The K League 2 (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The l ...

: K리그2) is the men's second-highest division of the

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 ...

. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs, and operates on a system of

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues ...

with the

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 ...

History

In 2011, the original

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 ...

announced a plan to begin a promotion and relegation system between the K League and a proposed second division. The K League then took steps to create the new second division, mainly with the addition of a split-system during the

2012 K-League The 2012 K League, officially known as Hyundai Oilbank K-League 2012, was the 30th season of the K League. It was sponsored by Hyundai Oilbank. Since this season, the K League Championship and the Korean League Cup were abolished, and K League in ...

season in which the bottom clubs are placed in a competition for safety with the last placed club being relegated to the new second division (originally it was going to be two clubs relegated but the withdrawal of

Sangju Sangmu Gimcheon Sangmu FC (Hangul: 김천 상무 프로축구단; Hanja: 金泉尚武 프로蹴球團) is a South Korean professional association football club based in Gimcheon that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football ...

meant only one would be relegated). The second division was going to get the name of K League, and the original K League's name was changed to "K League Classic" along with the new logo. However, the change caused some degree of confusion and controversy, and on 11 March 2013 the official name was changed to "K League Challenge". On 22 January 2018, its name was once again changed to "K League 2". In the 2013 season, the 13th and 14th placed teams in the K League Classic were automatically relegated, while the 12th placed team played a match against the winner of the newly-formed K League Challenge to decide promotion/relegation. From the 2014 season, only the 12th team of the top division is automatically relegated, with the 11th team playing a two-leg match against the winner of the K League 2 promotion playoffs to decide promotion/relegation. The promotion playoffs are as follows: the fourth-placed team plays against the third-placed team, then the winner of this match plays with the second-placed team. If the match is tied, the higher-placed team advances.

Current clubs

Champions

By season

By club

References

External links

Official K League website
{{Professional sports in South Korea 2013 establishments in South Korea 2 Sports leagues established in 2013 Summer association football leagues Second level football leagues in Asia Professional sports leagues in South Korea