144.4%†
3	Gyeongnam FC	59,612	7,547	820	3,312	+261.6%†
4	FC Anyang	54,484	6,003	1,539	3,027	+93.7%†
5	Bucheon FC 1995	53,737	6,103	1,380	2,985	+137.7%†
6	Chungbuk Cheongju	45,177	7,035	762	2,510	n/a†
7	Chungnam Asan	39,852	7,546	515	2,214	+47.4%†
8	Gimpo FC	38,911	3,121	1,164	2,162	+74.6%†
9	Seongnam FC	37,744	7,789	647	2,097	+11.0%†
10	Jeonnam Dragons	37,321	4,890	1,032	2,073	+91.9%†
11	Gimcheon Sangmu	21,305	2,825	359	1,184	−22.2%†
12	Ansan Greeners	21,164	4,173	385	1,176	+1.7%†
13	Cheonan City	20,818	3,299	566	1,157	n/a†
	League total	559,794	13,340	359	2,392	+76.4%†

Source: K League
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in K League 1.

See also

• 2023 in South Korean football
• 2023 Korean FA Cup