The 2021 K4 League is the second season of the

K4 League The K4 League is the fourth tier of the South Korean football league system. After 2019, the semi-professional Korea National League and the former amateur K3 League were rebranded into the current K3 League and K4 League. Competition format T ...

as a semi-professional league and the fourth tier of

South Korean football league system The South Korean football league system contains two professional leagues, two semi-professional leagues, and various amateur leagues for Korean football clubs. The highest level of football in South Korea is the K League 1, which was founded in 1 ...

. Paju Citizen are the defending champions and was promoted together with Ulsan Citizen (the runner-up) to 2021 K3 League. Chuncheon Citizen and Jeonju Citizen were relegated from 2020 K3 League and will play in the K4 League for the first time. Icheon Citizen have disbanded due to financial problems and haven't registered for the league, while Yeoju Citizen (now

Yeoju FC Yeoju FC is a South Korean football club based in the city of Yeoju. The club is a member of the K4 League, a semi-professional football league in South Korea. Season-by-season records See also * List of football clubs in South Korea This is a ...

) has submitted a new entry in the competition after first announcing their disbandment. Plus, four new teams, Geoje Citizen, Dangjin Citizen, Pyeongchang United (a semi-successor of former

K3 League The K3 League is the third tier of South Korean football league system, which was created from the rebranding of the Korea National League (2003–2019) and the former K3 League (2007–2019) into K3 League and K4 League in 2020. 16 teams are ...

team Pyeongchang FC, disbanded in 2019) and the

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

Gangwon FC Gangwon FC (Hangul:강원 FC) is a South Korean football club. Based in Gangwon Province of South Korea, Gangwon FC joined the K League as its 15th club for the 2009 season. The club is sponsored by High1 Resort. History Foundation Gangw ...

were welcomed to the K4 League. For the first time in the history of the South Korean football system, teams from professional leagues

K League 1 The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1 ...

and

K League 2 The K League 2 (Hangul: K리그2) is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the K League 1. Hi ...

were allowed to create

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

s set to play in the K4 League, in order to give academy players and/or other registered players more playing time. The main condition for them is to have at least seven out of eleven players in the starting formation aged 23 or younger. At the end of January 2021, it was announced that Gangwon FC would be the first club to take advantage of this new rule, having founded a reserve team that was officially allowed to take part in the 2021 edition of K4 League. It still isn't clear if the young "Kodiaks" will be able to pursue promotion to K3 League or even take part in the promotion play-off.

Competition format

The 2021 K4 League is contested by sixteen teams, with no relegation system in place. Each team competes home and away, playing 30 games. The top two teams get promoted to the

, while the third and the fourth placed teams qualify for the promotion play-off.

Promotion and relegation

Teams relegated from the 2020 K3 League * Chuncheon Citizen * Jeonju Citizen Teams promoted to the 2021 K3 League * Paju Citizen * Ulsan Citizen New Teams * Gangwon FC B * Geoje Citizen FC *

Dangjin Citizen FC Dangjin Citizen FC is a football club based in Dangjin, South Korea. They were founded in 2020, and currently plays in the K4 League, a semi-professional league and the fourth tier of football in South Korea. History Foundation (2020) The first ...

* Pyeongchang United Name Changes * Yeoju Citizen FC renamed to

Dissolved Teams from

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Season * Icheon Citizen

Teams

League table

Results

Matches 1 to 30

Promotion Play-off

The match was played on the 14 November 2021. The 3rd and 4th placed team from the 2020 K4 League will play for a spot in the 2022 K3 League.

Promotion Play-off

'' Dangjin Citizen has been promoted as a higher ranked team in the regular season.''

Winner

References

External links

K4 League seasons 2021 in South Korean football {{SouthKorea-footy-competition-stub