| Clubname: | Daejeon Korail |
| Fullname: | Daejeon Korail Football Club 대전코레일축구단 |
| Nickname: | Iron horse |
| Founded: | (original) 1961 or 1962 (refounded) |
| Ground: | Daejeon Hanbat Sports Complex |
| Capacity: | 17,371 |
| Owner: | Korail |
| Chairman: | Jung Chang-young |
| Manager: | Kim Seung-hee |
| Mgrtitle: | Head coach |
| League: | K3 League |
| Season: | 2023 |
| Position: | K3 League, 5th of 15 |
| Website: | https://info.korail.com/info/contents.do?key=906 |
| Pattern B1: | _daejeon_korail19h |
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Daejeon Korail FC (Korean: 대전 코레일 FC) is a South Korean football club based in Daejeon that competes in the K3 League, the third tier of South Korean football league system. It is owned and operated by Korea Railroad Corporation, South Korea's national railroad operator. Their home venue is Daejeon Hanbat Sports Complex.
After being founded in 1943[1] by the Chosen Government Railway as Chosen Government Railway FC, the team competed in various semi-professional football competitions throughout decades until they joined the Korea National League in 2003.
In 1948, the club changed its name to Ministry of Transportation FC after Joseon Railways was absorbed into Ministry of Transportation by the South Korean government.
The club was inactive during the Korean War and was re-established in 1961[2] or 1962.[3] It was renamed National Railroad FC in 1963 and Korea Railroad FC in 1995. In 2004, to comply with Korea National League's club naming policy, the club added the team's location to its name, changing the name to Incheon Korea Railroad FC . After Korea National Railroad was renamed to Korail, the club's name was also changed again to Incheon Korail FC during the 2007 season. At the end of the 2013 season, the club has been renamed to Daejeon Korail FC after the team's relocation from Incheon to Daejeon.[4]
The team played in the Korea National League between 2003 and 2019, when the league merged with the K3 League. They won the 2005 season with a 4–2 aggregate victory over Suwon City in the final. In the Korean FA Cup, the team reached the quarter-finals in 2001 and the semi-finals in 2005. In the 2019 edition, the team reached the final, where they lost 4–0 on aggregate to the top division side Suwon Samsung Bluewings.[5]
Runners-up (1): 2014
Runners-up (1): 2019
Runners-up (1): 2016
Gold Medal (3): 2000, 2001, 2011
Runners-up (1): 2000
Runners-up (1): 2004
| Season | Korea National League / K3 League | Korean FA Cup | National Championship | Top scorer (league goals) | Manager | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stage | Teams | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=30 | width=30 | width=30 | width=30 | Position | ||||||||
| 1996 | No league | Did not qualify | Not held | No league | ||||||||||||||
| 1997 | Did not qualify | |||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Did not qualify | |||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | Quarterfinals | |||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Preliminary round | |||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Quarterfinals | |||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Round of 16 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | First stage | 10 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 13 | 5th | Round of 32 | Lee Soon-haeng (5) | |||||
| Second stage | 10 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 14 | −9 | 5 | 9th | ||||||||
| 2004 | First stage | 10 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 9 | 7th | Round of 16 | Group stage | Sung Nak-seon (3) | ||||
| Second stage | 10 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 5th | ||||||||
| 2005 | First stage | 11 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 11 | −1 | 13 | 7th | Semifinals | Group stage | Kim Eun-chul (6) | ||||
| Second stage | 11 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 7 | +7 | 21 | 1st | ||||||||
| Playoff | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | — | Champions | ||||||||
| 2006 | First stage | 11 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 13 | +1 | 15 | 6th | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Kim Heung-seop (9) | ||||
| Second stage | 11 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 18 | 4th | ||||||||
| 2007 | First stage | 12 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 22 | 3rd | Round of 26 | Semifinals | Kim Min-soo (8) | Kim Seung-hee | |||
| Second stage | 12 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 18 | +2 | 20 | 3rd | ||||||||
| 2008 | First stage | 14 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 21 | −9 | 8 | 12th | Round of 32 | Semifinals | Park Chun-sin (5) | ||||
| Second stage | 14 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 24 | −11 | 12 | 12th | ||||||||
| 2009 | First stage | 14 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 20 | 13 | +7 | 23 | 3rd | Round of 32 | Group stage | Heo Sin-young (8) | ||||
| Second stage | 13 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 15 | −4 | 16 | 7th | ||||||||
| 2010 | First stage | 15 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 17 | +6 | 26 | 3rd | Round of 32 | Group stage | Kim Hyung-woon (9) | ||||
| Second stage | 15 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 21 | −4 | 11 | 13th | ||||||||
| 2011 | Regular season | 14 | 26 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 29 | 23 | +6 | 39 | 6th | Second round | Semifinals | Park Ju-ho (6) | ||||
| Playoff | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | — | Round of 6 | ||||||||
| 2012 | Regular season | 14 | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 39 | 30 | +9 | 42 | 5th | Round of 32 | Group stage | Kim Tae-wook (7) | ||||
| Playoff | 6 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | — | Champions | ||||||||
| 2013 | Regular season | 10 | 27 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 42 | 32 | +10 | 45 | 2nd | Second round | Winners | Shin Myung-jae (9) | ||||
| Playoff | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | — | Semifinal | ||||||||
| 2014 | Regular season | 10 | 27 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 41 | 28 | +13 | 49 | 1st | Round of 16 | Group stage | Kim Byung-oh Moon Byung-woo (both 9) | ||||
| Playoff | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | — | Runners-up | ||||||||
| 2015 | Regular season | 10 | 27 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 36 | 27 | +9 | 33 | 5th | Round of 16 | Winners | Kim Jun (6) | ||||
| 2016 | Regular season | 10 | 27 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 33 | 41 | –8 | 34 | 7th | Round of 32 | Runners-up | Kwak Chul-ho (16) | ||||
| 2017 | Regular season | 8 | 28 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 31 | 34 | –3 | 39 | 4th | Round of 32 | Semifinals | Park Jin-seop (11) | ||||
| 2018 | Regular season | 8 | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 31 | 40 | –9 | 27 | 7th | Round of 32 | Winners | Kwak Chul-ho (6) | ||||
| 2019 | Regular season | 8 | 28 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 38 | 36 | +2 | 39 | 4th | Runners-up | Semifinals | Lee Gwan-pyo (7) | ||||
| 2020 | Regular season | 16 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 25 | 12 | +13 | 25 | 6th | Second round | Not held | |||||
| Championship round | 8 | 22 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 30 | 18 | +12 | 32 | 7th | ||||||||
| 2021 | Regular season | 15 | 28 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 32 | 30 | +2 | 36 | 9th | Second round | ||||||
| 2022 | Regular season | 16 | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 28 | 36 | –8 | 41 | 9th | Round of 16 | ||||||
| 2023 | Regular season | 15 | 28 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 34 | 32 | +2 | 39 | 5th | Second round | ||||||