R League
| Country |
 Korea Republic |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1990 |
| Number of teams | 14 |
| Current champions |
GLA FC Seoul (5th title) GLB Daegu FC (1st title) (2016) |
Korea Professional Football Reserve League (Hangul: R리그), or R League for short, is the league for reserve teams of professional association football clubs in South Korea.
The league started in 1990 with five reserve teams of K League member clubs -POSCO Atoms, Yukong Elephants, Daewoo Royals, Hyundai Horangi and Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso.[1][2] POSCO Atoms won the inaugural title, finishing two point ahead of Yukong Elephants to lift the crown.[3] But league was shortlived for only 1 year and reserve teams participated in semi-professional tournaments such as the National Football Championship.[4]
The competition was relaunched in 2000 with a dual league format. Nine reserve teams were divided into the Central League (currently Group League A) and the Southern League (currently Group League B). Each team played against the other teams in the same league for four times.
In 2001, Police FC joined the R League and Gwangju Sangmu's reserve team joined in 2002.
For the 2009 season, the R League was renamed to its current name[5] and thirteen of the fifteen K League clubs are fielding reserve teams in the league along with the Police FC, giving a total of fourteen participating clubs. Gangwon FC and Jeju United did not participate.
As part of the plan to form the system of promotion and relegation in the K League starting from the 2013 season, the R League was planned to downsize after the 2012 season.[6] The competition was ceased until 2015. Starting from the 2016 season, K League clubs officially announced that they will resume the R League. [7]
Members for 2016 season
The following 14 clubs will compete in the R-League during the 2012 season.
| Central League (Group League A) | Southern League (Group League B) |
|---|---|
| Goyang Zaicro FC | Daegu FC |
| Bucheon FC 1995 | Daejeon Citizen |
| FC Seoul | Busan IPark |
| Seoul E-Land FC | Ulsan Hyundai |
| Seongnam FC | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
| Suwon Samsung Bluewings | Chungju Hummel |
| Ansan Mugunghwa | |
| Incheon United |
Previous winners
Champions
Titles By Club
- K-League's principle of official statistics is that final club succeeds to predecessor club's history & records.[8]
| Club | League & Titles | Winners | Runners-up | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC Seoul | Central (GL A) | 5 (2000, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2016) | 5 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016) | 3 (2001, 2003, 2005) |
| Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Central (GL A) | 7 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011) | 3 (2001, 2003, 2011) | 6 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010) |
| Pohang Steelers | Southern (GL B) | 5 (2001, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010) | 3 (1990, 2007, 2010) | 2 (2008, 2011) |
| Incheon United | Central (GL A) | 2 (2006, 2009) | 3 (2006, 2008, 2009) | 1 (2012) |
| Busan IPark | Southern (GL B) | 1 (2012) | 1 (2012) | 2 (2006, 2016) |
| Jeju United | Southern (GL B) | 1 (2007) | 1 (2005) | 1 (1990) |
| Ansan Mugunghwa | Central (GL A) | 1 (2012) | 1 (2012) | 1 (2011) |
| Jeonnam Dragons | Southern (GL B) | 4 (2000, 2003, 2005, 2006) | 1 (2003) | - |
| Sangju Sangmu | Southern (GL B) | 2 (2002, 2011) | 1 (2011) | - |
| Daegu FC | Southern (GL B) | 1 (2016) | 1 (2016) | - |
| Ulsan Hyundai | Southern (GL B) | - | - | 2 (2003, 2012) |
| Gyeongnam FC | Southern (GL B) | 1 (2008) | - | 1 (2010) |
| Suwon Samsung Bluewings | Central (GL A) | - | - | 1 (2016) |
| Goyang Zaicro FC | Central (GL A) | - | - | - |
| Daejeon Citizen | Southern (GL B) | - | - | - |
| Bucheon FC 1995 | Central (GL A) | - | - | - |
| Seoul E-Lang FC | Central (GL A) | - | - | - |
See also
- K-League
- High School Club Challenge League
References
- ↑ 프로축구 2군리그 5개구단 내년 창설 (in Korean). Mail Business Newspaper. 1989-12-06.
- ↑ 도시연고제 도입 등 탈바꿈 시도 (in Korean). K-League Official Website.
- ↑ 프로축구 2군 리그 종료 포항제철, 첫 우승 차지 (in Korean). Monthly Football. November 1990.
- ↑ 대우2군 "프로가 한수위" (in Korean). Donga Newspaper. 1991-11-26.
- ↑ "K-리그-2군 리그 'R-리그(Reserve League), 30일 개막" (in Korean). K-League Official Website. 2009-03-30.
- ↑ "R리그 내년부터 폐지 왜?" (in Korean). Sports Dong-a. 2011-09-16.
- ↑ "K리그 챌린지, 3월 26일 개막... 부산 vs 안산 격돌". InterFootball. 2016-01-26.
- ↑ "The Official K-League Almanac" (in Korean). K-League editorial division.
External links
| National teams | |
|---|---|
| League competitions | |
| Cup competitions | |
| Reserves & academy |
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| Defunct competitions |
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