Bucheon: FC Anyang have been promoted to the top-tier competition in South Korean football for the first time in club history. FC Anyang played Bucheon FC 1995 to a goalless draw in their K League 2 contest on Saturday at Bucheon Stadium in Bucheon, about 20 kilometers west of Seoul. With one match remaining, FC Anyang reached 62 points to secure the top spot in the K League 2 and thus the direct ticket to the K League 1 next year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Chungnam Asan FC are in second place with 57 points with one match remaining. After each season, the top club in the K League 2 will be directly promoted to the K League 1, while the last-place club in the K League 1 will face direct relegation to the K League 2. The 10th- and 11th-place clubs in the K League 1 will face K League 2 qualifiers in promotion-relegation playoffs, with the two winners ending up in the top competition for the following season.

FC Anyang were founded in 2013, the first year in which the current promotion-relegation was p
ut in place. They had never won a K League 2 title until this year and had lost in playoffs in 2019, 2021, and 2022. Anyang and Bucheon traded a couple of chances in the first half without finding the back of the net. Anyang just missed a goal in the 68th minute when Yago Cesar’s left-footed shot struck the crossbar.

Anyang settled for a draw and a point, but that point was enough to send them to the top league for 2025. Anyang and Bucheon had been the only two teams to have been in the K League 2 every year since the two-division system was implemented in 2013.