As one of the first professional leagues in Asia, the K-League has played a key role in taking the nation to the summit of the regional game.

Both at club and national team level, the South Koreans are regular contenders for the top prizes across Asia and much of the reason for this lies in the solid base provided for the players by an efficient league system.

Set up in 1983 as the Korean Super League, the set-up has been rebranded on numerous occasions and is currently known as the K-League, boasting 15 member clubs from throughout the southern part of the peninsula.

While there are three national football leagues in Korea, there is no promotion or relegation into or out of the top flight, which is the only professional set up in the country.

Most of the clubs are closely linked to the nation’s largest companies, with electronics giant Samsung owning Suwon Bluewings while the Hyundai corporation has links with as many as four different clubs through various strands of the company’s business interests.

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma are the most successful club in Korean football having won the title on seven occasions while Pohang Steelers are one of a number of Korean clubs to have been crowned Asian champions, the club claiming the title twice in the 1990s.

The system used by the K-League to determine the league champions sees them using a series of playoffs at the end of the regular league season, during which each team plays each other twice in a home-and-away round-robin format.