K League 2 membership granted to Paju, Gimhae, Yongin for 2026

The K League board has approved the memberships of Gimhae, Yongin, and Paju, and has also made changes to player transfer rules for military service members

On Monday, August 11, the K League held its fourth Board of Directors meeting for 2025 at the Korea Football Association headquarters in Seoul. 

During the meeting, the board resolved several agenda items, including:

•  Approval of membership for Gimhae, Yongin, and Paju clubs,
• Changing the transfer format for players serving in the military from “loan” to “consent to play.”

Approval for Gimhae, Yongin, and Paju

Gimhae FC 2008, Yongin FC, and Paju Citizen Football Club have been approved for K League membership.

Gimhae FC 2008, currently competing in the K3 League, is a strong team that's currently ranked third. The club has access to a newly completed, modern stadium built in 2024. During the K3 League’s opening match this year, 8,677 fans attended, setting a record for the highest single-game attendance in K3 League history, seen as a sign of strong local interest. 

In January, Gimhae established a foundation to formally push for professional league entry. When the club applied for K League membership in June, every member of the city council signed a statement in support. If Gimhae’s membership is finalized, it will mark the first new K League club from South Korea’s southern region in 15 years, since Gwangju FC was founded in 2011.

Yongin City took decisive steps this year to form a professional club. In March, Mayor Lee Sang-il announced the launch of a professional football team. In April, the city council passed a special ordinance to support the team. Recently, former K League manager Choi Yoon-kyum and K League legend Lee Dong-gook were appointed as the club’s first manager and technical director, respectively. Yongin plans to base its operations on the Yongin Football Center, established in 2001, and already has an office and youth club system. The proposed home stadium, Mireu Stadium, has been praised as an international-level facility and has hosted final round World Cup qualifiers and AFC Champions League matches this year.

Paju Citizen FC has participated in the K3 League since 2012 and was runner-up in the 2022 season. Until 2023, the team used the Paju National Football Center (NFC), formerly the exclusive training center for national teams, as its clubhouse. The facility includes six natural grass pitches, one artificial turf field, and a lodging complex with 75 rooms, along with a fitness center, suitable for a professional team’s clubhouse, youth development, and external rental for revenue generation. Once Paju’s membership is finalized, it is expected to play a key role in promoting K League presence in northern Gyeonggi Province, which currently has no professional teams.

Before the board meeting, the K League Secretariat conducted a membership eligibility review based on 41 subcategories across six areas:

Business plans, infrastructure, local government commitment and community interest, regional competitiveness, local government financial stability, and market size.

All three clubs received favorable evaluations. The board cited the following factors in approving them:

All three cities have populations over 500,000; their municipal budgets range from 2 to 3 trillion KRW, indicating financial stability, adequate stadiums and football infrastructure are in place, and their business plans are well-developed and feasible.

Final approval of their membership will take place at the K League General Assembly in January next year. If approved, the 2026 K League 2 season will have 17 participating teams.

Military Service Player Transfer Format

When a player transfers to a team like Gimcheon Sangmu for military service, the nature of the move will no longer be classified as a "loan." Instead, it will be considered "military service player consent to play."

This change aims to ensure that players fulfilling military duties are not counted against the FIFA-mandated limit of six loaned-in or loaned-out players per club. Following this change, the current “standard military player loan agreement” used between the original club and Gimcheon Sangmu will be replaced with a “military service player consent to play form.”

via K League press release