The K League 1 Wrap-Up: Jeju SK See Red Four Times, Gimcheon Sangmu Win Again, and the Race For Final A Heats Up

After a weekend packed full of talking points, columnist Nathan Sartain returns to recap all of the action from round 31 of the 2025 K League 1 season.

The Race For Final A

Staying tight until the very end, it’s still very much looking like a three team race to secure the last two Final A spots that are up for grabs.

Currently in fifth place on 44 points are FC Seoul, who secured a 1-1 draw with league leaders Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors thanks to a 96th-minute Yeon Je-woon own-goal. Despite a lack of opportunities landing on target the capital city side were actually fairly dominant here, controlling possession and imposing themselves in the opposition half. But a lack of consistent quality in the final third somewhat stunted Kim Gi-dong’s men, and they ended up finding themselves going behind against the run of play via a pinpoint Song Min-kyu header from a corner. Still, a late leveller - as unfortunate as it was for the Jeonbuk defender - was the least Seoul deserved, and it means the club can retain at least some momentum heading into the final two rounds of the regular season.

Then, there’s Gwangju FC. On Sunday they played out a rather standard 0-0 stalemate with FC Anyang, where neither side was able to create anything substantial and played with a reasonable degree of caution. Yet it’s been a positive year for the Griffins, who have ironed out some of last season’s inconsistencies in the league, and reached the final of the Korea Cup. They have two members of the bottom three still to come in Daegu FC and Ulsan HD, giving them a good opportunity to maintain their top-half standing going into the split.

Also still in the mix, and matching Gwangju with 42 points are Gangwon FC, who have utilised their strong summer form to seek a Final A finish. In round 31, however, the Bears were inconsistent in a 0-0 draw against Daejeon Hana Citizen, failing to take their own chances while at times gifting their opponents some. As the league’s lowest-scorers, Gangwon have often had to use clean sheets as a springboard to brighter fortunes - they have kept 12 so far in 2025, and seven of their 11 wins have involved their opposition firing blanks - and so next week to stay in contention for a top-half place will have to find an answer to FC Anyang’s strong attack, which has already struck five times against the provincial club this campaign.

[READ: The Lee Ho-jae Catch-up Interview.]

Daegu FC and Ulsan HD Fight For a Draw

In a six-pointer, both Daegu FC and Ulsan HD will come away disappointed having shared the spoils through a 1-1 draw. Lively from the off, the home side’s high pressing caused the Horangi, who are now in the bottom three, a range of issues, whilst the reigning champions threatened mostly through long passes, crosses and transitions.

Nevertheless, it was bottom-place Daegu who took the lead towards the end of the first-half, with Cesinha’s curled strike finding the bottom corner in some style. Yet the Sky Blues just couldn’t find that second breakthrough when their momentum continued despite fashioning high quality chances, and as such eventually a Baek In-woo header gave Ulsan an equaliser.

From there, both sides had spells, but aside from a disallowed Cesinha effort nothing felt like it was going to find the back of the net. For Daegu in particular, they will feel disappointed that positives were not able to be capitalised on, especially as a chance at ending the year in a promotion/relegation playoff spot seems to be fading away.

Suwon FC Beat Jeju SK in a Controversial Encounter

In a contest that had a bit of everything, and ended with Jeju SK receiving four red cards, Suwon FC boosted their survival chances with a 4-3 triumph over the Tangerines.

Truthfully, based on what happened in stoppage time the rest of the game might seem largely irrelevant to some, but early on Pablo Sabbag broke the deadlock with an overhead kick, only to be cancelled out by  Yuri Jonathan’s rocketed half-volley shortly after. The Brazilian would then have an effort disallowed for offside, which is where the talking points truly begin.

An elbow in the box on the 35th-minute would see Song Ju-hun sent off, and Suwon then capitalised via a Pablo Sabbag penalty. There was to be some more room for debate though, with Jeju goalkeeper Kim Dong-jun wiping out a Suwon attack, only to receive a booking. However, despite everything, a lovely free kick from Nam Tae-hee ensured that the home side still went in level at half-time.

In the second period, Kim Eun-jung’s men kept composure, and it wasn’t long until Lee Jae-won arrived at the back post to make it 3-2. Suwon then managed proceedings pretty well, until a Shin Sang-eun wonder goal once more brought Jeju an equaliser.

However, as Choi Chi-ung slid in to put Suwon back in front, things began to crumble for the Tangerines. Kim Dong-jun would see a second yellow upgraded to a straight red for handling the ball outside his area, An Tae-hyun received his marching orders for kicking the ball away in frustration when the visitors were awarded a corner, and the already substituted Lee Chang-min saw red (both figuratively and literally) when barging Pablo Sabbag.

Now, Jeju feel in real danger, while Suwon, thanks to their goals scored tally, have managed to rise into ninth place.

A Brief, Brief Note on Gimcheon Sangmu's Win

Staking their claim for a second-place finish, Gimcheon Sangmu breezed past 10-man Pohang Steelers to earn a 2-0 victory. Admittedly, aside from a disallowed goal for offside for Pohang, there wasn’t much to discuss prior to Lee Dong-hee’s sending off, but the military side do deserve credit for how calmly they attacked in the second-half to earn this victory.

That's all for this week! There's only one more round to enjoy before the international break, and it sees the return of Friday nigh football with Jeju SK taking on Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

*This piece was edited on 11:38 BST to clarify the order of events in the Jeju SK game*