I was expecting a Mexico win going into this, but the nature of the loss was unfortunate. Korea on track for second place in the group with a win or draw against South Africa.

Wikipedia alt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_squads#South_Korea

Group stage (East) chaged from 12 teams to 16. Korea's slots up to 3+1 from 2+1. Presumably the group stage is still a "league" instead of going back to 4x4 groups. This means Gangwon have a chance at ACLE and FC Seoul are in ACL2.

Another disappointing campaign (so far) in my eyes. Ulsan obviously were on a huge downturn last season, but after a decent start, all of them had stinking results in the last few rounds. Gangwon and Seoul now have Machida and Kobe as their opponents in a couple of weeks, which aren't impossible ties, but it could have been better.

P.S. good luck to Pohang tomorrow

Gimhae FC, Yongin FC, and Paju Frontier FC are joining K2 for the 2026 season. K2 will have 17 clubs playing 32 games each, so 34 rounds in total.

Korean Super Cup is being revived after 20-year absence. Played between K1 winners and Korean Cup winners. Will be played 21 Feb between Jeonbuk and Daejeon (Jeonbuk won both, Daejeon were K1 runners up).

Pro-rel playoff between K2 and K3 (there's effectively a route from K4 to K1 now). I think it's happening at the end of the 2026 season? Between bottom K2 team and top K3 team, single game hosted by the K2 team. K3 would need to obtain a pro club licence for the playoff to take place.

Jeonbuk and Daejeon go to ACLE, with Pohang having a playoff for ACLE (although they might go straight into ACLE depending on who wins the current ACLE/ACL2).

If Gwangju win the Korean Cup, they'll be in ACL2. If Jeonbuk win it, Gangwon will be in ALC2.

Daegu relegated. Jeju in a relegation playoff vs Suwon Samsung. Suwon FC in a relegation playoff vs Bucheon.

I'm impressed that whoever they asked to do the commentry bothered to find out how to pronounce everything.

The annual Team K League games are always a bit silly, but I still enjoy them a bit. Especially when K League wins.