Goyang KB Kookmin Bank FC ( ko, 고양 KB국민은행 축구단) was a South Korean football club based in the

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

satellite city of Goyang. It played in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

, the third tier of Korean football. The club was officially dissolved in November 2012.

K-League Membership

Kookmin Bank FC was founded in September 1969 and competed in the various amateur football competitions at the time. The club enjoyed success in tournaments such as the

Korea Semi-Professional Football League The Korean National Semi-professional Football League was contested between South Korean works teams and military teams from 1964 to 2002. It was the predecessor of the Korea National League which was founded in 2003. History After the introduct ...

(winners in 1978) and the President's Cup (winners in 1978 and 1983) before becoming founder members of the

K-League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National ...

, the professional football league in South Korea, in 1983. The club's stay in the professional ranks was a short one, as it finished 5th out of the five teams in the first year. When it came in 8th out of the eight teams in 1984 the decision was made for the club to return to the amateur ranks.

After the K-League

Upon returning to the amateur ranks, the club returned to winning ways and managed President's Cup triumphs in 1986, 1990 and 1995. It also won the 3rd edition of the Industrial Amateur Football championship in 1993, a tournament they would win again in 1996. The financial crisis that struck South Korea in 1997 saw the club temporarily wound up, with the official decision to pull the plug on the team coming on December 31, 1997. After two years out of the game, Kookmin Bank reconstituted their club on February 28, 2000 and the team returned to the amateur ranks, eventually winning a sixth President's Cup crown in 2003.

Life at K2 Level

Organised league football at amateur level came about in 2003 with the establishment of the

, a competition with ten members, of which Kookmin Bank were one. Initially based in Gimpo, the club won the first stage of the 2003 championship and then moved its home base to Goyang and the team's name was changed to ''Goyang Kookmin Bank'' for the second stage where they finished runners-up on goal difference. They defeated the reserve team of military side

Sangmu Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps (), commonly known as the Sangmu (), is the sports division of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. Its headquarters are located in Mungyeong, Gyeongsangbuk-do. It was founded in 1984 by the integration of the athl ...

5-4 on aggregate in the playoff final to win the league. They retained their championship crown in 2004 with a 4-1 aggregate win over

Gangneung City FC Gangneung Citizen FC is a South Korean Association football club based in the city of Gangneung. Currently Gangneung Citizen FC plays in the K3 League. In 2019 they became the final champions of the Korea National League before it was integrated ...

after having again won the first stage of the league season. Despite a lacklustre 2005 season, the club bounced back to win the 2006 championship (now rebranded the ''National League''], triumphing 2-1 on aggregate in the final after winning the first stage of the season.

Promotion Controversy

It was planned that, subject to meeting certain financial requirements, the winner of the National League in 2006 would be promoted to the K-League. However Goyang Kookmin Bank caused controversy by winning the league but declining to move up. Team owners Kookmin Bank cited a Korean law where banks in Korea were not allowed to be involved in profitable ventures outside of banking which of course a professional football team could be. However the more likely reason is the large financial losses that most K-League teams endure each year as the league struggles for sponsorship money and suffers through low crowd numbers. On top of that any National League champion seeking promotion from the second tier is required to pay an 'entry fee' of around 2 million US dollars simply to join the league. Goyang Kookmin Bank received several threats from the League ranging from being thrown out of the competition, to fines, to point deductions for the upcoming 2007 season. In the end the side received a points deduction penalty, to be split into ten point deductions in the first and second stages of the 2007 season.

Current team squad

Honours

Domestic competitions

League

: Winners (3): K2 League 2003, 2003, 2004, 2006 : Runners-up (2): 2011,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Cups

* National League Championship ** Winners (1): 2009 ** Runners-up (1): 2007 * National Football Championship ** Winners (1): 1978 *

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

** Winners (6):

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, 2003 ** Runners-up (4): 1982,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, 2005

Statistics

1: Goyang KB Kookmin Bank was docked 10 points due to rejecting of promotion.

External links

*
Goyang KB page at the National League website
*
Goyang KB at ROKfootball.com
{{Korea National League Association football clubs established in 1969 Association football clubs disestablished in 2012 KB Kookmin Bank FC KB Financial Group Inc 1969 establishments in South Korea 2012 disestablishments in South Korea