Jeju SK FC () is a South Korean 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 ...

club based in

Jeju Province Jeju Province (; ), officially Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (Jeju language, Jeju: ; ), is the southernmost Provinces of South Korea, province of South Korea, consisting of eight inhabited and 55 uninhabited islands, including Marado, Udo ...

that competes in 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 ...

, the top division in South Korea. In the past, the club has been known as the Yukong Elephants, Bucheon SK, and Jeju United.

History

The club was founded on 17 December 1982 as Yukong FC, becoming the second professional football club to be established in South Korea. The club's mascot was an elephant and the team became known as the Yukong Elephants. It was owned and financially supported by the Sunkyoung Group's subsidiary, Yukong (currently SK Group's "SK Energy"), along with

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

, and

Gyeonggi Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

as its franchise. Yukong FC was a founding member of the ''Korean Super League'', South Korea's first professional football league and forerunner to the

K League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions ...

. Yukong Elephants won the league championship on only one occasion, in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. When the Super League was established there was no home and away system, but following its implementation in 1987, Yukong FC was initially based within the

Seoul Metropolitan Area The Seoul Metropolitan Area (Sudogwon; , ) or Gyeonggi (region), Gyeonggi region (), is the metropolitan area of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, located in north-western South Korea. Its population of 26 million (as of 2024) is ranked ...

. From 1990, the club shared

Dongdaemun Stadium Dongdaemun Stadium () was a sports complex in Seoul, South Korea, with a multi-purpose stadium, Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium, a baseball park and other sports facilities. It was located near Dongdaemun or Great East Gate. The surrounding Dongdaem ...

in Seoul with

Ilhwa Chunma 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 ...

and

LG Cheetahs FC Seoul () is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul that competes in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The club is owned by GS Sports, a subsidiary of GS Group. Since 2004, FC Seoul have played its hom ...

. In 1992, the three clubs even allowed spectators to use their club memberships to watch each other's home matches. As part of the K League's decentralization policy, in 1995 the Seoul government gave an eviction order to the three clubs based in Seoul (Yukong Elephants, LG Cheetahs and Ilhwa Chunma). However, they guaranteed that if clubs built a

football-specific stadium A soccer-specific stadium, mainly in the United States and Canada, is a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-purpose stadium whic ...

in Seoul, they could have a Seoul franchise and return to Seoul. As a result, the three clubs were forced to move their home base from Seoul to other cities. In 1996, Yukong moved to the city of

Bucheon Bucheon (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Bucheon is located away from Seoul, of which it is a satellite city. It is located between Incheon and Seoul. Bucheon is the second most densely populated city in South Korea after Seo ...

, a

satellite city A satellite city or satellite town is a smaller municipality or settlement that is part of (or on the edge of) a larger metropolitan area and serves as a regional population and employment center. It differs from mere suburbs, Subdivision (la ...

of Seoul. Mid-way through the 1997 season, the club re-branded itself as Bucheon SK. Because the city of Bucheon lacked a stadium, they used the Mokdong Stadium in Seoul until 2000. At the start of the 2001 season, the team moved to the 35,545-capacity

Bucheon Leports Complex Bucheon Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. It is currently used mostly for football matches and has been the home stadium of Bucheon FC 1995 Bucheon Football Club 1995 () is a South Korean professiona ...

. In February 2006, Bucheon SK announced their move to Jeju without any fore notice, and renamed as Jeju United FC. On 3 November 2007, head coach

Jung Hae-seong Chung Hae-soung (, born March 4, 1958, in Busan, South Korea) is a South Korean football manager and former player. Club career * 1984-1989 Lucky-Goldstar FC (Currently FC Seoul) Managerial career In 1989, Chung ended his career and ...

announced his resignation after accepting the position of assistant coach for the

South Korea national team South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

. The club stated that they intended to appoint a foreign manager as his replacement. In January 2008, Artur Jorge was appointed as the new head coach. Artur's emphasis on passing play and entertaining football was well received by fans; however, the team finished 10th in the 2008 K League season and remained in the lower mid-table throughout the 2009 K League season. As a result, on 14 October 2009, he announced his resignation before the end of the season, and assistant coach Cho Jin-ho took over as interim manager. He was replaced shortly afterwards by former under-17 national team coach

Park Kyung-hoon Park Kyung-hoon (; born 19 January 1961) is a South Korean football manager and former player. Park played for the South Korea national team in 1986 and 1990 FIFA World Cup. He also won the 1986 Asian Games with the national team. Club ca ...

. At the beginning of the 2019 season, the team struggled with poor performances. As a result, they parted ways with head coach

Jo Sung-hwan Jo Sung-hwan (born 16 October 1970, in South Korea) is the manager of Busan IPark, having previously managed Incheon United. He played at Jeju United (then known as Yukong Elephants and Bucheon SK) and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. He was appointe ...

, who had led the team for nearly five years, and appointed Choi Yun-kyum as his successor. During the mid-season, the club attempted to turn things around by signing new players such as

Yun Il-lok Yun Il-lok (; born 7 March 1992) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays for Ulsan Hyundai in the South Korean K League 1. He has played for a number of youth-level teams representing South Korea, and in 2013 graduated to his countr ...

and Choi Kyu-baek, while

Yoon Bit-garam Yoon Bit-garam (; or ; born 7 May 1990) is a South Korean professional association football player who currently plays for Suwon FC. Club career Yoon created the most chances among participants of the 2020 AFC Champions League, leading Ul ...

returned to the team after completing his military service. However, despite these efforts, the team finished at the bottom of the league standings and was relegated to the second division for the first time since its establishment. In 2025, the club rebranded as Jeju SK FC.

Franchise relocation history

Emblems and mascots

The club's mascots include Gam Gyuri, Hallahalbang and Baeknogi. Among them, Gam Gyuri is the most representative mascot and is known for its strong sense of responsibility, leading the Gam Gyuri family and Jeju SK.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Backroom staff

Coaching staff

* Manager:

Kim Hak-bum Kim Hak-bum (; born 1 March 1960) is a South Korean football manager who is the current manager of K League club Jeju SK. Club career Kim simultaneously joined K League club Kookmin Bank in 1983 when playing for Myongji University as a d ...

* Head coach: Kim Jung-soo * Goalkeeping coach: Cha Sang-kwang * Coaches: Lee Sang-ho,

Cho Byung-kuk Cho Byung-kuk (; born July 1, 1981) is a South Korean international football manager and former football player. He is currently an assistant coach for Jeju SK. Playing career Cho began his professional career in 2002 with K-League club Su ...

, Jo Jae-cheol * Fitness coach: Kim Chan-bin * Analysis coach: Lee Jun-seok

Support staff

* Rehabilitation trainers: Yoon Jae-young, Park Sun-ho, Ha Tae-jun * Team manager: Kim Dong-geon * Kit manager: Moon Seong-jun * Interpreter: Moon Jun-ho * Head driver: Oh Kyung-myung Source: Official website

Honours

**Winners (1):

**Runners-up (5):

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

K League 2 The K League 2 () is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs and operates on a promotion and relegation system with K League 1. History In 2011, the or ...

**Winners (1):

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Korean FA Cup The Korea Cup (), formerly the Korean FA Cup, is a national Association football, football cup knockout competition of South Korea, held annually by the Korea Football Association (KFA). Before the competition was established in 1996, two simil ...

**Runners-up (1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Korean League Cup The Korean League Cup was a professional football competition in South Korean football. It was held by the K League Federation from 1986 to 2012. Sponsorship Results Finals Titles by club K League's principle of official statistics is tha ...

**Winners (3):

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty on the left during the September 11 attacks, terrorist attacks on Sep ...

**Runners-up (2):

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, 1998s

Season-by-season records

Domestic record

;Key *Tms. = Number of teams *Pos. = Position in league

AFC Champions League record

All results (home and away) list Jeju's goal tally first.

Managerial history

References

External links

* {{SK Group SK Sports Sport in Jeju Province K League 1 clubs K League 2 clubs Association football clubs established in 1982 1982 establishments in South Korea