'Approval to join Hwaseong FC' With 14 K League 2 teams in the 2025 season 'Reorganization'...Defective grass → Stadium replaceable

Dec 01, 2024

K League 2 will be reorganized into 14 teams from the 2025 season.

Hwaseong FC's K-League membership agenda has been passed. The Korea Professional Football Federation held its 5th board meeting at the Swiss Grand Hotel in Hongeun-dong, Seoul, where the K-League Grand Awards ceremony was held on the 29th, and approved Hwaseong's membership. The board of directors reviewed the size of Hwaseong's population, the level of local government support, and the specifications and facilities of Hwaseong Sports Complex, its home stadium, and determined that Hwaseong had enough conditions to participate in the K-League.

Hwaseong's K-League membership will go through the final approval process at the regular general meeting scheduled for January next year. As it has already passed the board of directors, there are no major obstacles. If Hwaseong's membership is confirmed, it will participate in K League 2 from the 2025 season. K League 2 is operated by 14 teams playing 39 games per team.

Hwaseong's entry into the K-League was reported as an exclusive report by Sports Chosun on the 21st of last month. Hwaseong submitted its membership application to the federation in late October. Founded in 2013, Hwaseong started in the fourth division of the Challengers League. Hwaseong, which ranked third in its first year, won the championship in 2014, the following year, and quickly rose to the rank of powerhouse. After winning again in 2019, he became the first team in the fourth division to reach the semifinals in the FA Cup (the predecessor of the Korea Cup). Hwaseong, which came to the K3 League (third division) with the league reorganization in 2020, won another championship in 2023.

With a budget of more than 5 billion won a year, 35,270-seat home stadium (Hwasong Gyeonggi Town) and an average of more than 1,000 spectators, Hwaseong has been fiddling with the professionalization card early on. Hwaseong City, which has been working behind the scenes for professionalization since last year, has made the move in earnest this year. Following the formation of a professional TF team, it formed a civic consensus through various activities such as the 「Million Hwaseong Boom Up Project」 and prepared to enter the professional market step by step.

At the same time, Hwaseong also worked on forming a team. He was the first to appoint a coach. As a result of holding a personnel committee to select candidates, Cha Du-ri, the former coach of the A national team, is likely to be the first coach. With the addition of Hwaseong, the schedule of next year's K League 2 will return to its normal structure. As 13 clubs played this year, one club had an unnecessary break.

Meanwhile, the K League 2's Southeast Asian quota will be abolished starting next year. Following the abolition of the Asian quarter from 2025, the Southeast Asian quarter, which remained only in the K League 2, will be eliminated. Instead, one more foreign player can be registered regardless of nationality. From the 2025 season, the quota of foreign players in the K League will consist of up to six registered players and four simultaneously in the K League 1, and up to five registered players in the K League 2.

It also came up with a plan to solve the grass problem that has been a drag on the K-League all year. If the ground condition is so bad that it is not possible to play a normal game, the federation has established a new ground rule that allows the federation to change home and away stadiums or impose an obligation on the home team to find a third stadium. The purpose is to raise the level of the game and prevent injuries, as well as to give responsibility and awareness to the stadium management entity.

If it is necessary to adjust the game schedule to support clubs participating in international competitions such as the Asian Champions League (ACL) and the FIFA Club World Cup, the federation will be able to adjust the schedule ex officio without the consent of the other team, and disciplinary standards have been added to allow the reward and punishment committee to discipline the existing financial committee in violation of fiscal consolidation regulations.

vanbasten@sportschosun.com