2022 K League 1
The 2022 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the 40th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea since its establishment in 1983 as the K League, and the fifth season under its current name, the K League 1. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are the defending champions.
Season | 2022 |
---|---|
Dates | 19 February – 29 October |
Champions | Ulsan Hyundai (3rd title) |
Relegated | Gimcheon Sangmu Seongnam FC |
Champions League | Ulsan Hyundai Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Pohang Steelers Incheon United |
Matches played | 228 |
Top goalscorer | Cho Gue-sung (17 goals) |
← 2021 2023 → |

The 2022 season will be divided into two parts. First, there will be 33 Regular Rounds in which 12 teams play a round robin with 3 rounds (Rounds 1–33). Then there will be a Final A and Final B, each with 6 teams divided based on regular round performance, with each final being a round robin (Rounds 34–38).
Promotion and relegation
Teams relegated to the 2022 K League 2
Teams promoted from the 2021 K League 2
Participating teams by province
The following twelve clubs will compete in the K League 1 during the 2022 season.[1]
Stadiums
Daegu FC | Gangwon FC | Gimcheon Sangmu FC | Incheon United | Jeju United | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DGB Daegu Bank Park | Chuncheon Songam Sports Town | Gangneung Stadium | Gimcheon Stadium | Incheon Football Stadium | Jeju World Cup Stadium | Jeonju World Cup Stadium |
Capacity: 12,415 | Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 22,333 | Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 20,891 | Capacity: 29,791 | Capacity: 42,477 |
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Pohang Steelers | Seongnam FC | FC Seoul | Suwon Samsung Bluewings |
Suwon FC | Ulsan Hyundai | |
Pohang Steel Yard | Tancheon Stadium | Seoul World Cup Stadium | Suwon World Cup Stadium | Suwon Stadium | Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium | |
Capacity: 17,443 | Capacity: 16,146 | Capacity: 66,704 | Capacity: 44,031 | Capacity: 11,808 | Capacity: 44,102 | |
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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. An Byong-jun, playing for Suwon Samsung Bluewings, was deemed to be a native player.
The name in bold indicates that the player was registered during the mid-season transfer window.
League table
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ulsan Hyundai (C) | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 57 | 33 | +24 | 76 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage[lower-alpha 2] |
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 the 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 2 |
11 | Gimcheon Sangmu (R) | 38 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 45 | 48 | −3 | 38 | Qualification for Relegation play-offs 1 |
12 | Seongnam FC (R) | 38 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 37 | 70 | −33 | 30 | Relegation to K League 2 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference; 4) Number of wins; 5) Head-to-head points.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- Teams were split into two groups (Final A and Final B) after each have played 33 matches.
- Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors qualified to the AFC Champions League as 2022 Korean FA Cup champions.
Positions by matchday
Leaders
Qualification for the Champions League group stage
Qualification for the Champions League playoff round
Relegation playoffs
Relegation to the 2023 K League 2
Round 1–33
Round 34–38
Fixtures and results
Matches 1–22
Teams play each other twice, once at home, once away.
Matches 23–33
Teams will play each other once.
Final Round Matches 34–38
Teams will play each other once.
Final A |
Final B
|
Relegation play-offs
The Promotion-relegation playoffs will be contested between the 2nd placed team in the K League 2 playoff and the 11th placed team in the K League 1, and between the winners of K League 2 playoff and the 10th placed team in the K League 1. The winners will secure a place in the 2023 K League 1.
Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|
FC Anyang (PO2 Winners) | 1–2 | Suwon Samsung Bluewings (K1 10th) | 0–0 | 1–2 |
Daejeon Hana Citizen (K2 2nd) | 6–1 | Gimcheon Sangmu (K1 11th) | 2–1 | 4–0 |
First leg
Daejeon Hana Citizen (K2 2nd) | 2–1 | Gimcheon Sangmu (K1 11th) |
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|
Report | Mun Ji-hwan ![]() |
FC Anyang (PO2 Winners) | 0–0 | Suwon Samsung Bluewings (K1 10th) |
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Report |
Second leg
Suwon Samsung Bluewings (K1 10th) | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | FC Anyang (PO2 Winners) |
---|---|---|
An Byong-jun ![]() Oh Hyeon-gyu ![]() |
Report | Acosty ![]() |
Suwon Samsung Bluewings won 2–1 on aggregate and retained their K League 1 spot. Anyang remained in K League 2.
Gimcheon Sangmu (K1 11th) | 0–4 | Daejeon Hana Citizen (K2 2nd) |
---|---|---|
Report | Lee Jin-hyun ![]() Kim In-gyun ![]() Kim Seung-sub ![]() |
Daejeon Hana Citizen won 6–1 on aggregate and was promoted to K League 1. Gimcheon Sangmu was relegated to K League 2.
Season statistics
Goals
- As of 23 October 2022[2]
Assists
- As of 23 October 2022[2]
Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
Suwon Samsung Bluewings | 14 |
2 | ![]() |
Gangwon FC | 13 |
3 | ![]() |
Pohang Steelers | 10 |
4 | ![]() |
Daegu FC | 7 |
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Suwon FC | ||
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Jeju United | ||
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Jeju United | ||
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Gimcheon Sangmu | ||
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FC Seoul | ||
10 | ![]() |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 6 |
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Daegu FC | ||
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Ulsan Hyundai | ||
Hat-tricks
Player | For | Against | Score | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
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Jeju United | Gimcheon Sangmu | 3-1 | 8 May 2022 |
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Incheon United | Gangwon | 4-1 | 22 June 2022 |
Awards
Most Valuable Player of the Round
Monthly Awards
Month | Player of the Month | Young Player of the Month | Manager of the Month | Goal of the Month | Performance of the Month | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Club | Player | Club | Manager | Club | Division | Player | Club | Player | Club | |
February | ![]() |
Incheon United | ![]() |
Seongnam FC | ![]() |
Ulsan Hyundai | K League 1 | ![]() |
Ulsan Hyundai | Not awarded | |
March | ![]() |
Gimcheon Sangmu | Not awarded | ||||||||
April | ![]() |
Incheon United | ![]() |
Gangwon FC | ![]() |
Gwangju FC | K League 2 | ![]() |
Gimcheon Sangmu | Not awarded | |
May | ![]() |
Daegu FC | ![]() |
Daegu FC | ![]() |
Jeju United | K League 1 | ![]() |
Jeju United | ![]() |
Suwon FC |
June | ![]() |
Suwon FC | ![]() |
Gangwon FC | ![]() |
Suwon FC | K League 1 | ![]() |
Suwon FC | ![]() |
Jeju United |
July | ![]() |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | ![]() |
Gangwon FC | ![]() |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | K League 1 | ![]() |
Gangwon FC | ![]() |
Gangwon FC |
August | ![]() |
Incheon United | ![]() |
Gangwon FC | ![]() |
Incheon United | K League 1 | ![]() |
Suwon FC | ![]() |
Suwon Samsung Bluewings |
September | ![]() |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | ![]() |
Gangwon FC | ![]() |
Gwangju FC | K League 2 | ![]() |
Suwon Samsung Bluewings | ![]() |
Pohang Steelers |
October | ![]() |
Daegu FC | ![]() |
Incheon United | ![]() |
Daegu FC | K League 1 | ![]() |
Ulsan Hyundai | Not awarded | |
Season Awards
The 2022 K League Awards was held on 24 October 2022.
K League Most Valuable Player
- The K League Most Valuable Player award was won by
Lee Chung-yong (Ulsan Hyundai).
K League Young Player
- The K League Young Player award was won by
Yang Hyun-jun (Gangwon FC).
K League Top Scorer
- The K League Top Scorer award was won by
Cho Gue-sung (Gimcheon Sangmu, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors).
K League Top Assistor
- The K League Top Assistor award was won by
Lee Ki-je (Suwon Samsung Bluewings).
K League Best XI
2021 K League 1 Best XI |
Position | Player | Club |
---|---|---|
Goalkeeper | ![]() |
Ulsan Hyundai |
Defender | ![]() |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
Defender | ![]() |
Ulsan Hyundai |
Defender | ![]() |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
Defender | ![]() |
Ulsan Hyundai |
Midfielder | ![]() |
Gangwon FC |
Midfielder | ![]() |
Pohang Steelers |
Midfielder | ![]() |
Daegu FC |
Midfielder | ![]() |
Ulsan Hyundai |
Forward | ![]() |
Gimcheon Sangmu Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
Forward | ![]() |
Jeju United |
K League Manager of the Year
- The K League Manager of the Year award was won by Hong Myung-bo of Ulsan Hyundai.
Notes
- CC : Chuncheon
- CC : Chuncheon
- GN : Gangneung
- GN : Gangneung