R League

The R League (Korean: R리그), also known as the Korean Professional Football Reserve League, is the league for reserve teams of professional association football clubs in South Korea. The league started in 1990 with five reserve teams of K League member clubs: Pohang Steelworks, Yukong Elephants, Daewoo Royals, Hyundai Horang-i and Lucky-Goldstar.[1][2] Pohang Steelworks won the inaugural title, finishing two point ahead of Yukong Elephants to lift the crown.[3] But league was shortlived for only one year and reserve teams participated in semi-professional tournaments such as the National Football Championship.[4]

R League
Founded1990
Country South Korea
Number of teams16
Current championsFC Seoul (Group A)
Pohang Steelers (Group B)

The competition was relaunched in 2000 with a dual league format. Nine reserve teams were divided into the Central League (currently Group League A) and the Southern League (currently Group League B). Each team played against the other teams in the same league for four times. In 2001, Police FC joined the R League and Gwangju Sangmu's reserve team joined in 2002.

For the 2009 season, the R League was renamed to its current name[5] and thirteen of the fifteen K League clubs are fielding reserve teams in the league along with the Police FC, giving a total of fourteen participating clubs. Gangwon FC and Jeju United did not participate.

As part of the plan to form the system of promotion and relegation in the K League starting from the 2013 season, the R League was planned to downsize after the 2012 season.[6] The competition was ceased until 2015. Starting from the 2016 season, K League clubs officially announced that they will resume the R League.[7]

Clubs
Team Apps Seasons
FC Seoul 18 1990, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Ulsan Hyundai 18 1990, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Busan IPark 17 1990, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Suwon Samsung Bluewings 17 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Pohang Steelers 16 1990, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019
Seongnam FC 16 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019
Jeju United 15 1990, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2019
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 15 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018, 2019
Ansan Mugunghwa 13 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016
Jeonnam Dragons 13 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018
Incheon United 13 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Sangju Sangmu 8 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Gyeongnam FC 8 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019
Daegu FC 8 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Daejeon Citizen 7 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018, 2019
Gangwon FC 6 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019
Bucheon FC 1995 4 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Ansan Greeners 3 2017, 2018, 2019
Seoul E-Land 2 2016, 2017
Chungju Hummel 1 2016
Goyang Zaicro 1 2016
Suwon FC 1 2019

Champions

List of champions
Edition Season Championship Central league Southern league South-central league
1 1990 POSCO Atoms — — —
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
5 2003 — Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Jeonnam Dragons
6 2004 FC Seoul Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Pohang Steelers
7 2005 Bucheon SK FC Seoul Jeonnam Dragons
8 2006 Incheon United FC Seoul Jeonnam Dragons Incheon United
9 2007 Pohang Steelers Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Pohang Steelers Jeju United
10 2008 Incheon United Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Gyeongnam FC —
11 2009 Incheon United Incheon United Pohang Steelers Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Edition Season Single league Group A Group B
12 2010 — FC Seoul Pohang Steelers
13 2011 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Sangju Sangmu
14 2012 Police FC Busan IPark
15 2016 FC Seoul Daegu FC
16 2017 Ulsan Hyundai — —
17 2018 — FC Seoul Daejeon Citizen
18 2019 FC Seoul Pohang Steelers

Titles by club

K League's principle of official statistics is that final club succeeds to predecessor club's history & records.[8]

Club Group National titles Regional 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 B — 2 (2002, 2011) 2
Gyeongnam FC B — 1 (2008) 1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors B — 1 (2009) 1
Police FC A — 1 (2012) 1
Busan IPark B — 1 (2012) 1
Daegu FC B — 1 (2016) 1
Daejeon Citizen B — 1 (2018) 1

Individual awards

Most Valuable Player
Season Player Club
1990 Choi Moon-sik POSCO Atoms
2000 Kim Woo-jae Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2001 Back Young-chul Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2002 Park Dong-suk Anyang LG Cheetahs
2004 Han Dong-won FC Seoul
2005 Yoo Hyun-goo Bucheon SK
2006 Lee Keun-ho Incheon United
2007 Lee Won-jae Pohang Steelers
2008 Kang Su-il Incheon United
2009 Kim Sun-woo Incheon United

Top goalscorer

Source:[9]

Year Player Club Goals Apps Average
1990 Kim Dong-hae Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso 7 ? ?
2000 Wang Jung-hyun Anyang LG Cheetahs 8 8 1.00
2001 Hwang In-soo Suwon Samsung Bluewings 10 13 0.77
2002 Lee Sun-woo Suwon Samsung Bluewings 7 13 0.54
2003 Back Young-chul Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 8 13 0.62
2004 Bu Young-tae Busan IPark 8 8 1.00
2005 Han Dong-won FC Seoul 10 20 0.50
2006 Song Keun-soo Gwangju Sangmu 11 16 0.69
2007 Yoon Jun-soo Jeonnam Dragons 8 16 0.50
2008 Yoo Chang-hyun Pohang Steelers 13 23 0.57
2009 Song Je-heon Daegu FC 8 13 0.62
2010 Gomes Jeju United 7 3 2.33
2011 Jung Sung-min Gangwon FC 10 17 0.59
2012 Kim Young-hoo Police FC 11 14 0.79
2016 Han Hong-gyu Ansan Mugunghwa 9 10 0.9
2017 Kim Hee-won Seoul E-Land 11 16 0.69
2018 Kwon Ki-pyo Pohang Steelers 14 19 0.74
2019 Jeon Hyeon-chul Daegu FC 13 11 1.18

Top assist provider

Source:[9]

Year Player Club Assists Apps Average
1990 Ahn Ki-chul Daewoo Royals ? ? ?
2000 Shin Jong-hyok Pohang Steelers 6 12 0.50
2001 Lee Jung-woon Pohang Steelers 5 13 0.38
2002 Kim Woo-jae Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 6 18 0.33
2003 Park Won-jae Pohang Steelers 4 13 0.31
2004 Jang Dong-hyun Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 5 17 0.29
2005 Yu Hyun-goo Jeju United 8 21 0.38
2006 Lee Keun-ho Incheon United 7 20 0.35
2007 Hwang Jin-sung Pohang Steelers 5 5 1.00
2008 Lee Tae-young Pohang Steelers 7 21 0.33
2009 Choi Sung-hyun Suwon Samsung Bluewings 5 7 0.71
2010 Kim Eun-hu Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 6 10 0.60
2011 Sin Jin-ho Pohang Steelers 7 17 0.41
2012 Choi Jin-soo Ulsan Hyundai 5 10 0.50
2016 Kim Dae-won Daegu FC 5 13 0.38
2017 Kim Soo-beom Jeju United 5 9 0.56
2018 Song Min-kyu Pohang Steelers 8 18 0.44
2019 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. 프로축구 2군 리그 종료 포항제철, 첫 우승 차지 (in Korean). Best Eleven. November 1990.
  4. 대우2군 "프로가 한수위" (in Korean). Dong-A Ilbo. 26 November 1991.
  5. K-리그-2군 리그 'R-리그', 30일 개막 (in Korean). K League. 30 March 2009.
  6. R리그 내년부터 폐지 왜? (in Korean). Sports Donga. 16 September 2011.
  7. K리그 챌린지, 3월 26일 개막... 부산 vs 안산 격돌 (in Korean). InterFootball. 26 January 2016.
  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.
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