2021 K League 1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(9th title)
 | |
| Season | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 27 February – 5 December 2021 |
| Champions | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (9th title) |
| Relegated | Gwangju FC |
| Champions League | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Ulsan Hyundai Daegu FC |
| Matches | 228 |
| Goals | 563 (2.47 per match) |
| Best Player | Hong Jeong-ho |
| Top goalscorer | Joo Min-kyu (22 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Ulsan 5–0 Gangwon (1 March 2021) |
| Biggest away win | Daegu 0–5 Jeju (31 October 2021) |
| Highest scoring | Seoul 3–4 Jeonbuk (5 September 2021) |
| Highest attendance | 6,199 |
| Lowest attendance | 1,218 |
← 2020 2022 → | |
The 2021 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 39th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea, and the ninth season of the K League 1. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won their ninth title and fifth consecutive title.
After progressing 33 regular rounds, 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.
Team changes
League table
Positions by matchday
Leaders, qualification for Champions League group stage
Qualification for Champions League play-off round
Qualification for relegation play-offs
Relegation to K League 2
Round 1–33
Round 34–38
Results
Relegation play-offs
The promotion-relegation play-offs were contested between the winners of K League 2 play-offs and the eleventh-placed team in K League 1.
| Gangwon FC | 4–1 | Daejeon Hana Citizen |
|---|---|---|
|
Lee Jong-hyeon  17' |
Gangwon FC won 4–2 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.
Statistics
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Player[3] | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Joo Min-kyu |
Jeju United | 22 |
| 2 |  Lars Veldwijk |
Suwon FC | 18 |
| 3 |  Gustavo |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 15 |
 Stanislav Iljutcenko |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | ||
| 5 |  Fejsal Mulić |
Seongnam FC | 13 |
| 6 | Lee Dong-jun |
Ulsan Hyundai | 11 |
| Lim Sang-hyub |
Pohang Steelers | ||
| 8 | Edgar |
Daegu FC | 10 |
| Song Min-kyu |
Pohang Steelers Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | ||
| Aleksandar Paločević |
FC Seoul | ||
Top assist providers
| Rank | Player[3] | Club | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kim Bo-kyung |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 10 |
| Murilo |
Suwon FC | ||
| 3 | Kang Sang-woo |
Pohang Steelers | 8 |
| 4 | Lee Yeong-jae |
Suwon FC | 7 |
| Cesinha |
Daegu FC | ||
| Sin Jin-ho |
Pohang Steelers | ||
| 7 |  Elías Aguilar |
Incheon United | 6 |
| Na Sang-ho |
FC Seoul | ||
| Kim Tae-hwan |
Ulsan Hyundai | ||
| Lars Veldwijk |
Suwon FC | ||
Hat-tricks
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lim Sang-hyub |
Pohang Steelers | Suwon FC | 3–4 | 18 May 2021 |
| Gustavo4 |
Jeonbouk Hyundai Motors | Seongnam FC | 1–5 | 6 June 2021 |
| Lars Veldwijk4 |
Suwon FC | Ulsan Hyundai | 2–5 | 25 July 2021 |
Awards
Weekly awards
Monthly awards
| Month | Player of the Month | Young Player of the Month | Manager of the Month | Goal of the Month | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Player | Club | Manager | Club | Div. | Player | Club | |
| March | Ki Sung-yueng |
Seoul | — | Kim Sang-sik |
Jeonbuk | 1 | Kim Min-woo |
Suwon | |
| April | Edgar |
Daegu | — | Lee Woo-hyung |
Anyang | 2 | Fejsal Mulić |
Seongnam | |
| May | Cesinha |
Daegu | — | Park Kun-ha |
Suwon | 1 | Lee Ki-je |
Suwon | |
| June | — | — | Kim Tae-wan |
Gimcheon | 2 | Paik Seung-ho |
Jeonbuk | ||
| July | — | — | Jo Sung-hwan |
Incheon | 1 | Lars Veldwijk |
Suwon FC | ||
| August | Gustavo |
Jeonbuk | Eom Ji-sung |
Gwangju | Hong Myung-bo |
Ulsan | 1 | Lee Chung-yong |
Ulsan |
| September | Cho Young-wook |
Seoul | Seol Young-woo |
Ulsan | Lee Byung-keun |
Daegu | 1 | Paik Seung-ho |
Jeonbuk |
| October | Lee Dong-gyeong |
Ulsan | Um Won-sang |
Gwangju | Nam Ki-il |
Jeju | 1 | Lee Hee-gyun |
Gwangju |
| November | Hong Jeong-ho |
Jeonbuk | Seol Young-woo |
Ulsan | An Ik-soo |
Seoul | 1 | Moon Seon-min |
Jeonbuk |
Annual awards
The 2021 K League Awards was held on 7 December 2021.[4]
| Award | Winner | Club |
|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player | Hong Jeong-ho |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
| Young Player of the Year | Seol Young-woo |
Ulsan Hyundai |
| Top goalscorer | Joo Min-kyu |
Jeju United |
| Top assist provider | Kim Bo-kyung |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
| Manager of the Year | Kim Sang-sik |
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
| Position | Best XI | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Jo Hyeon-woo (Ulsan) | |||
| Defenders | Kang Sang-woo (Pohang) |
Hong Jeong-ho (Jeonbuk) |
 Dave Bulthuis(Ulsan) |
Lee Ki-je (Suwon) |
| Midfielders | Lee Dong-jun (Ulsan) |
Cesinha (Daegu) |
 Valeri Qazaishvili(Ulsan) |
Lim Sang-hyub (Pohang) |
| Forwards | Lars Veldwijk (Suwon FC) |
Joo Min-kyu (Jeju) | ||
Controversies
On 12 December 2021, Gangwon FC and Daejeon Hana Citizen faced one another in the second leg of the Promotion-relegation play-offs, with the latter team finding himself in advantage after winning the first leg 1–0. Played at Gangneung Stadium, Gangwon's home soil, the match saw the hosts secure a 4–1 comeback victory and maintain their spot in K League 1. However, the game was marred by a series of incidents, occurring between the first and the second half. After Han Kook-young had scored Gangwon's third goal in the 31st minute, the ball boys around the stadium reportedly started to delay giving the ball back to Daejeon players, an event that happened multiple times during the match and was possibly meant to waste time in favour of the hosts: the fans in the away sector reacted furiously, with some of them throwing plastic bottles in direction of one of the ball boys. The game still went ahead, as six minutes of extra time were added at the end of the second half. The K League administration decided to open an official investigation on the controversial events.[5][6]
When asked to talk about the incidents, Gangwon's director Lee Young-pyo originally dismissed them, pointing out that similar instances were already common in European football, but later apologized, saying that he felt "direct responsibility" for the "unsmooth match" and promising that he would work so that Gangwon FC would become "a mature club" in the future.[5] Meanwhile, on 21 December, just hours before K League's final disciplinary meeting took place, the Daejeon board released an official response to the matter, stating that there was "clear evidence of the game delays being intentional and organized", as well as noticing that such acts violated the league's Code of Ethics for fair play and respect.[5][7]
In the end, the league's administration decided to keep the final score unchanged: however, Gangwon FC was fined 30 million South Korean Won (US$25,000) for the episodes of time wasting, whereas Daejeon Hana Citizen was fined 2 million South Korean Won (US$1,677) for their fans' behavior towards one of the ball boys.[5][6]