2021 K League 2

Hana 1Q
K League 2

Season	2021
Dates	27 February – 31 October 2021 [1]
Champions	Gimcheon Sangmu (1st title)
Promoted	Gimcheon Sangmu
Champions League	Jeonnam Dragons (via Korean FA Cup)
Matches played	180
Goals scored	435 (2.42 per match)
Best Player	An Byong-jun
Top goalscorer	An Byong-jun (23 goals)
← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 K League 2 was the ninth season of the K League 2, the second-tier South Korean professional football league. The champions and the winners of the promotion play-offs could be promoted to the K League 1.

Teams

Team changes

Sangju Sangmu was renamed Gimcheon Sangmu and moved its city to Gimcheon before the season.

Relegated from K League 1

• Sangju Sangmu (renamed Gimcheon Sangmu)
• Busan IPark

Promoted to K League 1

• Jeju United
• Suwon FC

Locations

Bucheon

Seoul E

Anyang

Ansan

Gyeongnam

Gimcheon

Daejeon

Busan

Chungnam Asan

Jeonnam

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Locations of the 2021 K League 2 teams

Team	City/Province	Abbreviation
Ansan Greeners	Ansan	Ansan
FC Anyang	Anyang	Anyang
Bucheon FC 1995	Bucheon	Bucheon
Busan IPark	Busan	Busan
Chungnam Asan	Asan	Chungnam Asan
Daejeon Hana Citizen	Daejeon	Daejeon
Gimcheon Sangmu	Gimcheon	Gimcheon
Gyeongnam FC	Gyeongnam	Gyeongnam
Jeonnam Dragons	Jeonnam	Jeonnam
Seoul E-Land	Seoul	Seoul E

Stadiums

Ansan Greeners	FC Anyang	Bucheon FC 1995	Busan IPark	Chungnam Asan
Ansan Wa~ Stadium	Anyang Stadium	Bucheon Stadium	Busan Gudeok Stadium	Yi Sun-sin Stadium
Capacity: 35,000	Capacity: 17,143	Capacity: 34,456	Capacity: 12,349	Capacity: 17,376
Daejeon Hana Citizen	Gimcheon Sangmu	Gyeongnam FC	Jeonnam Dragons	Seoul E-Land
Daejeon World Cup Stadium	Gimcheon Stadium	Changwon Football Center	Gwangyang Stadium	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Capacity: 40,535	Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 15,074	Capacity: 13,496	Capacity: 69,950

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Main sponsor
Ansan Greeners	Kim Gil-sik	Kappa	Ansan Government
FC Anyang	Lee Woo-hyung	Joma	Anyang Government
Bucheon FC 1995	Lee Young-min	Kappa	Bucheon Government
Busan IPark	Ricardo Peres	Adidas	HDC Group
Chungnam Asan	Park Dong-hyuk	Mizuno	Asan Government
Daejeon Hana Citizen	Lee Min-sung	Astore	Hana Financial Group
Gimcheon Sangmu	Kim Tae-wan	Kelme	Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps Gimcheon Government
Gyeongnam FC	Seol Ki-hyeon	Hummel	Gyeongnam Provincial Government
Jeonnam Dragons	Jeon Kyung-jun	Puma	POSCO
Seoul E-Land	Chung Jung-yong	New Balance	E-Land

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing	Manner	Date	Incoming	Date	Table
Busan IPark	Lee Ki-hyung (caretaker)	Caretaker	25 November 2020	Ricardo Peres	25 November 2020 [2]	Pre-season

Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to five per team, including a slot for a player from AFC and ASEAN countries. A team could use four foreign players on the field each game.

Military-owned team Gimcheon Sangmu is not allowed to sign any foreign players.

North Korean player An Byong-jun was deemed as a native player in K League by South Korean nationality law and passport.

Players in bold are players who join midway through the competition. ^[3]

Team	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC player	ASEAN player	Former player(s)
Ansan Greeners	Santiago De Sagastizabal	Anderson Canhoto	Róbson Duarte	Go Iwase	Asnawi Mangkualam
FC Anyang	Nilson Júnior	Jonathan Moya	Maxwell Acosty	Ryosuke Tamura
Bucheon FC 1995	Crislan	Wataru Murofushi
Busan IPark	Domagoj Drožđek	Valentinos Sielis	Renato Santos	Ryan Edwards
Chungnam Asan	Alex Sandro	Matheus Alves				Ryohei Michibuchi
Daejeon Hana Citizen	Bruno Baio	Matheus Pato	Masatoshi Ishida	Ikromjon Alibaev		Edinho
Gyeongnam FC	Hernandes	Willyan
Jeonnam Dragons	Alex Martins	Jonathan Balotelli	Samuel Nnamani	Oleg Zoteyev
Seoul E-Land	Nicolás Benegas	William Barbio	Leandro Ribeiro	Yuki Kobayashi

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Gimcheon Sangmu (C)	36	20	11	5	60	34	+26	71	Promotion to K League 1
2	FC Anyang	36	17	11	8	51	37	+14	62	Qualification for promotion play-offs semi-final
3	Daejeon Hana Citizen	36	17	7	12	53	48	+5	58	Qualification for promotion play-offs first round
4	Jeonnam Dragons	36	13	13	10	38	33	+5	52	Qualification for Champions League group stage and promotion play-offs first round [lower-alpha 1]
5	Busan IPark	36	12	9	15	46	56	−10	45
6	Gyeongnam FC	36	11	10	15	40	45	−5	43
7	Ansan Greeners	36	11	10	15	37	49	−12	43
8	Chungnam Asan	36	11	8	17	38	41	−3	41
9	Seoul E-Land	36	8	13	15	40	39	+1	37
10	Bucheon FC 1995	36	9	10	17	32	53	−21	37

Source: K League Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference; 4) Wins; 5) Head-to-head points
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Qualified as Korean FA Cup champions.

Positions by matchday

  Leaders, promotion to K League 1
  Qualification for promotion play-offs semi-final
  Qualification for promotion play-offs first round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Gimcheon Sangmu	4	9	6	8	7	7	8	6	8	5	7	7	8	7	5	4	3	2	1	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
FC Anyang	2	4	5	9	8	6	4	3	1	1	1	2	3	3	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	3	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Daejeon Hana Citizen	2	4	8	3	2	1	1	1	2	2	3	3	2	1	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	4	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Jeonnam Dragons	6	3	2	5	6	4	2	2	3	3	2	1	1	2	1	1	2	3	3	2	3	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Busan IPark	10	7	10	4	5	8	7	8	6	7	5	6	4	4	6	5	5	5	5	4	4	5	5	5	6	6	7	7	7	7	5	5	5	5	5	5
Gyeongnam FC	8	10	9	9	10	10	10	9	9	8	8	8	7	6	4	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	5	5	6	6	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6
Ansan Greeners	4	2	4	2	3	5	4	4	5	6	4	4	5	5	7	8	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	8	7	7	7
Chungnam Asan	6	8	3	7	4	3	6	7	7	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	9	9	8	8	7	7	7	5	5	6	6	8	8	7	8	8	8
Bucheon FC 1995	8	6	7	6	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9
Seoul E-Land	1	1	1	1	1	2	3	5	4	4	6	5	6	8	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10

Source: K League

Results

Matches 1–18

Home \ Away	ASG	AYG	BCN	BSI	CNAS	DJC	GCS	GNM	JND	SUE
Ansan Greeners	—	3–2	2–2	2–3	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–1
FC Anyang	1–2	—	2–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0
Bucheon FC 1995	0–1	0–0	—	0–2	1–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
Busan IPark	1–1	4–5	1–1	—	0–0	4–1	2–1	2–3	0–1	0–3
Chungnam Asan	0–2	2–2	0–1	4–0	—	3–1	1–2	2–1	0–1	0–0
Daejeon Hana Citizen	0–0	1–2	4–1	1–2	1–1	—	1–2	2–1	1–1	2–1
Gimcheon Sangmu	3–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	—	1–2	1–1	2–0
Gyeongnam FC	1–1	1–2	3–0	1–2	2–1	1–2	1–2	—	0–2	0–0
Jeonnam Dragons	2–0	0–1	0–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	2–1	1–0	—	3–0
Seoul E-Land	1–0	1–2	4–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	4–0	1–1	1–1	—

Source: K League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36

Home \ Away	ASG	AYG	BCN	BSI	CNAS	DJC	GCS	GNM	JND	SUE
Ansan Greeners	—	1–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	3–1	1–1	0–3
FC Anyang	1–1	—	4–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–2	0–0	1–1	2–1
Bucheon FC 1995	4–3	0–1	—	0–0	0–0	4–2	0–1	2–3	1–2	0–3
Busan IPark	4–0	1–3	0–1	—	2–1	1–1	0–6	1–0	0–1	1–1
Chungnam Asan	0–1	0–2	1–0	3–2	—	3–4	1–2	2–1	0–0	2–1
Daejeon Hana Citizen	4–1	3–1	1–1	3–1	1–0	—	1–4	1–0	2–1	0–2
Gimcheon Sangmu	1–0	2–4	2–0	2–2	2–0	2–1	—	0–0	3–1	3–1
Gyeongnam FC	0–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–3	—	0–2	3–3
Jeonnam Dragons	2–3	1–2	1–2	2–0	0–3	0–0	2–2	0–0	—	1–0
Seoul E-Land	0–0	0–1	1–2	1–2	1–3	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	—

Source: K League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion play-offs

The first round was contested between the third and fourth-placed teams, and the runners-up directly advanced to the second round. When the first and second round matches were finished as draws, their winners were decided on the regular season rankings without extra time and penalty shoot-outs. The winners of the second round competed with eleven-placed team of the K League 1 in the two-legged final for a K League 1 spot of the next season.

Bracket

	First round					Semi-final					Final
						2	FC Anyang	1
						3	Daejeon Hana Citizen	3
	3	Daejeon Hana Citizen	0
	4	Jeonnam Dragons	0
											Daejeon Hana Citizen		1	1	2
											Gangwon FC		0	4	4

First round

3 November 2021

19:00 KST

Daejeon Hana Citizen	0–0	Jeonnam Dragons
	Report

Hanbat Sports Complex, Daejeon

Attendance: 1,982

Referee: Ahn Jae-hoon

Semi-final

7 November 2021

14:00 KST

FC Anyang	1–3	Daejeon Hana Citizen
Jonathan Moya 12'	Report	Park Jin-sub 32' Bruno Baio 69', 85'

Anyang Stadium, Anyang

Attendance: 2,789

Referee: Park Byung-jin

Final

8 December 2021

19:00 KST

Daejeon Hana Citizen	1–0	Gangwon FC
Lee Hyeon-sik 51'

Hanbat Sports Complex, Daejeon

---

12 December 2021

14:00 KST

Gangwon FC	4–1	Daejeon Hana Citizen
Lee Ji-sol 26' (o.g.) Lim Chae-min 28' Han Kook-young 31' Hwang Mun-ki 90+3'		Lee Jong-hyeon 17'

Gangneung Stadium, Gangneung

Gangwon FC won 4–2 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player [4]	Club	Goals
1	An Byong-jun	Busan IPark	23
2	Jonathan Moya	FC Anyang	13
	Park Chang-joon	Bucheon FC 1995
4	Willyan	Gyeongnam FC	11
	Jonathan Balotelli	Jeonnam Dragons
6	Hernandes	Gyeongnam FC	10
7	Masatoshi Ishida	Daejeon Hana Citizen	9
	Park Dong-jin	Gimcheon Sangmu
	Kim Ryun-do	Ansan Greeners
10	Cho Gue-sung	Gimcheon Sangmu	8
	Lee Jong-ho	Jeonnam Dragons
	Park Jeong-in	Busan IPark
	Róbson Duarte	Ansan Greeners
	Kim In-kyun	Chungnam Asan

Top assist providers

Rank	Player [4]	Club	Assists
1	Joo Hyeon-woo	FC Anyang	8
2	Leandro Ribeiro	Seoul E-Land	7
3	Park Tae-jun	FC Anyang	6
	Baek Sung-dong	Gyeongnam FC
	Lee Sang-min	Ansan Greeners
6	Kim Seung-seob	Daejeon Hana Citizen	5
	Lee Hyeon-sik	Daejeon Hana Citizen
8	9 players		4

Awards

Weekly awards

Round Player of the Round Player Club 1 Jang Yun-ho Seoul E-Land 2 Nicolás Benegas Seoul E-Land 3 Willyan Gyeongnam FC 4 An Byong-jun Busan IPark 5 Ko Jae-hyeon Seoul E-Land 6 Mo Jae-hyeon FC Anyang 7 Kim Hyeon-uk Jeonnam Dragons 8 Hernandes Gyeongnam FC 9 Chang Hyuk-jin Gyeongnam FC 10 Jung Min-ki FC Anyang 11 Hwang Jun-ho Busan IPark 12 Kim Dong-jin Gyeongnam FC 13 Park In-hyeok Daejeon Hana Citizen 14 Kim Kyung-jung FC Anyang 15 Jonathan Balotelli Jeonnam Dragons 16 An Byong-jun Busan IPark 17 Jonathan Moya FC Anyang 18 Heo Yong-joon Gimcheon Sangmu

Round Player of the Round Player Club 19 Choi Cheol-won Bucheon FC 1995 20 Hong Chang-beom FC Anyang 21 Park Jeong-in Busan IPark 22 Kim Seung-seob Daejeon Hana Citizen 23 Hwang Il-su Gyeongnam FC 24 Kim In-kyun Chungnam Asan 25 Seo Young-jae Daejeon Hana Citizen 26 Heo Yong-joon Gimcheon Sangmu 27 Lee Si-heon Bucheon FC 1995 28 Oh Hyun-gyu Gimcheon Sangmu 29 Kim In-sung Seoul E-Land 30 Cho Gue-sung Gimcheon Sangmu 31 Park Ji-soo Gimcheon Sangmu 32 Choi Jun Busan IPark 33 Masatohsi Ishida Daejeon Hana Citizen 34 Lee Hyeon-sik Daejeon Hana Citizen 35 Masatohsi Ishida Daejeon Hana Citizen 36 Lee Sang-min Ansan Greeners

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month
	Manager	Club	Division
March	Kim Sang-sik	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	1
April	Lee Woo-hyung	FC Anyang	2
May	Park Kun-ha	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1
June	Kim Tae-wan	Gimcheon Sangmu	2
July	Jo Sung-hwan	Incheon United	1
August	Hong Myung-bo	Ulsan Hyundai	1
September	Lee Byung-keun	Daegu FC	1
October	Nam Ki-il	Jeju United	1
November	An Ik-soo	FC Seoul	1

Annual awards

The 2021 K League Awards was held on 18 November 2021.

Award	Winner	Club
Most Valuable Player	An Byong-jun	Busan IPark
Young Player of the Year	Kim In-kyun	Chungnam Asan
Top goalscorer	An Byong-jun	Busan IPark
Top assist provider	Joo Hyeon-woo	FC Anyang
Manager of the Year	Kim Tae-wan	Gimcheon Sangmu

Position	Best XI
Goalkeeper	Gu Sung-yun (Gimcheon)
Defenders	Choi Jun (Busan)	Joo Hyeon-woo (Anyang)	Jung Seung-hyun (Gimcheon)	Seo Young-jae (Daejeon)
Midfielders	Masatoshi Ishida (Daejeon)	Park Jin-seop (Daejeon)	Kim Hyeon-uk (Jeonnam)	Kim Kyung-jung (Anyang)
Forwards	Jonathan Moya (Anyang)		An Byong-jun (Busan)

Controversies

On 12 December 2021, Gangwon FC and Daejeon Hana Citizen faced one another in the second leg of the Promotion-relegation play-offs, with the latter team finding himself in advantage after winning the first leg 1–0. Played at Gangneung Stadium, Gangwon's home soil, the match saw the hosts secure a 4–1 comeback victory and maintain their spot in K League 1. However, the game was marred by a series of incidents, occurring between the first and the second half. After Han Kook-young had scored Gangwon's third goal in the 31st minute, the ball boys around the stadium reportedly started to delay giving the ball back to Daejeon players, an event that happened multiple times during the match and was possibly meant to waste time in favour of the hosts: the fans in the away sector reacted furiously, with some of them throwing plastic bottles in direction of one of the ball boys. The game still went ahead, as six minutes of extra time were added at the end of the second half. The K League administration decided to open an official investigation on the controversial events. ^{[5] [6]}

When asked to talk about the incidents, Gangwon's director Lee Young-pyo originally dismissed them, pointing out that similar instances were already common in European football, but later apologized, saying that he felt "direct responsibility" for the "unsmooth match" and promising that he would work so that Gangwon FC would become "a mature club" in the future. ^[5] Meanwhile, on December 21, just hours before K League's final disciplinary meeting took place, the Daejeon board released an official response to the matter, stating that there was "clear evidence of the game delays being intentional and organized", as well as noticing that such acts violated the league's Code of Ethics for fair play and respect. ^{[5] [7]}

In the end, the league's administration decided to keep the final score unchanged: however, Gangwon FC was fined 30 million South Korean Won (US$25,000) for the episodes of time wasting, whereas Daejeon Hana Citizen was fined 2 million South Korean Won (US$1,677) for their fans' behavior towards one of the ball boys. ^{[5] [6]}

See also

• 2021 in South Korean football
• 2021 Korean FA Cup

References

1. [공식발표] K리그2, 2월 27일 개막..경남vs안양으로 스타트 (in Korean). InterFootball. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
2. "OFFICIAL | Busan IPark have appointed ex-Casa Pia manager Ricardo Peres as a new manager of the team". Twitter.com. Korea Football News. 25 November 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
3. "2021 K League 2 Foreign Players" (in Korean). K League. February 2022. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021.
4. "Record". K League. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
5. Neat, Paul (21 December 2021). "Gangwon FC fined for Playoff Final "ballboy controversy"". K League United. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
6. Lee, Seok-moo (21 December 2021). '볼보이 고의 지연 논란' 강원FC, 제재금 3천만원..."구단 책임 커". Naver (in Korean). Edaily. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
7. Kim, Myeong-seok (21 December 2021). "강원 볼보이 논란, 누군가 지시 없이는 불가능" 대전, 철저한 진상조사 요구. Naver (in Korean). Starnews Korea. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.

External links

• Official website