Reigning champions Ulsan HD to meet Pohang Steelers in K League 1 opener

Reigning league champions Ulsan HD will meet runners-up Pohang Steelers in the opening game of the new K League 1 season on March 1, kicking off the 2024 schedule. The season will run from March 1 through Oct. 6, the K League announced Monday.

The Pohang Steelers and Ulsan Hyundai, now called Ulsan HD, players in action during a K League match held at Pohang Steelyard in Pohang, North Gyeongsang on July 8, 2023. [YONHAP]

Reigning league champions Ulsan HD will meet runners-up Pohang Steelers in the opening game of the new K League 1 season on March 1, kicking off the 2024 schedule.

The K League announced the schedule for the upcoming 2024 season on Monday. A total of 12 teams will compete in the league with each team playing the initial 33 matches from March 1 through Oct. 6, before the teams are split in two groups for the final leg of the season.

The top six teams will then compete for the league title, while the bottom six will fight to avoid relegation in five remaining league games. The schedule for the last five regular season games will be announced after the initial 33 matches are over.

The 2024 season will see 11 teams that competed in the first division last season alongside Gimcheon Sangmu — the only promoted side from the K League 2.

Defending champions Ulsan will play their opener against the Steelers at home.

Both sides displayed strong performances last season. Ulsan won the league title and defended it for the very first time, while the Steelers finished in second place and won the 2023 Korean FA Cup.

The Pohang side was also the only undefeated K League team to reach the knockout stage of the 2023-24 AFC Champions League with five wins and one draw in the group stage.

Most of the league fixtures will take place on the weekends, but there will be some mid-week games happening on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The first match of the year between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors — the winningest team in K League 1 history with nine titles — and defending champions Ulsan will take place at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, North Jeolla on March 30.

Missing from the 2024 K League 1 season is a Suwon derby — a match between Suwon FC and the Suwon Samsung Bluewings — as the Bluewings faced relegation to the second division for the first time in the club’s history last year.

The long-standing "Super Match" — a game between age-old rivals FC Seoul and the Bluewings — is off the schedule, too.

The promotion-and-relegation playoffs between 10th and 11th-place K League 1 teams and two K League 2 teams will take place after the regular season is over.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]