2022 K League 1
The 2022 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 40th season of the top division of professional football in South Korea, and the tenth season of the K League 1.
After progressing 33 regular rounds as ever, the league was divided into two groups, the top six and the bottom six, and each team played five matches against other teams in its group.
Teams
Team changes
Relegated to K League 2Promoted from K League 2
Locations
The following twelve clubs will compete in the K League 1 during the 2022 season.| Team | City/Province | Abbreviation |
| Daegu FC | Daegu | Daegu |
| Gangwon FC | Gangwon | Gangwon |
| Gimcheon Sangmu | Gimcheon | Gimcheon |
| Incheon United | Incheon | Incheon |
| Jeju United | Jeju | Jeju |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | Jeonbuk | Jeonbuk |
| Pohang Steelers | Pohang | Pohang |
| Seongnam FC | Seongnam | Seongnam |
| FC Seoul | Seoul | Seoul |
| Suwon FC | Suwon | Suwon FC |
| Suwon Samsung Bluewings | Suwon | Suwon |
| Ulsan Hyundai | Ulsan | Ulsan |
Foreign players
Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to five per team, including a slot for a player from the Asian Football Confederation countries and a slot for a player from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Gimcheon Sangmu FC, being a military-owned team, is not allowed to sign any foreign players. A team could use five foreign players on the field each game, including at least one player from the AFC confederation.North Korean player An Byong-jun was deemed as a native player in K League by South Korean law and passport.
Players in bold were registered during the mid-season transfer window.
| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | AFC player | ASEAN player | Former player | ||||||
| Daegu FC |  Positions by matchdayResultsMatches 1–22Teams played each other twice, once at home, once away.Matches 23–33Teams played each other once, either at home or away.Matches 34–38Teams played each other once, either at home or away.Relegation play-offsThe tenth-placed team and the eleventh-placed team played against the play-offs winners and the runners-up of the K League 2, respectively, in the relegation play-offs.Suwon Samsung Bluewings won 2–1 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues. ---- ''Daejeon Hana Citizen won 6–1 on aggregate and was promoted to K League 1, while Gimcheon Sangmu was relegated to K League 2.'' StatisticsTop goalscorersCho Gue-sung, who appeared in less matches than Joo Min-kyu, won the top goalscorer award.
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