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Bucheon FC earn 1st promotion to top football league

Published: 09 Dec. 2025, 11:54 Updated: 09 Dec. 2025, 18:48

Bucheon FC 1995 celebrate after a 3-2 win over Suwon FC in the second match of the K League promotion-relegation playoffs at Suwon Sports Complex in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Dec. 8. [YONHAP]

Bucheon FC 1995 earned their first promotion to the top Korean football league for the 2026 season by clinching a playoff series win Monday.

Bucheon FC defeated Suwon FC 3-2 in the second leg of their K League promotion-relegation playoff at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi. Bucheon FC had won the opening leg 1-0 on Friday and captured the series with a 4-2 aggregate win.

Bucheon FC will play in the top-flight K League 1 for the first time in 2026. After joining the second-tier K League 2 in 2013, Bucheon had never even competed in promotion-relegation playoffs until this year.

Suwon FC, who fell to the playoff after finishing in 10th place among 12 teams in the K League 1, will play in the K League 2 for the first time since 2020.

Jeju SK of the K League 1 prevailed in the other promotion-relegation playoff series on Sunday, blanking K League 2 club Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2-0 in the second leg for the 3-0 aggregate victory.

These results will leave Suwon, a proud football town that once boasted two clubs in the K League 1, without a team in the top division in 2026.

Rodrigo Bassani scored a wonder goal in the 14th minute. He stripped Willyan of the ball in the midfield, drove all the way into the box past multiple defenders and unleashed a right-footed shot into the far post to set the tone for Bucheon.

Kim Gyu-min extended Bucheon's lead nine minutes later. He danced into the box on the right side, and his weak shot from a tough angle somehow rolled through the wickets of goalkeeper Hwang Jae-yun.

Jefferson Galego then put Bucheon up 3-0 only seconds after the restart, taking a floating pass sent by Bassani from the halfway line and then rolling the ball into the bottom right corner.

Choi Chi-ung scored Suwon FC's first goal in the 82nd minute, and Pablo Sabbag converted a penalty deep into the added time, but these proved to be too little, too late for Suwon FC.

Yonhap