| Organiser: | K League Federation |
| Country: | South Korea |
| Founded: | 1990 |
| Teams: | 16 |
| Season: | 2019 |
| Champions: | Group A: FC Seoul Group B: Pohang Steelers |
| Most Champs: | FC Seoul (10 titles) |
The R League (Korean: R리그), also known as the Korean Professional Football Reserve League, is the league for reserve teams of professional football clubs in South Korea.
The Korean Reserve League was started in 1990 with reserve teams of five K League clubs.[1] [2]
It was not held for nine years after the inaugural season, but was relaunched in a new format in 2000. The participating teams were split into two or three group leagues, and high ranking teams of each league qualified for the playoffs to decide overall champions. It was renamed "R League" in 2009.[3] Korean Police participated in the R League until 2012, although it was not a reserve team of a K League club.
The R League was abolished in 2013 due to the foundation of the K League 2, which needed participating players,[4] but was restarted in 2016.[5] It was once again ceased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the one hand, the Korea Football Association (KFA) allowed reserve teams to join the K4 League in 2021, and so they could enter South Korean football league system.[6]
| Edition | Season | Championship | Central League | Southern League | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2000 | Anyang LG Cheetahs | Anyang LG Cheetahs | Jeonnam Dragons | |
| 3 | 2001 | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Pohang Steelers | |
| 4 | 2002 | Anyang LG Cheetahs | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Gwangju Sangmu Bulsajo | |
| 5 | 2003 | Not held | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Jeonnam Dragons | |
| 6 | 2004 | FC Seoul | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Pohang Steelers | |
| 7 | 2005 | Bucheon SK | FC Seoul | Jeonnam Dragons |
| Edition | Season | Championship | Group A | Group B | Group C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 2006 | Incheon United | FC Seoul | Incheon United | Jeonnam Dragons | |
| 9 | 2007 | Pohang Steelers | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Jeju United | Pohang Steelers | |
| 10 | 2008 | Incheon United | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Gyeongnam FC | Not held |
| Edition | Season | Single league | Group A | Group B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 2010 | Not held | FC Seoul | Pohang Steelers | |
| 13 | 2011 | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | Sangju Sangmu Phoenix | ||
| 14 | 2012 | Korean Police | Busan IPark | ||
| 15 | 2016 | FC Seoul | Daegu FC | ||
| 16 | 2017 | Ulsan Hyundai | Not held | ||
| 17 | 2018 | Not held | FC Seoul | Daejeon Citizen | |
| 18 | 2019 | FC Seoul | Pohang Steelers | ||
| 19 | 2022 | Unknown | |||
K League's principle of official statistics is that final club succeeds to predecessor club's history & records.[7]
| Club | Group | National titles | Group titles | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC Seoul | A | 3 (2000, 2002, 2004) | 7 (2000, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2016, 2018, 2019) | 10 | |
| Incheon United | A | 3 (2006, 2008, 2009) | 2 (2006, 2009) | 5 | |
| Pohang Steelers | B | 2 (1990, 2007) | 6 (2001, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2019) | 8 | |
| Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | A | 1 (2001) | 7 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011) | 8 | |
| Jeju United | B | 1 (2005) | 1 (2007) | 2 | |
| Ulsan Hyundai | B | 1 (2017) | — | 1 | |
| Jeonnam Dragons | B | — | 4 (2000, 2003, 2005, 2006) | 4 | |
| Sangju Sangmu Phoenix | B | — | 2 (2002, 2011) | 2 | |
| Gyeongnam FC | B | — | 1 (2008) | 1 | |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | B | — | 1 (2009) | 1 | |
| Korean Police | A | — | 1 (2012) | 1 | |
| Busan IPark | B | — | 1 (2012) | 1 | |
| Daegu FC | B | — | 1 (2016) | 1 | |
| Daejeon Citizen | B | — | 1 (2018) | 1 |
| Season | Player[8] | Club | Goals | Apps | Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 |  Kim Dong-hae | Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso | 7 | ? | ? | |
| 2000 | Wang Jung-hyun | Anyang LG Cheetahs | 8 | 8 | 1.00 | |
| 2001 | Hwang In-soo | Suwon Samsung Bluewings | 10 | 13 | 0.77 | |
| 2002 | Lee Sun-woo | Suwon Samsung Bluewings | 7 | 13 | 0.54 | |
| 2003 | Back Young-chul | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 8 | 13 | 0.62 | |
| 2004 | Bu Young-tae | Busan IPark | 8 | 8 | 1.00 | |
| 2005 | Han Dong-won | FC Seoul | 10 | 20 | 0.50 | |
| Song Keun-soo | Gwangju Sangmu | 11 | 16 | 0.69 | ||
| 2007 | Yoon Jun-soo | Jeonnam Dragons | 8 | 16 | 0.50 | |
| Yoo Chang-hyun | Pohang Steelers | 13 | 23 | 0.57 | ||
| 2009 | Song Je-heon | Daegu FC | 8 | 13 | 0.62 | |
| 2010 |  Eraldo Anício Gomes | Jeju United | 7 | 4 | 1.75 | |
| 2011 | Jung Sung-min | Gangwon FC | 10 | 17 | 0.59 | |
| 2012 | Kim Young-hoo | Korean Police | 11 | 14 | 0.79 | |
| 2016 | Han Hong-gyu | Ansan Mugunghwa | 9 | 10 | 0.9 | |
| 2017 | Kim Hee-won | Seoul E-Land | 11 | 16 | 0.69 | |
| 2018 | Kwon Ki-pyo | Pohang Steelers | 14 | 19 | 0.74 | |
| 2019 | Jeon Hyeon-chul | Daegu FC | 13 | 11 | 1.18 |
| Season | Player | Club | Assists | Apps | Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Ahn Ki-chul | Daewoo Royals | ? | ? | ? | |
| 2000 | Shin Jong-hyok | Pohang Steelers | 6 | 12 | 0.50 | |
| 2001 | Lee Jung-woon | Pohang Steelers | 5 | 13 | 0.38 | |
| 2002 | Kim Woo-jae | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 6 | 18 | 0.33 | |
| 2003 | Park Won-jae | Pohang Steelers | 4 | 13 | 0.31 | |
| 2004 | Jang Dong-hyun | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 5 | 17 | 0.29 | |
| 2005 | Yu Hyun-goo | Jeju United | 8 | 21 | 0.38 | |
| 2006 | Lee Keun-ho | Incheon United | 7 | 20 | 0.35 | |
| 2007 | Hwang Jin-sung | Pohang Steelers | 5 | 5 | 1.00 | |
| 2008 | Lee Tae-young | Pohang Steelers | 7 | 21 | 0.33 | |
| 2009 | Choi Sung-hyun | Suwon Samsung Bluewings | 5 | 7 | 0.71 | |
| 2010 | Kim Eun-hu | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 6 | 10 | 0.60 | |
| 2011 | Sin Jin-ho | Pohang Steelers | 7 | 17 | 0.41 | |
| 2012 | Choi Jin-soo | Ulsan Hyundai | 5 | 10 | 0.50 | |
| 2016 | Kim Dae-won | Daegu FC | 5 | 13 | 0.38 | |
| 2017 | Kim Soo-beom | Jeju United | 5 | 9 | 0.56 | |
| 2018 | Song Min-kyu | Pohang Steelers | 8 | 18 | 0.44 | |
| 2019 | Park Tae-jun | Seongnam FC | 7 | 8 | 0.88 |