FC Anyang earn promotion to top flight with K League 2 title win

FC Anyang earned promotion to the K League 1 for the first time by locking in the K League 2 title on Saturday after a goalless draw with Bucheon FC 1995.

FC Anyang celebrate winning the 2024 K League 2 title after their 0-0 draw with Bucheon FC 1995 at Bucheon Sports Complex in Bucheon, Gyeonggi, in a photo shared on FC Anyang's official Facebook account on Saturday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

FC Anyang earned promotion to the K League 1 for the first time by locking in the K League 2 title on Saturday after a goalless draw with Bucheon FC 1995.

The title also marks FC Anyang’s first trophy. Since the club’s founding in 2013, the Gyeonggi club has only competed in the second division, with third-place rankings in 2021 and 2022 being their previous best finishes.

It was only in 2022 when they first made it to the promotion-relegation playoffs, losing to then-K League 1 club Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

FC Anyang finished in sixth place the following year, but this season has seen a transition. The team outperformed some strong competitors like 2023 season runner-up Busan IPark and the Bluewings, which had competed in the top tier until last season.

This year’s success comes with FC Anyang manager Ryu Byeong-hoon’s first season in charge, having been promoted to the position from the assistant coach role ahead of the 2024 season.

FC Anyang toss manager Ryu Byeong-hoon into the air after winning the K League 2 title at Bucheon Sports Complex in Bucheon, Gyeonggi on Saturday. [YONHAP]

With the 2024 K League 2 title, FC Anyang are exempt from the promotion-relegation playoffs in which two K League 2 sides will play a two-game series against the 10th and 11th placed K League 1 clubs to secure berths in the top tier next season.

Two more tickets to the top tier, contingent on winning the playoffs, are on the line, with up to six teams still in the mix.

The K League 2 runner-up will face the second-last-placed K League 1 team in the playoffs to decide who will play in the first division next year, but things will get complicated further down the K League 2 table.

The fifth and fourth-placed K League 2 teams will play each other, with the winner of that game playing the third-placed K League 2 team. The winner of that game will then play the 10th-placed K League 1 team in yet another playoff, with the winner of that final playoff playing in the K League 1 the following year.

If No. 2 Chungnam Asan FC win their next game, they will head to the promotion-relegation playoffs, but dropping three points could put them in a complex situation where the club would have to go through another playoff to reach the next playoff, as they are only two points clear of No. 3 Seoul E-Land as of Sunday.

The last race to claim fourth and fifth-place finishes seems also competitive, with No. 4 Busan and No. 5 Bluewings tied at 53, making it possible for No. 7 Gimpo, at 50, to snatch either position in the last game.

If Busan and Gimpo get through the complicated playoff stage and reach the top tier, it would mean redemption from last season when they lost the promotion-relegation playoffs.

For the Bluewings, it would mean returning to the top tier one season after facing relegation for the first time last year.

Over in the top tier, no team has yet to face direct relegation, with four teams — No. 9 Daejeon Hana Citizen, No. 10 Daegu FC, No. 11 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and last-placed Incheon United — still in the mix.

Daejeon have 42 points, while Incheon have 36 with two matches left to go for both teams.

Dropping points in the next games would be fatal for any of the four teams, as the last-placed team will face direct relegation to the second division.

For Jeonbuk, relegation would mark the fall of the K League 1's most successful team, which has won the league nine times. Avoiding relegation would still mean the club’s worst finish in history, as this season is the first time the club has entered the Final B group with the bottom five teams after 33 league fixtures, which will fight to avoid relegation.

The top of the table, meanwhile, saw Ulsan HD locking in the K League 1 title for the third straight time after their 2-1 win over Gangwon FC on Friday.

Ulsan HD celebrate winning the 2024 K League 1 title after their 2-1 win over Gangwon FC at Ulsan Stadium in Ulsan on Friday. [YONHAP]

The coveted title extended Ulsan’s dominance in the top flight despite the absence of Hong Myung-bo in the second half of the campaign, seeing new manager Kim Pan-gon take over the reins. Hong left the club abruptly in July to helm the Korean national team.

The K League 1 regular season will wrap up on Nov. 24, while the K League 2 schedule finishes on Nov. 9, with the playoffs following shortly after. The promotion-relegation playoffs start at the end of November.

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