The 2023 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 41st season of the top division of professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and the eleventh season of the

K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...

. Defending champions

Ulsan Hyundai Ulsan HD FC (), formerly Ulsan Hyundai FC, is a South Korean professional football club based in Ulsan that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Founded in 1983 as Hyundai Horang-i, they joined the K League in 198 ...

successfully defended their title. After progressing 33 regular rounds as ever, the league was divided into two groups, the top six and the bottom six, and each team played five matches against other teams in its group.

Teams

Team changes

Gwangju FC Gwangju FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Gwangju that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. They joined the K League in the 2011 season. History Gwangju FC was founded in December 2010, b ...

and

Daejeon Hana Citizen Daejeon Hana Citizen FC () is a South Korean professional football team based in Daejeon, competing in K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. At the time of its foundation in 1997, Daejeon was the first community-owned club in South K ...

(both promoted after absences of one and seven years, respectively) were promoted from the 2022 K League 2. Gimcheon Sangmu and

Seongnam FC Seongnam Football Club () is a South Korean professional football (soccer), football club based in Seongnam that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. It is one of the most successful clubs in South Korea and the ...

(both relegated after one and four years in the top flight, respectively) were relegated to 2023 K League 2.

Locations

The following twelve clubs competed in the K League 1 during the 2023 season.

Stadiums

Personnel and sponsoring

Foreign players

The number of allowed foreign players was kept strictly to six per team, including a guaranteed slot for a player from the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

countries. Teams could field at most five foreign players at any given time, including at least one player from the AFC confederation.

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n player An Byong-jun, who played for

Suwon Samsung Bluewings The Suwon Samsung Bluewings () are a South Korean Association football, football club based in Suwon that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. Founded in December 1995, they have won the K League on four occas ...

, was deemed as a native player by

South Korean nationality law The South Korean nationality law () details the conditions in which an individual is a nationality, national of the South Korea, Republic of Korea (ROK), commonly known as South Korea. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in the cou ...

. Players in bold were registered during the mid-season transfer window.

League table

Positions by matchday

Round 1–33

Round 34–38

Results

Matches 1–22

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

Matches 23–33

Teams played each other once, either at home or away.

Matches 34–38

Teams played each other once, either at home or away.

Final A

Final B

Relegation play-offs

The tenth-placed team and the eleventh-placed team played against the play-offs winners and the runners-up of the K League 2, respectively, in the relegation play-offs.

''Gangwon FC won 2–1 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.'' ---- ''Suwon FC won 6–4 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.''

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Joo Min-kyu, who appeared in less time than Tiago Orobó, won the top goalscorer award.

Teams

Team changes

Locations

Stadiums

Personnel and sponsoring

Foreign players

League table

Positions by matchday

Round 1–33

Round 34–38

Results

Matches 1–22

Matches 23–33

Matches 34–38

Final A

Final B

Relegation play-offs

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Top assist providers

Hat-tricks

Awards

Weekly awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Attendance

See also

References

External links