All 26 K-League clubs acquired 2026 K-League 1 licenses. Asan, South Chungcheong Province, is also issued with overdue wages for the team.

Oct 24, 2025

All 26 K-League clubs acquired 2026 K-League 1 licenses. Asan, South Chungcheong Province, is also issued with overdue wages for the team.
Korea Professional Football Association



All of the K-League 1 and 226 clubs have acquired all the K-League 1 licenses that correspond to the qualifications to participate in the K-League 1 in the 2026 season. The Club Qualification Review Committee approved the issuance of 26 clubs that applied for the '2026 K League 1 License' through a meeting on the 22nd.

The Club Qualification Review Committee is an independent organization that deliberates on the issuance of K-League club licenses, evaluating whether the club meets the criteria under the 「K-League Club Licensing Regulations」 based on documents submitted by the club and on-site inspection results every year and deciding whether to issue a license. The criteria for issuing K-League licenses consist of a total of seven areas, including 'Sports, Facilities, Personnel and Administration, Legal, Finance, Marketing and Sales, and Social Responsibility'.

At the meeting held on the 22nd, the license review was conducted based on documents submitted by each club.




All 26 K-League clubs acquired 2026 K-League 1 licenses. Asan, South Chungcheong Province, is also issued with overdue wages for the team.
Courtesy of the Korea Professional Football Association
In particular, in the case of Chungnam Asan FC, which recently experienced arrears of players' wages due to financial difficulties, it approved the issuance of licenses after comprehensively reviewing the report submitted by the club and future financial statements. However, if the issue of overdue wages is not resolved within this year, it has decided to reconsider whether to cancel the issuance of the license.

As a result of this, all K-League clubs will acquire the '2026 K-League 1 License', and the team participating in the K-League 1 in the 2026 season will be determined by the final league performance this season.

Meanwhile, at the meeting, the committee reviewed some of the K League 2 club licensing standards in preparation for the introduction of the K League 2?K3 league platform system, which is scheduled to take effect next year, and discussed ways to strengthen the standards for stadium and training site facilities.






Reporter Lee Won-man wman@sportschosun.com






This article was translated by Naver AI translator.