WK League News

Two months into the season and with 42 league matches played, the 2025 WK League is well underway. With only six points between Hwacheon KSPO in first place and Sejong Sportstoto in fifth, there’s been plenty of movement in the top half of the table, boding well for an exciting fight for playoff spots as the season progresses. Here’s a quick overview of each team’s results so far.

Hwacheon KSPO

Sitting at the top of the league table with 22 points from eleven games are 2024’s regular league champions Hwacheon KSPO. After conceding the first goal of the 2025 WK League season just minutes into their Round 1 clash with Changnyeong WFC, Hwacheon pulled things back for an opening day victory but then went on a run of five matches without a win. After three 1-1 draws in a row KSPO finally broke the spell at home against Sejong in Round 7, starting a five-game winning streak. Hwacheon are a well-organised side that is tough to beat, especially at home, as other teams struggle to break down their smart and structured play. Hwacheon’s Choi Yoojeong is the league’s joint top goalscorer, having scored seven of the team’s 17 total so far. Their next opponent is Seoul, who will be looking to break Hwacheon’s streak and piggyback them into first position in what is sure to be an exciting match.

Seoul City Amazones

After a sixth place finish last year, Seoul made a statement on the first day of the season with an emphatic and deserved 4-1 away win over a star-studded Gyeongju KHNP side that had been tipped by some as favourites for this year’s title. After two fixtures were postponed (one due to the AFC Women’s Champions League, one due to forest fires in Gyeongbuk province), Seoul had to wait until Round 4 to prove that their first day performance was no fluke. Along the way, Yoo Young-sil’s Amazones have recorded both home and away wins against 2024 champions Suwon FC and held strong teams from Hwacheon and Incheon to 1-1 draws. They suffered their first (and so far, only) defeat in Round 8 at the hands of a Gyeongju side hungry for revenge. With the most goals scored so far they’re now in second place just two points behind Hwacheon KSPO with two games in hand. Beyond pure results, the Amazones’ tangible match day positive energy and quirky goal celebrations are indicative of a team that is having fun, and getting on well with each other and with their manager. If Seoul can keep up their winning momentum, they will surely be in and among the playoff spots by the end of the season.

Gyeongju KHNP

Equal with Seoul on points but behind on goal difference are Gyeongju KHNP, who despite high expectations, had a slightly rocky start to their season, with a heavy loss on opening day followed by draws against Hwacheon and Sejong. A home match against Changnyeong WFC in Round 4 gave Gyeongju the perfect opportunity to claim their first win, and they took it, thumping the struggling side 5-0. Gyeongju seem to have found some rhythm but there are still moments of doubt, including last week’s nervy visit to Changnyeong, where they were held to a draw until very late in the game. It’s no secret that Gyeongju have a lot of goalscoring talent, but they’ve also conceded more than the other teams around them. Things still feel a little unsettled for KHNP since the winter transfer window, which saw some key players from their 2024 squad make way for key players from Suwon FC’s 2024 squad, as well as acquiring some new talent from the draft. With so many top quality players vying for the same or similar positions, it seems as if manager Song Juhee and her coaching staff haven’t quite settled on their ideal starting line-up even this far into the season. If Gyeongju can’t find more reliable winning form soon it could be another nail-biting end to the season for their fans.

Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels

Only three points behind Gyeongju with a game in hand, are eleven-time league champions Incheon Hyundai. After a disappointing season last year, the Red Angels appointed a new manager who seemed confident he could restore the team to their former glory, but they have had a slightly underwhelming start to the campaign. A late goal from new signing Haruhi Suzuki got Incheon their first win on the league’s opening day, and fans got more joy as the team progressed to the semi-finals of the AFC Women’s Champions League thanks to (another) late goal from rookie Kim Myeongjin. Incheon have picked up their 17 points thus far from low-scoring wins and 0-0 draws. Only Hwacheon have managed to beat Incheon, and the Red Angels do have bragging rights for the most clean sheets and fewest goals conceded. However, they have also scored the second fewest goals, only netting one more than Changnyeong WFC. Now with no wins in five games, Incheon did have a well-timed appointment with Dr Changnyeong this week, but the fixture has been postponed due to Champions League schedules. We won’t see the Red Angels in league action again until June, by which time they may or may not be champions of Asia. Either way, by then they will be able to focus on the domestic league, so we may start to see some more attacking performances and interesting scorelines from Incheon.

Sejong Sportstoto

Sejong Sportstoto have had a mixed start to their season and sitting only one point behind Incheon as things stand. Sejong’s stated aim this season is to claim a spot in the championship playoff — it’s not totally unfeasible yet but they will need to start nabbing some points from the teams above and around them, and soon, to be in with a realistic chance. So far all their wins have come against lower-ranking sides, but there are reasons to be optimistic. Sejong have only conceded six goals so far, with six clean sheets, thanks in no small part to goalkeeper Ryu Jisoo, who joined the club this year from Seoul City. All three of their losses have been by a margin of only one goal. If Sportstoto can streamline their attacking play and start scoring a few more goals where they count, teams such as Incheon and Gyeongju will have to watch out.

Mungyeong Sangmu

As in previous years, it looks like a gap is starting to form between the top and bottom halves of the table. The military team Mungyeong Sangmu currently sit in sixth position with eleven points from ten games. Mungyeong have had moments of individual brilliance, including a couple of contenders for goal of the season, but these moments have been fairly few in number. As is the way for teams in this part of the table, Mungyeong have only managed to claim wins against the teams below them — an underperforming Suwon FC and a Changnyeong WFC side that might actually be cursed. They were unlucky not to get a point against Sejong after equalising, but then conceding, in added time, but in any case they’ll need an extraordinary amount of luck to climb much higher up the league table by the end of the season, and they could drop lower if Suwon FC get their act together.

Suwon FC

2024 WK League champions Suwon FC languish in seventh place after a disappointing start to the season that is rapidly becoming a disappointing middle of the season. They have only posted two wins so far, a 2-1 and a 2-0 against Changnyeong, which is frankly an embarrassing record for Suwon considering the disparity in the two teams’ resources and the experience of their respective squads. Star striker Kang Chaerim has missed a few weeks of play due to injury but is now making a return to the squad and will be hoping to help Suwon out by scoring her first goal of the season. New arrival Mileninha seems to have settled into the squad well and is the club’s top goalscorer so far with four, but Suwon have already waved goodbye to Meghan Root, another striker who arrived in Korea this winter. The way Suwon are playing at the moment, they seem unlikely to make much impact in the title race this year, and are perhaps lucky that Changnyeong are there to save them the embarrassment of being dead last. Something clearly isn’t working at Suwon, who will perhaps be looking to bring in some new talent over the summer to boost their league performance and put them in better form before they head to the continental stage when the 2025/26 Champions League kicks off later this year.

Changnyeong WFC

Changnyeong and their fans are used to being in eighth position, having spent much of 2024 there, but even by their standards they’re having a bit of a shocker. With eleven losses in as many games and only six goals scored so far, it’s getting increasingly hard to see where Changnyeong are going to pick up any points this season. Of the 103 goals scored so far in the 2025 WK League, 32 of them have been against Changnyeong. An underfunded club regularly reported to be on the brink of dissolution, with the smallest and youngest squad in the league, do not expect to be challenging for the title — but they should surely be able to pick up at least one cheeky draw in eleven matches. They came close last week at home against Gyeongju but unravelled in the key closing stages of the game. All seven of the other teams in the league have now reached or surpassed Changnyeong’s 2024 season points total, but it seems as if Changnyeong themselves may struggle to even equal it. Hopefully organisational changes at the KWFF will bring a renewed commitment to Changnyeong WFC, whose loyal and dedicated fans deserve so much more.