This photo, provided by the Korea Professional Football League (K League) on July 1, 2025, shows the K League’s emblem. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Three cities are vying to host a new club in South Korean professional football, the league office announced Tuesday.
The Korea Professional Football League (K League) said Yongin and Paju, both in Gyeonggi Province, and Gimhae, located in South Gyeongsang Province, have submitted their applications to join the K League.
Gimhae, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and Paju, about 30 kilometers northwest of the capital, are currently operating semipro clubs, Gimhae FC 2008 and Paju Citizen FC, in the K3 League. Their plans are to turn those teams into full professional clubs and use their existing venues as the home stadiums.
Yongin, about 40 km south of Seoul, first declared its interest in hosting a football team in March. Yongin has proposed Yongin Mireu Stadium as the home for its new K League club. The stadium has hosted matches for the men’s and women’s national teams recently and will also hold matches during the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Football Championship later this month.
The K League said it will convene a board of directors meeting within 60 days to review these three applications and send one candidate city to the general assembly for the final stamp of approval.
There are 12 teams in the top-flight K League 1 and 14 clubs in the K League 2, with the promotion-relegation system in place.
The second division has added three teams since the start of the 2023 season: Chungbuk Cheongju FC, Cheonan City FC and Hwaseong FC.
(Yonhap)
