The Korean National Semi-professional Football League was contested between

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 ...

works team A works team, sometimes also referred to as factory team and company team, is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business, institution, or organization in a broad sense. Works teams have very close ties with thei ...

s and military teams from 1964 to 2002. It was the predecessor of the

Korea National League The Korea National League () was a South Korean semi-professional football league held annually from 2003 to 2019. It was considered the second-highest division of the South Korean football league system before the K League 2 was launched in 2013 ...

which was founded in 2003.

History

After the introduction of football from the UK navy in the late 19th century, football experienced a boom in Korea and many football clubs and school teams were formed in the 1910s. There were also many corporate football clubs especially in

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 ...

and

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

, two big cities in Korea. The corporate club division was made in

All Joseon Football Tournament The All Joseon Football Tournament () was the first Korean national football competition, held annually by the Joseon Sports Council or Joseon Football Association. The tournament of the Joseon Sports Council, officially recognized as a predeces ...

in Pyongyang in 1930, and Seoul Semi-professional Football League was founded in 1939, but both were stopped because of the Japanese government's policy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The Seoul League was reopened in 1949, but it was stopped again during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. The National Semi-professional Football League was founded in 1964, which was the only football division in South Korea until 1982. It was held twice in a year as the spring league and the autumn league except the seasons from 1982 to 1984 when it was held as full-season. The match places were mostly in Seoul because many headquarters of corporation in Korea were in Seoul. The South Korean professional league,

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 ...

, was founded in 1983 that it made Semi-professional League as second division (but no promotion nor relegation). It remained until 2002 before

was officially founded in 2003.

Champions

Champions by season

Performance by club

References

External links