Yongin → Paju → Gimhae K League Successfully Enters, Expanding the System of 17 Clubs in the Second Division...Professional Federation Board Approves Membership
Aug 11, 2025
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Yongin FC in Gyeonggi Province, Paju Citizens' Soccer Team, and Gimhae FC in Gyeongnam have been approved for membership in the K League. The Korea Professional Football Federation held its fourth board meeting in 2025 at the Shinmun-ro Football Center in Seoul on the 11th and made the decision.
Gimhae is currently a strong team in third place this season as a member of the K3 League. It also has the latest sports complex completed in 2024. In this year's K3 League opener, 8,677 people visited the stadium and recorded the highest number of spectators in a single K3 League game, attracting a lot of attention from local residents.
The foundation was established in January this year to promote K-League membership, and all city council members signed support for K-League membership when they applied for membership in June, showing a strong will to become professional. If Gimhae's membership is confirmed, it will be the first time in 15 years since the establishment of Gwangju FC in 2011 that a new K-League team based in the southern region will participate.
Yongin City announced the establishment of a professional soccer team on March or more this year, and in April, the city council established an ordinance to support professional soccer teams. Recently, coach Choi Yoon-kyum and K-League Legend Lee Dong-guk, who have leadership careers in many K-League teams, were appointed as the first coach and technical director, respectively.
Yongin has a club secretariat and an age-specific youth club system based on the Yongin City Football Center established in 2001. Mir Stadium, which will be used as a home stadium, is considered an international competition-level facility, including hosting the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup and the Asian Champions League.
Paju Citizens' Soccer Team has participated in the K3 League since 2012. In the 2022 season, he was the runner-up in the K3 League. Paju will use Paju NFC, which used to be a training ground for national teams at all levels, as a club house until 2023.
It will be used not only for professional team clubhouses but also for youth development and club profit projects through external rentals, as it has six natural turf stadiums, one artificial turf stadium, and 75 accommodation buildings. If the membership of the Paju Citizen's Soccer Team is confirmed, it is expected to serve as a base for revitalizing the K-League in northern Gyeonggi Province, where there is currently no professional soccer team.
Ahead of the board meeting, the Professional Federation's secretariat conducted a membership adequacy assessment that included 41 detailed items in six areas, including business plans, infrastructure, local governments' will and local community interest, local competitiveness, local government financial conditions, and market size, and submitted the results to the board. With all three clubs receiving proper evaluation, the board of directors judged that all three clubs had conditions to participate in the K-League considering that Gimhae, Yongin, and Paju are large cities with a population of more than 500,000 people, the annual budget of local governments can be expected to be 2 trillion won to 3 trillion won, the home stadium and soccer infrastructure are equipped, and the completeness and validity of the business plan are sufficient.
The three clubs' membership in the K League will go through the final approval process at the regular general meeting in January next year. If the three clubs are confirmed to be members, a total of 17 teams will participate in the K League 2 in the 2026 season.
On the other hand, if a player changes his or her team to Gimcheon Sangmu for military service, the transfer form of the player was changed from 'Lease' to 'Consent to Military Service Player Participation'. This is aimed at preventing military service players from being included in the maximum number of people (6 people) that a team can send or receive players on loan under current FIFA regulations.
According to this revision, the form was changed to the 'Standard Lease Agreement for Military Players' drawn up by the original team of military players and Gimcheon.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
