2020 K League 1

The 2020 K League 1 is the 38th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea since its establishment in 1983 as K League, and the third season under its current name, the K League 1. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are the defending champions.
The regular season was scheduled to begin on 29 February and to end on 4 October, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The K League 1 season officially began on 8 May. On 24 April 2020, the Korean Professional Football Union has confirmed that they will adopt a modified plan for the season, changing the regular season to 22 matches, and 5 Final Round matches per team. Sangju Sangmu and the lowest team at the end of this season will be relegated to K League 2 season 2021.
Commencing this season, an additional spot for foreign players has been added for players from member countries of the ASEAN Football Federation.

Promotion and relegation

Teams relegated to the 2020 K League 2

Teams promoted from the 2019 K League 2

Gwangju FC
Busan IPark
Participating clubs by province

The following twelve clubs will compete in the K League 1 during the 2020 season.

Club	City / Area	Manager	Joined	Owner	Kit Supplier	Sponsor
Busan IPark	Busan	Cho Deok-je	1983	Hyundai Development Company	Adidas	HDC Group
Daegu FC	Daegu		2002	Government of Daegu, Citizen Stockholder	Forward	DGB Daegu Bank, AJIN Industrial Co., Ltd.
Gangwon FC	Gangwon	Kim Byung-soo	2009	Government of Gangwon, Citizen Stockholder	Applerind	Gangwon Land
Gwangju FC	Gwangju	Park Jin-sub	2010	Government of Gwangju, Citizen Stockholder	Kelme	Government of Gwangju
Incheon United	Incheon	Lim Joong-yong	2004	Government of Incheon, Citizen Stockholder	Macron	Shinhan Bank, Incheon International Airport
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Jeonbuk	José Morais	1995	Hyundai Motor Company	Hummel	Hyundai Motor Company
Pohang Steelers	Pohang	Kim Gi-dong	1983	POSCO	Astore	POSCO, Pohang City Hall
Sangju Sangmu	Sangju	Kim Tae-wan	2011	Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps	Kelme
Seongnam FC	Seongnam	Kim Nam-il	1988	Government of Seongnam, Citizen Stockholder	Umbro	Government of Seongnam
FC Seoul	Seoul	Kim Ho-young	1984	GS Group	Le Coq Sportif	GS Shop, GS Caltex
	Suwon	Ju Seung-jin	1996	Cheil Worldwide in Samsung	Puma	Samsung Electronics
Ulsan Hyundai FC	Ulsan	Kim Do-hoon	1984	Hyundai Heavy Industries	Hummel	Hyundai Oil Bank, Hyundai Heavy Industries

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Seongnam FC		Resigned	16 December 2019		23 December 2019
Incheon United		Resigned	2 January 2020		6 February 2020
Incheon United		Resigned	27 June 2020		28 June 2020
Suwon Samsung Bluewings		Resigned	17 July 2020		17 July 2020
FC Seoul		Resigned	30 July 2020		31 July 2020

Stadiums

Primary venues used in the K League 1 include:

Busan IPark	Daegu FC	Gangwon FC	Gwangju FC	Incheon United	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Busan Gudeok Stadium	DGB Daegu Bank Park	Chuncheon Songam Leports Town Gangneung Stadium	Gwangju World Cup Stadium Gwangju World Cup Auxiliary Stadium	Incheon Football Stadium	Jeonju World Cup Stadium
Capacity: 12,349	Capacity: 12,415	Capacity: 20,000 22,333	Capacity: 40,245 12,000	Capacity: 20,891	Capacity: 42,477

Pohang Steelers	Sangju Sangmu	Seongnam FC	FC Seoul	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Ulsan Hyundai
Pohang Steel Yard	Sangju Civic Stadium	Tancheon Stadium	Seoul World Cup Stadium	Suwon World Cup Stadium	Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium
Capacity: 17,443	Capacity: 15,042	Capacity: 16,146	Capacity: 66,704	Capacity: 43,959	Capacity: 44,102

Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to five per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries and a slot for a player from ASEAN. A team could use five foreign players on the field each game including at least one player from the AFC confederation
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC Player	ASEAN Player
Busan IPark	Gustavo Vintecinco	Rômulo		Dostonbek Tursunov
Daegu FC	Césinha	Edgar	Dejan Damjanović	Tsubasa Nishi
Gangwon FC				Takahiro Nakazato
Gwangju FC	Felipe	Willyan	Marco Ureña	Rustam Ashurmatov
Incheon United	Stefan Mugoša	Elias Aguilar	Gustavo	Rashid Mahazi
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Murilo Henrique	Modou Barrow	Gustavo	Takahiro Kunimoto
Pohang Steelers	Manuel Palacios	Stanislav Iljutcenko	Aleksandar Paločević	Brandon O'Neill
Seongnam FC	Igor Jovanović	Tomislav Kiš		Jamshid Iskanderov
FC Seoul	Adriano	Osmar		Ikromjon Alibaev
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Sulejman Krpić	Doneil Henry	Terry Antonis	Adam Taggart
Ulsan Hyundai	Júnior Negrão	Dave Bulthuis	Bjørn Maars Johnsen	Jason Davidson

League table

Positions by matchday

Round 1–22

Fixtures and results

Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice, once at home, once away.

Final Round Matches 23–27

Teams will play each other at once.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Ref.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Júnior Negrão	Ulsan Hyundai	18
2	Stanislav Iljutcenko	Pohang Steelers	10
3	Cesinha	Daegu FC	8
4	Felipe	Gwangju FC	6
4	Kang Sang-woo	Sangju Sangmu	6
4	Song Min-kyu	Pohang Steelers	6
7	Han Kyo-won	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	5
7	Dejan Damjanović	Daegu FC	5
7	Ko Moo-yeol	Gangwon FC	5
10	Aleksandar Paločević	Pohang Steelers	4

Most assists