The K League 1 Wrap-Up: The Relegation Battle Continues

After a weekend of few talking points, columnist 

Nathan Sartain recaps all of the action from Round 37 of the 2025 K League 1 season.

The Race For Second Place

Towards the top of the table, the battle for a second-place finish can now only be decided on the final day of the 2025 K League 1 season.

Currently occupying this spot are Daejeon Hana Citizen, who drew 1-1 with Gangwon FC on Saturday. For a while, the Purples appeared comfortable against the Bears, leveraging Kang Yoon-sung’s precise curling opener to gain momentum and look for further inroads. However, a triple substitution for Gangwon early in the second-half freshened them up, and two minutes later Park Sang-hyeok equalised for the away side on the hour mark. From there Jung Kyung-ho’s men had plenty of the ball in promising areas, they just couldn’t find a winner.

Sitting just one point behind Daejeon is Gimcheon Sangmu, who defeated FC Seoul 3-1 on their travels thanks to a pair of late goals that followed a Choi Jun red card. Nevertheless, the military side were generally more impressive throughout proceedings, playing with greater pace, purpose and efficiency whilst Seoul struggled to capitalise on their own periods of pressure which largely came once Moon Seon-min was introduced.

Next Sunday, then, Daejeon travel to Gimcheon Sangmu in the decider for who will finish second, with the Purples only needing a draw to stay where they are. Daejeon have the advantage over the military side this year too, having already beaten them twice.

Suwon FC Take it to the Final Day

Owing to their defensively resolute showing, Suwon FC’s 1-0 away victory over FC Anyang, coupled with Ulsan HD’s 2-0 defeat to Gwangju FC, has meant that the race for automatic survival will go down to the proverbial wire.

Initially, Suwon’s trip to Anyang was a rather scrappy end-to-end affair. Both teams won the ball high up the pitch from each other, yet were unable to offer any real clinical edge in open play. Then, Lee Jae-won’s excellent effort from outside the box suddenly broke the deadlock in the 20th minute, in turn allowing the visitors to somewhat settle themselves. Still, that didn’t exactly stop Anyang from coming close on a number of occasions both before and after the interval, as the Violets started to dominate play.

With that being said, Suwon regained their bearings towards the end of the game, and began to look more likely to score a second than concede. At home to Gwangju next week, Kim Eun-jung’s men will need to show the same kind of sturdy self-belief to stand any chance of leapfrogging Ulsan HD, who themselves require a victory at home to Jeju SK to guarantee survival.

On the topic of Ulsan, they could not deal with Gwangju’s tight defensive structure this weekend, partly due to the home side’s luxury of being able to sit in a low block whenever necessary after taking the lead in the third minute. Of course, the Horangi did still have a few chances to draw level, but once Choi Kyoung-rok extended his side’s lead to 2-0 any glimmers of hope fizzled out for last year’s champions.

As such, Ulsan are now just three points ahead of Suwon FC heading into the final round, with Suwon boasting the potentially important goals scored advantage.

Daegu FC Draw Against Jeju SK

Just like the above races, following a 1-1 draw with their direct rivals Jeju SK, Daegu FC have taken the fight to avoid automatic relegation to the final day.

Here, Daegu began quickly, testing Kim Dong-jun in the Jeju goal straight away, and generally controlling possession. Jeju did have some opportunities in transition, though, before taking the lead through a powerful Yuri Jonathan header. Suddenly, the Sky Blues had their work cut out for them, needing to push for an equaliser whilst cautiously ensuring they didn’t fall any further behind.

In the second-half, the introduction of Edgar for Daegu helped balance their attack, giving a strong target-man focal point, yet still the visitors couldn’t quite get a consistent foothold. That was until Hwang Jae-won’s through ball found its way through the centre of Jeju's defence, ready to be finished by Geovani, who dinked the ball into the net. And, after surviving a scare from another Yuri Jonathan header, the Sky Blues believed they had taken the lead late in the day as Edgar rose highest to power the ball home from a pinpoint Hwang Jae-won cross.

That wasn’t to be the case. VAR intervention deemed there to be a foul in the buildup, a decision debatable enough to cause controversy that it mightn’t have been a clear and obvious enough error to overturn what could have been such an important goal, and a moment that immediately gave Jeju spark to almost take the lead. That said, Han Tae-hee in the Daegu goal was ready to match anything that came his way, and once that small flurry of action ended an air of caution lingered over both teams, as neither appeared willing to throw everything at potential victory.

There was to be one last nearly moment for Daegu, however, when Kim Ju-gong’s close-range shot was narrowly dragged past the post in the final seconds of the 12 minutes of stoppage time. So, now the task for the Sky Blues is simple: they have to win their final game of the season at home to FC Anyang, and hope that Jeju lose against Ulsan HD. Anything else would, simply put, see them relegated. The Tangerines, meanwhile, know that regardless of results elsewhere, a draw next weekend guarantees them a spot in the promotion/relegation playoff against Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

What Else Happened in Round 37?

In a game of few chances, Pohang Steelers played out a 0-0 home draw with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. There’s little to analyse here as the stakes were already admittedly low for this contest going into the weekend, but the Steelers have now confirmed a fourth-place finish for the 2025 season, which will see them remain in continental competitions next year, and potentially land in the AFC Champions League Elite.

That's all for this week! The final column of the season will be out next Sunday after what should be an exciting final Round.

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