K-League Classic

K League Classic

Country	South Korea
Confederation	AFC
Founded	1983
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	K League Challenge
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup
International cup(s)	AFC Champions League
Current champions	FC Seoul (2016)
Most championships	Seongnam FC (7 titles)
TV partners	KBS, JTBC, SPOTV
Website	Official Website
2017 K League Classic

K League Classic
Hangul	K리그 클래식
Revised Romanization	K rigeu keullaesik
McCune–Reischauer	K rigŭ k'ŭllaesik

The K League Classic is one of South Korea's professional association football leagues. At the top of the South Korean football league system, it is the country's highest and most prestigious level of football competition currently contested by 12 clubs.

The K League Classic was founded in 1983 as the Korean Super League, with five member clubs. The initial five clubs were Hallelujah FC, Yukong Elephants, POSCO Dolphins, Daewoo Royals, Kookmin Bank FC. Hallelujah FC won the inaugural title, finishing one point ahead of Daewoo FC to lift the crown.

In 1998, Korea's football league was reformed and renamed the K League. (K-League was official orthography by 2012) The K League was then split into two divisions in 2013, the first division was renamed the K League Classic while the newly created second division was named the K League Challenge and both are now part of the K League structure. Since its creation, the league has expanded from an initial 5 to 16 clubs. Of the 5 inaugural clubs, only Yukong Elephants, POSCO Dolphins, and Daewoo Royals remain in the K League; Kookmin Bank FC dropped out of the league at the end of 1984, and Hallelujah FC followed the season after.

Below the K League Classic, there is the K League Challenge, and below the K League Challenge, there is the National League, a closed semi-professional/amateur league with fifteen clubs, established in 2003. The fourth level of football in Korea is the Challengers League.

...
Wikipedia