K-LEAGUE IS CHANGING

South Korea's K-League will be undergoing massive changes over the next few months in order to strengthen the quality of the league, which has been facing an alarming drop over the last few years.

South Korea's K-League once used to be the strongest league in Asia, but it was recently overtaken by the Japanese J-League. One of the reasons attributed towards this drop-in strength has been the lack of promotion and relegation within the division. As a result, it has not only lowered the quality of the players, but has also introduced match fixing within the players and referees as well.

One of the most famous match fixing scandal broke out only a few years ago, and it was largely due to the lack of relegation and promotion. Hence, the South Korean football Association has come to the decision that promotion and relegation will now be part of the K-League. The division will be entering its 30th season from next year, and the football Association plans to introduce systems that are very much in tune with the European standards from 2012. North American leagues and South American leagues are some of the areas where relegation and promotion are not present, but they have not faced severe problems like the South Korea's K-League.

"It is time. The match-fixing problem is a part of it but we want to take the league and the football system as a whole to the next level,'' the K-League's deputy general manager Kwon Sung-jin said. "If fans love the club then they will follow it whatever happens and the same can be true of sponsors too. In Korea however, with many clubs backed by one company, the owners could lose interest if a club is relegated," said the Korean head coach of J-League club Sagan Tosu, Yoon Jung-hwan.