BAYERN LIFE
SMALL BASE , BIG SUCCESSES
Facts , stats and figures on football in South Korea .
THE BIG GAME
On 3 August 2024 , 63,500 spectators watched a friendly between FC Bayern and Tottenham Hotspur at the Seoul World Cup Stadium .
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The three Bayern fans stroll through the fashionable Ikseon neighbourhood , where there are lots of good bars and restaurants .
The record champions
The K League was founded in 1983 , making it the oldest East Asian professional league . These five teams have been champions most often ( Minjae Kim won the title in 2017 and 2018 with Jeonbuk ).
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Seongnam FC FC Seoul Pohang Steelers Uslan HD FC
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Germany is seven hours , they rarely meet in person . Instead , they cheer on their team together in a live stream – usually via the Discord app , where fans can chat or send audio messages . The Korean women are also active outside of football . When the country elected a new president in 2022 , Red Light Korea campaigned prominently on social media channels for people to go to the ballot box . And in 2023 , the fans collected donations for the earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria .
Female voices in the stadium
The female Bayern fans are wholly committed to women ‘ s rights and equality . This is not a given in South Korea . The East Asian so-called “ Tiger State ” has , in many respects , arrived in the future with the production of high-quality semiconductors and ultra-fast internet available everywhere , but society is still strongly patriarchal in some respects . South Korea still has the widest gender income gap of all OECD countries . But progress is being made . ” Koreans have now developed a greater awareness of women ‘ s rights ,“ says Kay . Of course , there is still a lot to be done , including in football , where the number of women and girls attending stadiums in South Korea has risen noticeably in recent years . The friends of Red Light Korea are not just fans of FC Bayern . They ’ re part of a societal development .
The serial champions
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In addition to the K League , the WK League – the country ‘ s top women ‘ s football league – has also been operating in South Korea since 2009 . Like FCB , the Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels won 11 consecutive league titles up to 2023 .
More fans than athletes
Despite the relatively long professional league history and the major international successes , not many people in South Korea play football themselves , as a comparison with Germany shows .
51,8 MILLION inhabitants
100.000 million footballers ( 0,2 %)
84,6 MILLION inhabitants
2,2 million footballers ( 2,6 %)
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