| Competition: | Hyundai Oilbank K League |
| Season: | 2012 |
| Winners: | FC Seoul (5th title) |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | FC Seoul Pohang Steelers Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Suwon Samsung Bluewings |
| Relegated: | Gwangju FC Sangju Sangmu Phoenix |
| Best Player: | Dejan Damjanović |
| League Topscorer: | Dejan Damjanović (27 goals) |
| Matches: | 338 |
| Total Goals: | 886 |
| Biggest Home Win: | Gwangju 6–0 Jeonnam (23 June 2012) Jeju 6–0 Jeonnam (21 July 2012) Seoul 6–0 Busan (21 July 2012) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Daegu 1–5 Jeonbuk (17 June 2012) |
| Highest Scoring: | Jeonbuk 5–3 Gyeongnam (24 June 2012) |
| Longest Wins: | 8 matches Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (11 May – 1 July 2012) |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 15 matches Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (27 April – 28 July 2012) |
| Longest Winless: | 12 matches Incheon United (1 April – 17 June 2012) Gwangju FC (1 April – 17 June 2012) |
| Longest Losses: | 14 matches Sangju Sangmu (26 August – 1 December 2012) |
| Highest Attendance: | 50,787 Seoul 0–2 Suwon (18 August 2012) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 82 Incheon 1–1 Pohang (14 June 2012) |
| Average Attendance: | 7,045 |
| Prevseason: | 2011 |
| Nextseason: | 2013 |
The 2012 K League, officially known as Hyundai Oilbank K-League 2012, was the 30th season of the K League. It was sponsored by Hyundai Oilbank. Since this season, the K League Championship and the Korean League Cup were abolished, and K League introduced the "split system", inspired by Scottish Premier League.[1] After all 16 clubs played 30 matches each under the home and away system, they were split into the group of top eight and the group of bottom eight, playing with each other in a group again.[2]
| Team | Outgoing | Manner | Date | Incoming | Date | Table | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daegu FC |  Lee Young-jin | Sacked | 31 October 2011[3] |  Moacir Pereira | 2 November 2011[4] | Pre-season | |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | Choi Kang-hee | Signed for South Korea | 21 December 2011 | Lee Heung-sil | 21 December 2011 | ||
| Sangju Sangmu Phoenix | Kim Tae-wan | Caretaker | 29 December 2011 | 29 December 2011 | |||
| Incheon United | Huh Jung-moo | Resigned | 11 April 2012[5] | Kim Bong-gil | 13 April 2012 | 15th | |
| Gangwon FC | Kim Sang-ho | Resigned | 1 July 2012[6] | Kim Hak-bum | 6 July 2012[7] | 14th | |
| Jeonnam Dragons | Jung Hae-seong | Resigned | 10 August 2012[8] | Ha Seok-ju | 14 August 2012[9] | 16th |
Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team could use four foreign players on the field each game including a least one player from the AFC country.
| Award | Winner | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player |  Dejan Damjanović | FC Seoul | |
| Top goalscorer | Dejan Damjanović | FC Seoul | |
| Top assist provider |  Mauricio Molina | FC Seoul | |
| Rookie of the Year | Lee Myung-joo | Pohang Steelers | |
| FANtastic Player | Dejan Damjanović | FC Seoul | |
| Manager of the Year | Choi Yong-soo | FC Seoul | |
| Special Award | Kim Yong-dae | FC Seoul | |
| Kim Byung-ji | Gyeongnam FC | ||
| Best Referee | Choi Myung-yong | — | |
| Best Assistant Referee | Kim Yong-soo | — | |
| Team of the Year | FC Seoul | ||
| Fair Play Award | Ulsan Hyundai | ||
| Youth Team of the Year | Pungsaeng Middle School (Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma) | ||
| Position | Winner | Club |
|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Kim Yong-dae | FC Seoul |
| Defenders | Adilson | FC Seoul |
| Jung In-whan | Incheon United | |
| Kwak Tae-hwi | Ulsan Hyundai | |
| Kim Chang-soo | Busan IPark | |
| Midfielders | Mauricio Molina | FC Seoul |
| Ha Dae-sung | FC Seoul | |
| Hwang Jin-sung | Pohang Steelers | |
| Lee Keun-ho | Ulsan Hyundai | |
| Forwards | Lee Dong-gook | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors |
| Dejan Damjanović | FC Seoul |
Due to the match-fixing scandal that involved 40 current and former players in the previous year, there was a massive decline in attendance the following season. The scandal continued to have an effect on the league's attendance for several seasons thereafter.
| Rank | Date | Home | Score | Away | Venue | Attendance | Round | Day of week | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 August 2012 | 0–2 | 50,787 | 28 | Saturday | ||||
| 2 | 5 May 2012 | 2–1 | 45,982 | 11 | Saturday | ||||
| 3 | 1 April 2012 | 2–0 | 45,192 | 5 | Sunday | ||||
| 4 | 3 October 2012 | 1–0 | 43,352 | 34 | Wednesday | ||||
| 5 | 4 November 2012 | 1–1 | 40,510 | 38 | Sunday | ||||
| 6 | 20 May 2012 | 2–1 | 37,519 | 13 | Sunday | ||||
| 7 | 28 May 2012 | 3–1 | 31,156 | 14 | Monday | ||||
| 8 | 13 May 2012 | 4–1 | 29,019 | 12 | Sunday | ||||
| 9 | 25 March 2012 | 2–1 | 25,811 | 4 | Sunday | ||||
| 10 | 24 June 2012 | 1–1 | 25,653 | 17 | Sunday |
