2023 K League 1
The 2023 K League 1, also known as the Hana 1Q K League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 41st season of the top division of professional football in South Korea, and the eleventh season of the K League 1. Defending champions Ulsan Hyundai successfully defended their title.
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
Gwangju FC and Daejeon Hana Citizen were promoted from the 2022 K League 2. Gimcheon Sangmu and Seongnam FC were relegated to 2023 K League 2.| Promoted from K League 2 | Relegated to K League 2 |
Locations
The following twelve clubs competed in the K League 1 during the 2023 season.| Team | City/Province | Abbreviation |
| Daegu FC | Daegu | Daegu |
| Daejeon Hana Citizen | Daejeon | Daejeon |
| Gangwon FC | Gangwon | Gangwon |
| Gwangju FC | Gwangju | Gwangju |
| Incheon United | Incheon | Incheon |
| Jeju United | Jeju | Jeju |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | Jeonbuk | Jeonbuk |
| Pohang Steelers | Pohang | Pohang |
| FC Seoul | Seoul | Seoul |
| Suwon Samsung Bluewings | Suwon | Suwon |
| Suwon FC | Suwon | Suwon FC |
| Ulsan Hyundai | Ulsan | Ulsan |
Foreign players
The number of allowed foreign players was kept strictly to six per team, including a guaranteed slot for a player from the Asian Football Confederation countries. Teams could field at most five foreign players at any given time, including at least one player from the AFC confederation.North Korean player An Byong-jun, who played for Suwon Samsung Bluewings, was deemed as a native player by South Korean nationality law.
Players in bold were registered during the mid-season transfer window.
| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | AFC player | Former player | |||||
| Daegu FC | ![]() ResultsMatches 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.Gangwon FC won 2–1 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues. ---- ''Suwon FC won 6–4 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.'' StatisticsTop goalscorersJoo Min-kyu, who appeared in less time than Tiago Orobó, won the top goalscorer award.
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