2017 K League Challenge

KEB Hana Bank
K League Challenge 2017
Season	2017
Champions	Gyeongnam FC
Promoted	Gyeongnam FC
Matches played	180
Goals scored	454 (2.52 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marcão (22 Goals)
Biggest home win	Bucheon FC 1995 6–2 FC Anyang
Biggest away win	FC Anyang 1–4 Gyeongnam FC; Daejeon Citizen 1–4 Seongnam FC
Highest scoring	Bucheon FC 1995 6–2 FC Anyang
Highest attendance	10,683
Lowest attendance	0
Average attendance	2,324
	← 2016 2018 →

The 2017 K League Challenge was the fifth season of the K League Challenge, the second tier South Korean professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 2013. The top-ranked team and the winner of the promotion play-offs among three clubs ranked between 2nd and 4th got promoted to the K League 1 after the regular season ended.

Teams[]

Daegu FC, the second-placed team of the 2016 K League Challenge, and Gangwon FC, the promotion series winner, were promoted to the 2017 K League Classic. Suwon FC and Seongnam FC were relegated from the top tier. A total of 10 teams contested in the league.

Locations of the 2017 K League Challenge teams

Team	City	Manager	Home venue	Capacity
Ansan Greeners	Ansan	Lee Heung-sil	Ansan Wa~ Stadium	35,000
FC Anyang	Anyang	Kim Jong-pil	Anyang Stadium	17,143
Asan Mugunghwa	Asan	Song Sun-ho	Yi Sun-sin Stadium	19,283
Bucheon FC 1995	Bucheon		Bucheon Stadium	34,545
Busan IPark	Busan	Cho Jin-ho	Busan Gudeok Stadium	12,349
Daejeon Citizen	Daejeon	Lee Young-ik	Daejeon World Cup Stadium	40,535
Gyeongnam FC	Changwon	Kim Jong-boo	Changwon Football Center	15,116
Seongnam FC	Seongnam	Park Kyung-hoon	Tancheon Stadium	16,146
Seoul E-Land	Seoul	Kim Byung-soo	Seoul Olympic Stadium	69,950
Suwon FC	Suwon	Cho Duck-je	Suwon Sports Complex	11,808

Stadiums[]

Primary venues used in the K League Challenge:

Ansan Greeners	FC Anyang	Asan Mugunghwa	Bucheon FC 1995	Busan IPark
Ansan Wa~ Stadium	Anyang Stadium	Yi Sun-sin Stadium	Bucheon Stadium	Busan Gudeok Stadium
Capacity: 35,000	Capacity: 17,143	Capacity: 19,283	Capacity: 34,545	Capacity: 12,349

Daejeon Citizen	Gyeongnam FC	Seongnam FC	Seoul E-Land	Suwon FC
Daejeon World Cup Stadium	Changwon Football Center	Tancheon Stadium	Seoul Olympic Stadium	Suwon Sports Complex
Capacity: 40,535	Capacity: 15,500	Capacity: 16,146	Capacity: 69,950	Capacity: 11,808

Personnel and kits[]

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

Team	Kit Manufacturer¹	Main sponsor¹
Ansan Greeners	Kelme	Ansan Government
FC Anyang		Anyang Government
Asan Mugunghwa	Puma	Asan Government
Bucheon FC 1995		Bucheon Government
Busan IPark	Adidas	Hyundai Development Company
Daejeon Citizen		Daejeon Government
Gyeongnam FC	Hummel	Gyeongnam Government
Seongnam FC	Umbro	Seongnam Government
Seoul E-Land	New Balance	E-Land
Suwon FC	Hummel	Suwon Government

Foreign players[]

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

As of 28 July 2017.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player
Ansan Greeners FC	Luka Rotković	Raúl Tarragona		Bahodir Nasimov
FC Anyang	Jô	Lukian	Aubin Kouakou
Bucheon FC 1995	Nilson Júnior	Waguininho	Rodrigo Paraná
Busan IPark	Danny Morais	Rômulo	Léo Mineiro	Michihiro Yasuda
Daejeon Citizen	Bruno Cantanhede	Levan Shengelia	Cristian Dănălache
Gyeongnam FC	Alex Bruno	Marcão	Ivan Herceg
Seongnam FC	Dário	Marin Oršulić	Filip Hlohovský
Seoul E-Land FC	Alex	Daniel Lovinho	Tomoki Wada	Atsuki Wada
Suwon FC	Bruce Djite	Pedro Carmona	Vladan Adžić	Adrian Leijer

League table[]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Gyeongnam FC (C, P)	36	24	7	5	69	36	+33	79	Promotion to 2018 K League 1
2	Busan IPark	36	19	11	6	52	30	+22	68	Qualification to K League Challenge play-offs
3	Asan Mugunghwa	36	15	9	12	44	37	+7	54
4	Seongnam FC	36	13	14	9	38	30	+8	53
5	Bucheon FC 1995	36	15	7	14	50	46	+4	52
6	Suwon FC	36	11	12	13	42	48	−6	45
7	FC Anyang	36	10	9	17	40	58	−18	39
8	Seoul E-Land	36	7	14	15	42	55	−13	35
9	Ansan Greeners	36	7	12	17	36	54	−18	33
10	Daejeon Citizen	36	6	11	19	41	60	−19	29

Updated to match(es) played on 29 October 2017. Source: K League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference; 4) Number of wins; 5) Head-to-head points
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted

Positions by matchday[]

Leader & Promotion to the 2018 K League 1
Qualification to Relegation/promotion play-offs

Round 1-18[]

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Team ╲ Round
Gyeongnam FC	4	3	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Busan IPark	4	1	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Asan Mugunghwa	9	4	4	2	4	5	4	3	4	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	4	3
Bucheon FC 1995	1	6	7	5	5	3	3	4	5	4	4	3	4	5	5	4	3	4
Seongnam FC	9	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	9	9	7	7	7	6	5	5
Suwon FC	1	2	1	3	3	4	5	5	3	5	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	6
FC Anyang	6	10	10	8	7	7	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	4	4	5	6	7
Ansan Greeners	1	5	5	6	6	6	7	7	7	8	7	7	8	9	9	8	8	8
Seoul E-Land	6	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	7	8	8	9	8	8	9	9	9
Daejeon Citizen	6	7	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

Source: kleague.com

Round 19-36[]

Team ╲ Round	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Team ╲ Round
Gyeongnam FC	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Busan IPark	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Asan Mugunghwa	3	4	4	5	5	3	3	3	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	3	3	3
Seongnam FC	6	6	6	4	4	5	4	5	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	4	4
Bucheon FC 1995	4	3	3	3	3	4	5	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	5	5	5	5
Suwon FC	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	7	7	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	6	6
FC Anyang	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	7	7
Seoul E-Land	9	9	9	9	10	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Ansan Greeners	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Daejeon Citizen	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

Source: kleague.com

Results[]

Matches 1–18[]

Home \ Away	ANS	ANY	ASM	BUC	BIP	DJC	GNM	SEN	SEL	SUW
Ansan Greeners		1–0	2–1	2–4	0–3	2–1	3–3	0–1	1–2	3–3
FC Anyang	2–1		0–2	3–1	0–1	3–2	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–2
Asan Mugunghwa	1–0	4–0		2–1	0–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0
Bucheon FC 1995	2–0	6–2	1–2		1–0	1–1	2–2	0–2	2–1	0–1
Busan IPark	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0		2–1	1–1	1–2	3–0	2–2
Daejeon Citizen	1–2	0–2	1–1	0–1	2–3		0–2	1–1	2–1	4–3
Gyeongnam FC	3–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–1		1–1	3–0	2–0
Seongnam FC	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–2		0–2	0–1
Seoul E-Land	1–0	2–2	1–1	4–1	2–3	3–3	0–1	0–0		0–0
Suwon FC	0–4	3–3	0–2	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	0–1	2–2

Updated to match(es) played on 27 September 2017. Source: K League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36[]

Home \ Away	ANS	ANY	ASM	BUC	BIP	DJC	GNM	SEN	SEL	SUW
Ansan Greeners		2–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–0
FC Anyang	2–0		1–3	1–3	1–2	0–0	1–4	1–3	2–0	0–0
Asan Mugunghwa	0–0	2–0		1–1	0–1	1–2	2–3	0–2	2–0	2–1
Bucheon FC 1995	1��1	0–0	3–0		0–2	1–0	2–4	3–2	1–0	0–1
Busan IPark	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–0		4–2	1–2	0–0	2–1	2–2
Daejeon Citizen	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–0		2–1	1–4	0–1	2–0
Gyeongnam FC	3–1	0–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	4–2		1–0	2–1	2–2
Seongnam FC	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–3		2–2	3–0
Seoul E-Land	3–3	2–3	3–2	2–2	2–2	0–0	1–0	1–1		0–0
Suwon FC	0–2	4–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	3–2	2–1	0–0	3–1

Updated to match(es) played on 29 October 2017. Source: K League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion-Relegation Playoffs[]

Promotion and relegation playoffs was held between 2nd~4th clubs of 2017 K League Challenge and 11th club of 2017 K League Classic. If scores are tied after regular time at Semi-Playoff and Playoff, the higher placed team advances to the next phase. The same conditions do not apply to Promotion-Relegation Playoffs.

Semi-Playoff			Playoff			Relegation/Promotion Playoffs

						1	Sangju	1	0 (5)
			2	Busan	3	2	Busan	0	1 (4)
3	Asan	1	3	Asan	0
4	Seongnam	0

Semi-Playoff[]

15 November 2017

19:00 KST

Asan Mugunghwa	1–0	Seongnam FC
Jung Sung-min 65'	Report

Yi Sun-sin Stadium, Asan

Attendance: 3,840

Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok

Playoff[]

18 November 2017

15:00 KST

Busan IPark	3–0	Asan Mugunghwa
Lee Jung-hyup 32' Lee Dong-jun 81', 90+4'	Report

Busan Gudeok Stadium, Busan

Attendance: 2,710

Referee: Kim Dong-jin

Promotion-Relegation Playoffs[]

First leg[]

22 November 2017

19:00 KST

Busan IPark	0–1	Sangju Sangmu
	Report	Yeo Reum 7'

Busan Gudeok Stadium, Busan

Attendance: 1,322

Referee: Lee Dong-jun

Second leg[]

26 November 2017

15:00 KST

Sangju Sangmu	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Busan IPark
	Report	Rômulo 16' (pen.)
Penalties
Yeo Reum Sin Jin-ho Lim Chae-min Kim Ho-nam Joo Min-kyu	5–4	Rômulo Léo Mineiro Lee Dong-jun Ko Kyung-min Lim You-hwan

Sangju Civic Stadium, Sangju

Attendance: 2,714

Referee: Kim Seong-ho

Sangju Sangmu retained its 2018 K League 1 spot, 5:4 on penalties.

Season statistics[]

Top scorers[]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC	22
2	Raúl Tarragona	Ansan Greeners	15
3	Waguininho	Bucheon FC 1995	12
4	Jung Won-jin	Gyeongnam FC	10
5	Ko Kyung-min	Busan IPark	9
	Lee Jeong-hyeop	Busan IPark
	Cristian Dănălache	Daejeon Citizen
	Park Sung-ho	Seongnam FC
	Jin Chang-soo	Bucheon FC 1995
10	Baek Sung-dong	Suwon FC	8
10	Jeong Jae-hee	FC Anyang	8

Top assists[]

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Chang Hyuk-jin	Ansan Greeners	13
2	Jung Won-jin	Gyeongnam FC	10
3	Alex Bruno	Gyeongnam FC	8
3		Bucheon FC 1995	8
5	Atsuki Wada	Seoul E-Land FC	7
6	Rômulo	Busan IPark	6
	Lee Ho-seok	Daejeon Citizen
	Kim Shin	Bucheon FC 1995
9	Kim Bong-rae	Suwon FC	5
	Lee Ju-yong	Asan Mugunghwa
	Jeong Jae-hee	FC Anyang

Attendance[]

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	FC Anyang	60,078	10,683	1,360	3,338	+82.7%^†
2	Seongnam FC	50,427	6,700	1,410	2,802	−58.4%^†
3	Ansan Greeners	48,635	8,405	915	2,702	n/a^†
4	Busan IPark	43,302	6,337	1,024	2,406	+56.8%^†
5	Gyeongnam FC	39,273	7,278	713	2,182	+81.8%^†
6	Daejeon Citizen	38,787	5,136	1,032	2,155	−15.2%^†
7	Suwon FC	38,655	8,455	711	2,148	−51.0%^†
8	Asan Mugunghwa	35,188	7,933	726	1,955	+94.5%^†
9	Bucheon FC 1995	35,047	7,209	0	1,947	−6.4%^†
10	Seoul E-Land	28,996	4,531	631	1,611	+22.9%^†
	League total	418,388	10,683	0	2,324	+54.3%^†

Updated to games played on 29 October 2017
Source: K League Classic
Notes:
Attendants who entered with free ticket are not counted.
^† † Team played previous season in K League Classic.

Awards[]

Most Valuable Player of The Round[]

R	MVP	Club
1	Lee Jung-hyup	Busan IPark
2	Heo Beom-san	Busan IPark
3	Kim Eun-sun	Asan Mugunghwa
4	Cho Seok-jae	FC Anyang
5	Kim Min-kyun	FC Anyang
6	Lee Jung-hyup	Busan IPark
7	Jeong Jae-hee	FC Anyang
8	Kim Min-kyun	FC Anyang
9	Lee Seung-hyun	Suwon FC
10	Kim Min-kyun	FC Anyang
11	Raúl Tarragona	Ansan Greeners
12	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC
13	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC
14	Lim Sang-hyub	Busan IPark
15	Lee Kyu-seong	Busan IPark
16	Cristian Dănălache	Daejeon Citizen
17	Kim Shin	Bucheon FC 1995
18	Danny Morais	Busan IPark

R	MVP	Club
19	Baek Sung-dong	Suwon FC
20	Lee Seung-hyun	Suwon FC
21	Go Myeong-seok	Bucheon FC 1995
22	Kim Dong-chan	Seongnam FC
23	Hwang In-beom	Daejeon Citizen
24	Jung Won-jin	Gyeongnam FC
25	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC
26	Choi Oh-baek	Seoul E-Land FC
27	Choi Oh-baek	Seoul E-Land FC
28	Ko Kyung-min	Busan IPark
29	Kim Chan-hee	Daejeon Citizen
30	Kim Hyun	Asan Mugunghwa
31	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC
32	Kim Kyeong-min	Busan IPark
33	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC
34	Ryu Won-woo	Bucheon FC 1995
35	Jeong Hyeon-cheol	Gyeongnam FC
36	Baek Sung-dong	Suwon FC

Manager of the Month[]

Month	Manager	Club	Division
March	Jo Sung-hwan	Jeju United	K League Classic
April	Kim Jong-boo	Gyeongnam FC	K League Challenge
May	Choi Yun-kyum	Gangwon FC	K League Classic
June	Choi Kang-hee	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	K League Classic
July	Seo Jung-won	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	K League Classic
August	Hwang Sun-hong	FC Seoul	K League Classic
September	Kim Do-hoon	Ulsan Hyundai	K League Classic
October	André(caretaker)	Daegu FC	K League Classic

Season Awards[]

The 2016 K League Awards was held on 20 November 2017.

K League Challenge Most Valuable Player[]

The K League Challenge Most Valuable Player award was won by Marcão (Gyeongnam FC).

K League Challenge Top Scorer[]

The K League Challenge Top Scorer award was won by Marcão (Gyeongnam FC).

K League Challenge Top Assistor[]

The K League Challenge Top Assistor award was won by Chang Hyuk-jin (Ansan Greeners).

K League Challenge Best XI[]

Ki-han

Marcão

Position	Player	Club
Goalkeeper	Lee Bum-soo	Gyeongnam FC
Defender	Choi Jae-soo	Gyeongnam FC
Defender	Park Ji-soo	Gyeongnam FC
Defender	Ivan Herceg	Gyeongnam FC
Defender	Woo Joo-sung	Gyeongnam FC
Midfielder	Jung Won-jin	Gyeongnam FC
Midfielder	Hwang In-beom	Daejeon Citizen
Midfielder	Moon Ki-han	Bucheon FC 1995
Midfielder	Bae Ki-jong	Gyeongnam FC
Forward	Marcão	Gyeongnam FC
Forward	Lee Jeong-hyeop	Busan IPark

K League Challenge Manager of the Year[]

The K League Challenge Manager of the Year award was won by Kim Jong-boo (Gyeongnam FC).

References[]

External links[]

Official K League Website (in Korean)

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v t 2017 in South Korean football
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Domestic leagues	K League Classic K League Challenge National League K3 League Advanced K3 League Basic WK League
Domestic cups	KFA Cup National League Cup Challengers Cup
Youth & Academy
Asian competitions	Champions League Group stage
National team	East Asian Cup FIFA World Cup qualification AFC Asian Cup qualification
Club seasons
K League Classic	FC Seoul
K League Challenge	Ansan Greeners Seongnam
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