With only four rounds left to play in the 2026 WK League season, six teams are still technically able to lift the trophy, thanks to the mechanics of the WK League championship. Finishing at the top of the regular league table is an achievement in itself, but the league champions still have to see off a two-legged challenge from the winner of a playoff between the second- and third-placed sides before they can get their hands on the trophy.
As the end of the 2026 season approaches, there’s still all to play for, not only in the league but also in the inaugural W Korea Cup, not to mention next month’s National Sports Festival. Over the next two days, we’ll be providing a quick overview of where each team stands ahead of Round 25, starting from the bottom of the table and working upwards. Today it’s the turn of the league’s newest club and its oldest one, who will meet in Round 27 in an unlikely six-pointer that could determine which of them will finish the season in dead last.
Gangjin Swans
Current league position: 8th
Highest possible finish: 7th
Lowest possible finish: 8th
Possible trophies: 1 (National Sports Festival)
Since Gyeongju KHNP got their act together in the late spring, Jeonnam’s first WK League club have been unable to escape the bottom of the table, a position sadly familiar to the players who migrated to Gangjin from the now-defunct Changnyeong WFC. Despite a seemingly strong squad boasting plenty of league experience, it has taken longer than many expected for the side to gel, not helped by a sudden pre-season managerial change and teething issues at the club’s home ground.
The Swans have started to look more competitive in the second half of the season, but the damage in terms of points had already been done — the best league finish Gangjin can hope for is seventh place. In terms of realistic end-of-season aims, a first ever home win feels essential. Beyond that, hitting a total of 20 points won’t get them out of 8th position, but it would be solid evidence of improvement throughout the year. Doubling Changnyeong’s 2025 total of 10 points would also be a satisfying and symbolic, if largely meaningless, end to the first season of women’s football in Gangjin.
Despite their league position, the Swans still have a chance, albeit a slim one, of winning a trophy this year as they represent Jeonnam at the upcoming National Sports Festival. Their potential opponents on the way to the final of the tournament include Seoul City, Gyeongju KHNP and Mungyeong Sangmu, all sides that have failed to beat Gangjin on at least one occasion this year, and all sides that may be distracted by the race for the WK League playoff.
Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
Current league position: 7th
Highest possible finish: 4th
Lowest possible finish: 8th
Possible trophies: 2 (National Sports Festival, W Korea Cup)
It seemed as if eleven-time WK League champions Incheon Hyundai were back from their two-year slump as they vied with Mungyeong Sangmu for the top spot in the opening weeks of the season, Hur Jeongjae’s second as Incheon manager. However, as the season went on and other sides saw an uptick in form, the Red Angels seemed to be freefalling, not helped by several injuries in Hur’s overhauled squad. By the end of the summer, Hur was gone, with head coach Kim Eunjeong appointed interim manager and handed the unenviable task of salvaging Incheon’s season.
Even with four rounds left to play, this is now conclusively the Red Angels’ worst performance since the WK League began in 2009. The club had never finished lower than 2nd before 2024, when they famously failed to reach the championship final for the first time ever. There was a slight improvement last year as the Red Angels got as far as the playoff, but the club has fallen far short of its own high expectations this year. Even if Incheon win all their remaining matches, they will only just equal their lowest points total to date — the 25 points they earned in the inaugural WK League season, when there were just six teams and only 20 rounds played.
Amid the doom and gloom, it is somewhat surprising that the Red Angels could still finish the season as high as 4th in the league and with two new trophies in the cabinet, although this would of course require several other teams to have a complete collapse during the run-in. Realistically, besides pride, Incheon don’t have much left to play for in the 2026 WK League, but for fans of Korea’s oldest and most decorated women’s football club, surely the opportunity to be the first to lift the W Korea Cup is just as alluring as the (now distant) prospect of another league title — perhaps even more so. The fact that they could do that and finish dead last in the league in the same season is just one of several fascinating stories set to unfold in coming weeks.
Coming soon: A look at the four teams competing for third place and a ticket to the playoff
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