Ulsan HD move up to joint fourth for K League 1 title wins

Ulsan HD are K League 1 champions for the third year in a row with a 2-1 home win over Gangwon FC in Friday night's 2024 Hana Bank K League 1 Round 36 contest securing the title with two matches to spare.

Multiple K League 1 Title Wins

Ulsan HD now have five K League 1 title wins to their name having won the league in 1996, 2005 as well as from 2022 to 2024.

The Horangi now rank joint fourth with East Coast Derby rivals Pohang and behind FC Seoul with six (including LG Cheetah era), Seongnam FC (including Ilhwa Chunma era) with seven, and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors with nine.

Three title win a row is something that only two clubs have done before, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma from 1993 to 1995 and 2001 to 2003, and Jeobuk's five in a row from 2017 to 2021.

Player & Manager

In winning the K League 1 title with Ulsan HD, Kim Pan-gon is only the fifth manager to do so as a manager and player but only the third to do so with the same team and the first to win both with Ulsan, having earned a K League winners medal as a player in 1996. Cho Kwang-rae won K League 1 as a player with Daewoo Royals in 1984 and 1987 and as a manager with LG Cheetahs in 2000, Choi Yong-soo did it with LG Cheetahs as a player in 2000 and manager in 2012, Kim Sang-sik won the league with Seongam in 2001, 2002 and 2006 and then and Jeonbuk in 2009 and 2011, then as a manager with the latter in 2021, then Hong Myung-bo with Pohang as a player in 1992 and Ulsan as a manager in 2022 and 2023. 

Multiple Medals

There are 10 players who've been part of all three of Ulsan's last three title wins - Kim Young-gwon, Kim Kee-hee, Park Chu-young, Um Won-sang, Lee Gyu-seong, Lee Myung-jae, Lee Chung-yog, Lim Jong-eun, Jo Su-huk, and Jo Hyeon-woo.

Furthermore, Kim Kee-hee and Jo Su-huk now have five K League 1 winners medals. Kim won two league championships with Jeonbuk in 2014 and 2015, while Jo won two with FC Seoul in 2010 and 2012.

Via K League press release