R League

R League
Organising body	K League Federation
Founded	1990
Country	South Korea
Number of clubs	16
Current champions	Group A:; FC Seoul; Group B:; Pohang Steelers ; (2019)
Most championships	FC Seoul (10 titles)

The R League (Korean: R리그), also known as the Korean Professional Football Reserve League, is the league for reserve teams of professional football clubs in South Korea.

History

The Korean Reserve League was started in 1990 with reserve teams of five K League clubs.^[1]^[2]

It was not held for nine years after the inaugural season, but was relaunched in a new format in 2000. The participating teams were split into two or three group leagues, and the highest ranking teams of each league qualified for playoffs to determine the overall champions. It was renamed "R League" in 2009.^[3] The Korea Police FC participated in the R League until 2012, although it was not a reserve team of a K League club.

The R League was abolished in 2013 following the foundation of the K League 2, which needed participating players,^[4] but was restarted in 2016.^[5] It was once again ceased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the Korea Football Association (KFA) allowed reserve teams to join the football league pyramid through the semi-professional K3 League and K4 League.^[6] Plans to resume the R League were scrapped due to a lack of participating teams as a number of teams elected to participate in the K4 League instead.^[7]

Champions

Champions by season

Reserve League (1990)

Edition	Season	Single league
1	1990	POSCO Atoms

Reserve League (2000–2005)

Edition	Season	Championship	Central League	Southern League
2	2000	Anyang LG Cheetahs	Anyang LG Cheetahs	Jeonnam Dragons
3	2001	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	Pohang Steelers
4	2002	Anyang LG Cheetahs	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	Gwangju Sangmu Bulsajo
5	2003	Not held	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	Jeonnam Dragons
6	2004	FC Seoul	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	Pohang Steelers
7	2005	Bucheon SK	FC Seoul	Jeonnam Dragons

Reserve League (2006–2008)

Edition	Season	Championship	Group A	Group B	Group C
8	2006	Incheon United	FC Seoul	Incheon United	Jeonnam Dragons
9	2007	Pohang Steelers	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	Jeju United	Pohang Steelers
10	2008	Incheon United	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	Gyeongnam FC	Not held

R League (2009)

Edition	Season	Championship	Group A	Group B	Group C
11	2009	Incheon United	Incheon United	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Pohang Steelers

R League (2010–present)

Edition	Season	Single league	Group A	Group B
12	2010	Not held	FC Seoul	Pohang Steelers
13	2011		Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	Sangju Sangmu Phoenix
14	2012		Korean Police	Busan IPark
15	2016		FC Seoul	Daegu FC
16	2017	Ulsan Hyundai	Not held
17	2018	Not held	FC Seoul	Daejeon Citizen
18	2019	Not held	FC Seoul	Pohang Steelers
19	2022	Unknown

Performance by club

K League's principle of official statistics is that final club succeeds to predecessor club's history & records.^[8]

Club	Group	National titles	Group titles	Total
FC Seoul	A	3 (2000, 2002, 2004)	7 (2000, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2016, 2018, 2019)	10
Incheon United	A	3 (2006, 2008, 2009)	2 (2006, 2009)	5
Pohang Steelers	B	2 (1990, 2007)	6 (2001, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2019)	8
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	A	1 (2001)	7 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011)	8
Jeju United	B	1 (2005)	1 (2007)	2
Ulsan Hyundai	B	1 (2017)	—	1
Jeonnam Dragons	B	—	4 (2000, 2003, 2005, 2006)	4
Sangju Sangmu Phoenix	B	—	2 (2002, 2011)	2
Gyeongnam FC	B	—	1 (2008)	1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	B	—	1 (2009)	1
Korean Police	A	—	1 (2012)	1
Busan IPark	B	—	1 (2012)	1
Daegu FC	B	—	1 (2016)	1
Daejeon Citizen	B	—	1 (2018)	1

Awards

Most Valuable Player

Season	Player	Club
1990	Choi Moon-sik	POSCO Atoms
2000	Kim Woo-jae	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2001	Back Young-chul	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2002	Park Dong-suk	Anyang LG Cheetahs
2003	Not awarded
2004	Han Dong-won	FC Seoul
2005	Yoo Hyun-goo	Bucheon SK
2006	Lee Keun-ho	Incheon United
2007	Lee Won-jae	Pohang Steelers
2008	Kang Su-il	Incheon United
2009	Kim Sun-woo	Incheon United

Top goalscorer

Season	Player^[9]	Club	Goals	Apps	Ratio
1990	Kim Dong-hae	Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso	7	?	?
2000	Wang Jung-hyun	Anyang LG Cheetahs	8	8	1.00
2001	Hwang In-soo	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	10	13	0.77
2002	Lee Sun-woo	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	7	13	0.54
2003	Back Young-chul	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	8	13	0.62
2004	Bu Young-tae	Busan IPark	8	8	1.00
2005	Han Dong-won	FC Seoul	10	20	0.50
2006	Song Keun-soo	Gwangju Sangmu	11	16	0.69
2007	Yoon Jun-soo	Jeonnam Dragons	8	16	0.50
2008	Yoo Chang-hyun	Pohang Steelers	13	23	0.57
2009	Song Je-heon	Daegu FC	8	13	0.62
2010	Eraldo Anício Gomes	Jeju United	7	4	1.75
2011	Jung Sung-min	Gangwon FC	10	17	0.59
2012	Kim Young-hoo	Korean Police	11	14	0.79
2016	Han Hong-gyu	Ansan Mugunghwa	9	10	0.9
2017	Kim Hee-won	Seoul E-Land	11	16	0.69
2018	Kwon Ki-pyo	Pohang Steelers	14	19	0.74
2019	Jeon Hyeon-chul	Daegu FC	13	11	1.18

Top assist provider

Season	Player^[9]	Club	Assists	Apps	Ratio
1990	Ahn Ki-chul	Daewoo Royals	?	?	?
2000	Shin Jong-hyok	Pohang Steelers	6	12	0.50
2001	Lee Jung-woon	Pohang Steelers	5	13	0.38
2002	Kim Woo-jae	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	6	18	0.33
2003	Park Won-jae	Pohang Steelers	4	13	0.31
2004	Jang Dong-hyun	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	5	17	0.29
2005	Yu Hyun-goo	Jeju United	8	21	0.38
2006	Lee Keun-ho	Incheon United	7	20	0.35
2007	Hwang Jin-sung	Pohang Steelers	5	5	1.00
2008	Lee Tae-young	Pohang Steelers	7	21	0.33
2009	Choi Sung-hyun	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	5	7	0.71
2010	Kim Eun-hu	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6	10	0.60
2011	Sin Jin-ho	Pohang Steelers	7	17	0.41
2012	Choi Jin-soo	Ulsan Hyundai	5	10	0.50
2016	Kim Dae-won	Daegu FC	5	13	0.38
2017	Kim Soo-beom	Jeju United	5	9	0.56
2018	Song Min-kyu	Pohang Steelers	8	18	0.44
2019	Park Tae-jun	Seongnam FC	7	8	0.88

References

^ 프로축구 2군리그 5개구단 내년 창설 (in Korean). Mail Business Newspaper. 6 December 1989.
^ 도시연고제 도입 등 탈바꿈 시도 (in Korean). K League.
^ K-리그-2군 리그 'R-리그', 30일 개막 (in Korean). K League. 30 March 2009.
^ R리그 내년부터 폐지 왜? (in Korean). Sports Donga. 16 September 2011.
^ K리그 챌린지, 3월 26일 개막... 부산 vs 안산 격돌 (in Korean). InterFootball. 26 January 2016.
^ Yoon, Eun-yong (19 January 2021). "K리그 구단들, 올해부터 B팀 운영 가능" [Starting this year, K League teams can operate a B team]. Sports Kyunghyang (in Korean). Retrieved 23 January 2025.
^ "사라진 R리그, 적은 출전기회… U20 대표팀 경기감각 우려" [Disappearance of R League leads to lack of playing opportunities, concern for U20 national team's match sense]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 9 May 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
^ "The Official K-League Almanac" (in Korean). K-League editorial division.
^ ^a ^b "K League Data Portal" (in Korean). K League. Retrieved 19 June 2021.

External links

Results (2000–2002) at Soccer World (in Korean)

[1] 프로축구 2군리그 5개구단 내년 창설 (in Korean). Mail Business Newspaper. 6 December 1989.

[2] 도시연고제 도입 등 탈바꿈 시도 (in Korean). K League.

[3] K-리그-2군 리그 'R-리그', 30일 개막 (in Korean). K League. 30 March 2009.

[4] R리그 내년부터 폐지 왜? (in Korean). Sports Donga. 16 September 2011.

[5] K리그 챌린지, 3월 26일 개막... 부산 vs 안산 격돌 (in Korean). InterFootball. 26 January 2016.

[6] Yoon, Eun-yong (19 January 2021). "K리그 구단들, 올해부터 B팀 운영 가능" [Starting this year, K League teams can operate a B team]. Sports Kyunghyang (in Korean). Retrieved 23 January 2025.

[7] "사라진 R리그, 적은 출전기회… U20 대표팀 경기감각 우려" [Disappearance of R League leads to lack of playing opportunities, concern for U20 national team's match sense]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 9 May 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2025.

[8] "The Official K-League Almanac" (in Korean). K-League editorial division.

[Data-9] "K League Data Portal" (in Korean). K League. Retrieved 19 June 2021.

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