Misplaced Pages

R League

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

Football league
R League
Organising bodyK League Federation
Founded1990
CountrySouth Korea
Number of clubs16
Current championsGroup A:
FC Seoul
Group B:
Pohang Steelers
(2019)
Most championshipsFC Seoul (10 titles)

The R League (Korean: R리그), also known as the Korean Professional Football Reserve League, is the league for reserve teams of professional football clubs in South Korea.

History

The Korean Reserve League was started in 1990 with reserve teams of five K League clubs.

It was not held for nine years after the inaugural season, but was relaunched in a new format in 2000. The participating teams were split into two or three group leagues, and the highest ranking teams of each league qualified for playoffs to determine the overall champions. It was renamed "R League" in 2009. The Korea Police FC participated in the R League until 2012, although it was not a reserve team of a K League club.

The R League was abolished in 2013 following the foundation of the K League 2, which needed participating players, but was restarted in 2016. It was once again ceased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the Korea Football Association (KFA) allowed reserve teams to join the football league pyramid through the semi-professional K3 League and K4 League. Plans to resume the R League were scrapped due to a lack of participating teams as a number of teams elected to participate in the K4 League instead.

Champions

Champions by season

Reserve League (1990)

Edition Season Single league
1 1990 POSCO Atoms

Reserve League (2000–2005)

Edition Season Championship Central League Southern League
2 2000 Anyang LG Cheetahs Anyang LG Cheetahs Jeonnam Dragons
3 2001 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Pohang Steelers
4 2002 Anyang LG Cheetahs Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Gwangju Sangmu Bulsajo
5 2003 Not held Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Jeonnam Dragons
6 2004 FC Seoul Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Pohang Steelers
7 2005 Bucheon SK FC Seoul Jeonnam Dragons

Reserve League (2006–2008)

Edition Season Championship Group A Group B Group C
8 2006 Incheon United FC Seoul Incheon United Jeonnam Dragons
9 2007 Pohang Steelers Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Jeju United Pohang Steelers
10 2008 Incheon United Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Gyeongnam FC Not held

R League (2009)

Edition Season Championship Group A Group B Group C
11 2009 Incheon United Incheon United Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Pohang Steelers

R League (2010–present)

Edition Season Single league Group A Group B
12 2010 Not held FC Seoul Pohang Steelers
13 2011 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Sangju Sangmu Phoenix
14 2012 Korean Police Busan IPark
15 2016 FC Seoul Daegu FC
16 2017 Ulsan Hyundai Not held
17 2018 Not held FC Seoul Daejeon Citizen
18 2019 FC Seoul Pohang Steelers
19 2022 Unknown

Performance by club

K League's principle of official statistics is that final club succeeds to predecessor club's history & records.

Club Group National titles Group titles Total
FC Seoul A 3 (2000, 2002, 2004) 7 (2000, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2016, 2018, 2019) 10
Incheon United A 3 (2006, 2008, 2009) 2 (2006, 2009) 5
Pohang Steelers B 2 (1990, 2007) 6 (2001, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2019) 8
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma A 1 (2001) 7 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011) 8
Jeju United B 1 (2005) 1 (2007) 2
Ulsan Hyundai B 1 (2017) — 1
Jeonnam Dragons B — 4 (2000, 2003, 2005, 2006) 4
Sangju Sangmu Phoenix B — 2 (2002, 2011) 2
Gyeongnam FC B — 1 (2008) 1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors B — 1 (2009) 1
Korean Police A — 1 (2012) 1
Busan IPark B — 1 (2012) 1
Daegu FC B — 1 (2016) 1
Daejeon Citizen B — 1 (2018) 1

Awards

Most Valuable Player

Season Player Club
1990 South Korea Choi Moon-sik POSCO Atoms
2000 South Korea Kim Woo-jae Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2001 South Korea Back Young-chul Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2002 South Korea Park Dong-suk Anyang LG Cheetahs
2003 Not awarded
2004 South Korea Han Dong-won FC Seoul
2005 South Korea Yoo Hyun-goo Bucheon SK
2006 South Korea Lee Keun-ho Incheon United
2007 South Korea Lee Won-jae Pohang Steelers
2008 South Korea Kang Su-il Incheon United
2009 South Korea Kim Sun-woo Incheon United

Top goalscorer

Season Player Club Goals Apps Ratio
1990 South Korea Kim Dong-hae Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso 7 ? ?
2000 South Korea Wang Jung-hyun Anyang LG Cheetahs 8 8 1.00
2001 South Korea Hwang In-soo Suwon Samsung Bluewings 10 13 0.77
2002 South Korea Lee Sun-woo Suwon Samsung Bluewings 7 13 0.54
2003 South Korea Back Young-chul Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 8 13 0.62
2004 South Korea Bu Young-tae Busan IPark 8 8 1.00
2005 South Korea Han Dong-won FC Seoul 10 20 0.50
2006 South Korea Song Keun-soo Gwangju Sangmu 11 16 0.69
2007 South Korea Yoon Jun-soo Jeonnam Dragons 8 16 0.50
2008 South Korea Yoo Chang-hyun Pohang Steelers 13 23 0.57
2009 South Korea Song Je-heon Daegu FC 8 13 0.62
2010 Brazil Eraldo Anício Gomes Jeju United 7 4 1.75
2011 South Korea Jung Sung-min Gangwon FC 10 17 0.59
2012 South Korea Kim Young-hoo Korean Police 11 14 0.79
2016 South Korea Han Hong-gyu Ansan Mugunghwa 9 10 0.9
2017 South Korea Kim Hee-won Seoul E-Land 11 16 0.69
2018 South Korea Kwon Ki-pyo Pohang Steelers 14 19 0.74
2019 South Korea Jeon Hyeon-chul Daegu FC 13 11 1.18

Top assist provider

Season Player Club Assists Apps Ratio
1990 South Korea Ahn Ki-chul Daewoo Royals ? ? ?
2000 South Korea Shin Jong-hyok Pohang Steelers 6 12 0.50
2001 South Korea Lee Jung-woon Pohang Steelers 5 13 0.38
2002 South Korea Kim Woo-jae Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 6 18 0.33
2003 South Korea Park Won-jae Pohang Steelers 4 13 0.31
2004 South Korea Jang Dong-hyun Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 5 17 0.29
2005 South Korea Yu Hyun-goo Jeju United 8 21 0.38
2006 South Korea Lee Keun-ho Incheon United 7 20 0.35
2007 South Korea Hwang Jin-sung Pohang Steelers 5 5 1.00
2008 South Korea Lee Tae-young Pohang Steelers 7 21 0.33
2009 South Korea Choi Sung-hyun Suwon Samsung Bluewings 5 7 0.71
2010 South Korea Kim Eun-hu Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 6 10 0.60
2011 South Korea Sin Jin-ho Pohang Steelers 7 17 0.41
2012 South Korea Choi Jin-soo Ulsan Hyundai 5 10 0.50
2016 South Korea Kim Dae-won Daegu FC 5 13 0.38
2017 South Korea Kim Soo-beom Jeju United 5 9 0.56
2018 South Korea Song Min-kyu Pohang Steelers 8 18 0.44
2019 South Korea Park Tae-jun Seongnam FC 7 8 0.88

See also

References

  1. 프로축구 2군리그 5개구단 내년 창설 (in Korean). Mail Business Newspaper. 6 December 1989.
  2. 도시연고제 도입 등 탈바꿈 시도 (in Korean). K League.
  3. K-리그-2군 리그 'R-리그', 30일 개막 (in Korean). K League. 30 March 2009.
  4. R리그 내년부터 폐지 왜? (in Korean). Sports Donga. 16 September 2011.
  5. K리그 챌린지, 3월 26일 개막... 부산 vs 안산 격돌 (in Korean). InterFootball. 26 January 2016.
  6. Yoon, Eun-yong (19 January 2021). "K리그 구단들, 올해부터 B팀 운영 가능" [Starting this year, K League teams can operate a B team]. Sports Kyunghyang (in Korean). Retrieved 23 January 2025.
  7. "사라진 R리그, 적은 출전기회… U20 대표팀 경기감각 우려" [Disappearance of R League leads to lack of playing opportunities, concern for U20 national team's match sense]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 9 May 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
  8. "The Official K-League Almanac" (in Korean). K-League editorial division.
  9. ^ "K League Data Portal" (in Korean). K League. Retrieved 19 June 2021.

External links

R League seasons
K League
Divisions
Clubs (2025)
K League 1
K League 2
Former
Associated competitions
Awards
Other articles
Football in South Korea
Korea Football Association
National teams
Men
Women
League system
Professional
Semi-professional
Cup competitions
National cups
League cups
Super cups
Other competitions
Lists
Categories:
R League Add topic