Yonhap: FC Seoul Clinch the K League 1 Crown With Five Matches to Spare

FC Seoul ended a decade of waiting on Saturday, 24 October. A 1-1 draw with Gangwon FC at Seoul World Cup Stadium was enough to clinch the 2026 K League 1 title with five matches still to play, Yonhap reported.

The result lifted Seoul to 67 points from 33 matches, on a record of 20 wins, seven draws and six losses. Second placed Ulsan HD FC could only draw 2-2 with Pohang Steelers and stayed on 51 points, a gap that cannot be closed in the time left.

It is the club's first league title since 2016 and the seventh in its history, counting its years as Anyang LG Cheetahs, according to Yonhap.

How the title was sealed

The match itself mirrored the season's mood: tense, physical and decided by small margins. After a goalless first half, Moon Seon-min gave Seoul the lead in the 58th minute. Gangwon answered seven minutes later through Kang Jun-hyuk.

Seoul did not need a winner. Ulsan required a victory of their own combined with a Seoul draw or defeat to keep the race alive, and their draw in Pohang ended the chase.

Goalkeeper Gu Sung-yun played a key role. Yonhap reported that he denied Gangwon's Kim Dae-won from the penalty spot during the match, a save that kept the title party on schedule. Newsis, via Sportal Korea, reported a crowd of 30,022 at the stadium, where supporters waved a giant balloon shaped like the league trophy.

A rare early finish

The timing matters in Korean football. The K League 1 splits after 33 rounds into Final A, the top six, and Final B, the bottom six, with five more matches within each group. Seoul clinched before the split even began.

Yonhap reported that only two teams had done that under the current system: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in 2018 and 2025. Seoul become the third.

The title also breaks a long duopoly. From 2017 through 2025, only Jeonbuk, with six titles, and Ulsan, with three, had won the league.

From boos to a championship

The story of the season belongs to head coach Kim Gi-dong. Yonhap reported that Seoul supporters booed him last season and even early this season. In his third year in charge, he has delivered his first K League 1 trophy as a coach. He previously managed Pohang Steelers.

Kim built the title on balance. Through 33 matches, Seoul scored a league high 61 goals and conceded a league low 29, giving them both the most productive attack and the stingiest defence in the division.

Yonhap photos showed the players tossing Kim into the air after the final whistle, a fitting answer to the boos.

The players who carried it

Polish striker Patryk Klimala led the attack with 16 goals in 30 matches. Yonhap reported that he played only four matches after joining in 2025 because of injury, but stayed healthy this year and is now in the race for the scoring title. He is level on 16 goals with Ulsan's Yago Cariello, who leads the chart for now because he has played fewer matches.

Winger Jeong Seung-won emerged as a key figure, with eight goals and seven assists. All eight goals came in July and August, and he was named Player of the Month for both, as Seoul pulled away from the pack in the summer.

Gu Sung-yun, meanwhile, leads the league with a save percentage of 73.6 percent and is tied for second with 13 clean sheets, according to Yonhap.

What the last five matches mean

With the trophy secured, Seoul's final five matches in Final A become a lap of honour, though Klimala's scoring race with Cariello adds a reason to keep watching.

Sportal Korea reported that the Final A group includes Seoul, Ulsan, Daejeon Hana Citizen, Jeonbuk, Gangwon and promoted Incheon United, who edged Jeju SK on goals scored for the last place in the top six.

For a club that spent nine seasons watching others lift the trophy, Saturday's draw felt like a win. FC Seoul are champions of South Korea again.