Four South Korean football clubs that have qualified for upcoming continental competitions have acquired necessary licenses.
The Korea Professional Football League (K League) said Ulsan HD, Pohang Steelers and Gwangju FC were licensed for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite, while Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors were licensed for the AFC Champions League Two.
Starting in 2024, the AFC will run three levels of men’s club competitions, with the AFC Challenge League sitting at the bottom of the rung.
Ulsan and Pohang earned their spots in the Champions League Elite by winning the K League 1 title and the Korean FA Cup title.
Pohang had already qualified for the AFC event by finishing as the K League 1 runners-up behind Ulsan. When they won the FA Cup, Gwangju, after finishing third in the K League 1, were elevated to the Champions League Elite spot. Jeonbuk, who finished in fourth place, qualified for the Champions League Two.
The K League said an independent committee reviewed the four cl
ubs’ license applications on Wednesday, and they were all approved Friday.
The committee looked into whether the applicants met AFC licensing regulations in five categories: sporting, infrastructure, personnel and administrative, legal and financial.
Gwangju FC play their K League matches at Gwangju Football Stadium, with a capacity of just 10,000, but they earned their Champions League license after agreeing to use Gwangju World Cup Stadium, which seats over 40,000, for AFC matches.
The approval for Jeonbuk’s license was granted on the condition that they will name a new full-time head coach by June 7.
They have been playing under assistant coach Park Won-jae as caretaker boss since Dan Petrescu resigned on April 6.
Source: Yonhap News Agency