Popular Gimhae → Yongin → Paju 3 cities submit applications to join the K League

Jul 01, 2025

Popular Gimhae → Yongin → Paju 3 cities submit applications to join the K League
자료사진. Photo courtesy = Korea Professional Football Federation



The number of K-League members is expected to increase. Gimhae City (Mayor Hong Tae-yong), Yongin Special City (Mayor Lee Sang-il), and Paju City (Mayor Kim Kyung-il) in Gyeonggi Province submitted applications to the Korea Professional Football Federation (President Kwon Oh-gap).

Gimhae City and Paju City plan to convert Gimhae FC 2008 and Paju Citizens' Soccer Team, which belong to the K3 League, into professional soccer teams, respectively. It said it will use Gimhae Sports Complex and Paju Stadium as its home stadiums. Yongin Special City submitted an application to join the K-League, which has Yongin Mir Stadium as its home stadium, following the mayor's declaration of the establishment of a professional soccer team on March or later.

Applications from the three local governments have been hot, with the K-League exceeding 3 million paid spectators for the past two consecutive years, and this seems to reflect expectations for the league's continued success and growth potential.




Based on the documents submitted by each city, the Professional Football Federation will conduct a review and supplementation process according to the relevant regulations. It plans to hold a board meeting within 60 days to conduct deliberations. Applications that have passed the deliberation of the board of directors will then be presented to the general meeting, and the final approval will be decided.

Meanwhile, the K-League is running the league with 12 K-League 1 teams and 14 K-League 2 teams (division 2) holding Hwaseong FC in its arms in the 2025 season.






This article was translated by Naver AI translator.