The Future of Korean Soccer Runs! 2025 GROUND.NK League Youth Championship opens on the 11th

Jul 10, 2025

The '2025 GROUND.N K League Youth Championship', in which all young players from the K League, the future of Korean soccer, will participate, will begin on the 11th.

The K-League Youth Championship is a competition in which all youth teams under all K-League clubs participate, starting in 2015 and marking the 11th anniversary this year.

The K-League Youth Championship has produced numerous K-League prospects. Yang Min-hyuk, who won the K League 1 Young Player Award at the same time as his debut last year and moved to Tottenham Hotspur, Han Hyun-seo (Pohang) and Park Seung-soo (Suwon), who are considered the best newcomers in the K League this season, are all from this tournament.

The K-League U-18&17 Championship will be held in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, for a total of 13 days from the 12th to the 24th. The 18-year-old tournament, which will involve 25 teams, will be divided into seven groups and will go through the round of 16 tournaments. The final match will be held at Cheonan Football Center at 7 p.m. on the 24th.

Twenty-five teams will also participate in the U-17 Championship, a lower-grade tournament, and play the final match at Cheonan Football Center at 7 p.m. on the 23rd after seven groups and quarterfinals tournaments.

The secondary K-League Under-15&14 Championship will be held in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, from Aug. 9-21. The 15-year-old tournament, in which 25 teams participate, will be divided into seven groups and will go through the group stage before the round of 16 tournaments, and the final will be held at Cheonan Football Center at 7 p.m. on August 21. A total of 25 teams will participate in the U-14 tournament for the lower grades to play the quarterfinals through the group stage, and the final will be held at Cheonan Football Center at 7 p.m. on August 20.

The high and middle school tournaments will be broadcast live from the tournament on the official K League Youth YouTube channel, and the final will also be broadcast live on TV on Sky Sports Channel.

Finally, the K-League U-12&11 Championship, an elementary school tournament, will be held in Yeongdeok-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do for a total of seven days from the 11th to the 17th. A total of 30 teams will participate in the U-12 tournament, including 26 K-League U-12 teams and four invited J-League teams (Gamba Osaka, Kashima Antlers, Banpo Re Gofu and Sagan Dos). In the U-11 tournament, 25 K-League teams will participate in the group stage. There are no tournaments in either tournament.

The K League Youth Championship has established itself as the best youth competition in Korea over the past decade by making various attempts to improve the skills of youth players. This year, high-quality competition operations will continue in consideration of the team, including providing video analysis data for all games, providing physical data using EPTS, holding night games, and conducting cooling brakes.

In addition, Nexon, which serves EASPORTS™ FC Online in Korea, will be the title sponsor of the K League Youth Championship for the fourth consecutive year. The Korea Professional Football Federation and Nexon jointly launched the K-League Youth Soccer Support Project 'GROUND.N' in 2022 and are conducting various activities such as the championship and stove league.

Reporter Park Chan-joon vanbasten@sportschosun.com

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.