WK League News

Even ardent followers of the WK League could be forgiven for not knowing about the KWFF’s Spring Championship. Despite the competition’s long history (it dates back to 1962), professional and semi-professional teams have not taken part in the Spring Championship since the pre-WK League era. However, it is still a major event in the Korean women’s football calendar, with academy teams competing in the U-12, U-15 and U-18 divisions.

Until last year, there was also a division at the tournament for university teams. This year, that category has disappeared, presumably due to the establishment of the women’s U League (WU League). This is not the only change coming to the women’s college football scene in 2026: university teams are set to compete along with WK League sides in the first edition of the W Korea Cup, and it has also been reported that the university and ‘general’ (i.e. league clubs) categories at the annual National Sports Festival will also be merged as of this year.

As 41 youth teams from across South Korea gathered in Hapcheon earlier this month for the Spring Championship, the KWFF launched a new category at the competition for amateur clubs. Six women’s football teams participated in the tournament, representing not quite all corners of the country, then certainly some of them. Sides from Seoul, Daegu, Gimhae, Yangsan, Tongyeong, and Jinju took part in the so-called ‘KWFF women’s club football festival’, which saw Seoul Mapo-gu OOO FC beat Gyeongnam Tongyeong WFC 2-0 in the final.

In the U-18 tournament, the final between Gwangyang Girls’ High School and Ulsan Hyundai High School ended in a 1-1 draw, with Gwangyang lifting the trophy after a penalty shootout. It was deja vu for Hyundai, who lost the final of last year’s Queen’s Cup on penalties too. The team’s juniors, Hyundai Chungeun Middle School, also faced a penalty shootout at the Spring Championship, in their semi-final against Pohang Hangdo Middle School. After winning 4-3, Hyundai Chungeun delivered a decisive victory over Jeonbuk P.E. Middle School in the final, winning by four goals to nil to claim their sixth consecutive Spring Championship title.

There were more penalties in the U-12 competition, the final of which saw Jeju Donam Elementary School clash with Seoul WFC U-12. Both teams had already successfully come through a shootout on their way to the top — Jeju after a draw in their semi-final against Gyeongnam Namgang Elementary, and Seoul after their quarter-final against Busan I-Park U-12. The final also ended all square, with two goals apiece, but it was Seoul WFC that prevailed on penalties to lift the trophy. This was the first time that the club, established in 2022, reached the final of a national tournament, and the first time that a non-school-based team lifted the Spring Championship trophy.