K League 2 race wide open as Busan, Gimcheon and Gimpo vie for promotion

Busan IPark players celebrate in a photo shared on the club's official Instagram account. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

With just a few weeks to go in the K League 2 this season, the race to see who earns a direct ticket to the first division and who makes it to the playoffs is still wide open.

As of Tuesday, Busan IPark are league leaders with 66 points in 33 matches. Gimcheon Sangmu FC are right behind Busan with 64 points in 33 games, with Gimpo FC also in contention with 59 points in 33 matches.

The K League 2 runs for 36 games, with all teams currently having played either 33 or 34.

A maximum of three K League 2 teams can advance to the K League 1 every year, although only one spot is guaranteed. The winner of the K League 2 is automatically promoted to the K League 1, where the 12th-place team is sent down to replace them. The second-place team in the K League 2 plays the 11th-place team in the K League 1, with the winner of that game playing the next season in the top tier.

As if that wasn't complicated enough, the fifth- and fourth-place K League 2 teams then play each other, with the winner then facing the third-place finisher. The winner of that game plays the 10th-place K League 1 team in yet another playoff, with the winner of that game also playing the next season in the top tier.

As things stand at the moment, either Busan, Gimcheon or Gimpo will take first place, with the other two clubs guaranteed to finish within the playoff bracket. Fourth-place Bucheon FC and fifth-place Gyeongnam FC are also in playoff contention, although neither club is guaranteed to finish in the top five.

For both Busan and Gimcheon, a return to the top tier will be a step up, but not an unusual one. Both clubs have played in the K League 1 in recent years — Busan were relegated in 2020 and have played just seven of their 41 years outside of the top tier, while Gimcheon were only relegated last season.

Gimpo are in a far more interesting position. A small-town team founded in 2013, Gimpo competed as an amateur club in the depths of the K3 system until the end of the 2019 season. The club turned semi-pro that year, playing in the more formally organized K3 League until 2021, when they were turned fully professional and joined the K League 2 ahead of the 2022 season.

In just two years, the plucky upstarts from a small Seoul suburb have rapidly risen up the table, finishing eighth in their debut season and guaranteed a top five spot this year, giving them an outside chance of entering the K League 1 just three seasons after going pro.

The K League 1 and K League 2 are set to finish on Dec. 3 and Nov. 26 respectively, and the playoffs will take place after the regular season ends

BY PAIK JI-HWAN AND JIM BULLEY [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]