K League considering changing schedule due to Champions League

The Korean football league said Tuesday that it is considering adjusting its 2020 regular season fixtures to avoid an overlap with Asia's top club football tournament in October.

"We're taking into account plans to hold final round matches of K League 1 in October before and after the Asian Champions League schedule," said the K League.

According to an announcement by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the remaining Group G and Group H matches for the AFC Champions League will take place from Oct. 17-Nov. 1 in Malaysia.

Two K League 1 clubs, the Suwon Samsung Bluewings and the Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, are in Group G and in Group H, respectively.

The group matches were originally scheduled to be played back in March, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, all matches were postponed. To prevent further spreading of the virus, the Champions league matches, starting from the round of 16, will be decided in one match rather than an aggregate score after two matches.

Game schedules for Group E and Group F, to which FC Seoul and Ulsan Hyundai belong, respectively, have not been fixed yet, but they are expected to be held sometime in October-November.

Under the 2020 season calendar, which was shortened due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 12 K League 1 clubs will go into the final round of five games in October after completing the first-phase 22 matches. They will be divided into two groups, Final A and Final B, to decide the eventual rankings of the season.

The K League said it has plans to hold two of the five final round matches on weekdays in August and September, and the remaining three after the Asian Championship competition schedules.

They've come to the decision because trying to finish the season by the start of October will mean that the clubs will have to go through a tough schedule in August and September. As this will tire out the players and lower the quality of the matches, the K League came down to such a plan.

However, an associate from K League said that no decisions have been finalized yet as they will be made after discussing about the matter with the clubs.

Moreover, as the four K League clubs traveling to Malaysia for the AFC Champions League will have to be quarantined for 14 days upon returning home, the league schedule might be extended to December.

Yonhap