It is the league of one of the youngest and most dynamic countries in the Far East, as well as one of the most followed tournaments in Asia. After reading our complete guide to betting on the K League, you will have all the tools to place your bets.
Betting on the K League? Do it with these 5 bookies
The Korean league is catching the attention of bettors worldwide and has long crossed Asian borders, also thanks to players from that country who are standing out in the main European leagues, such as Tottenham’s Son. More and more international bookmakers are offering matches from this tournament: below you will find the 5 best operators to bet on the K League.
The 6 best bookmakers online for the K League
| DachBet | DachBet 4.5/5 | 100% bonus up to 100€ | VISIT THE SITE |
| TikiTaka | TikiTaka 4.5/5 | 100% bonus up to 100€ | VISIT THE SITE |
| Casinova | Casinova 4.5/5 | 100% bonus up to 500€ | VISIT THE SITE |
| 1xBet | 1xBet 4.5/5 | 100% bonus up to 100€ | VISIT THE SITE |
| Weltbet | Weltbet 4/5 | 100% bonus up to 200€ | VISIT THE SITE |
| Slotsvil | Slotsvil 4/5 | 100% bonus up to 100€ | VISIT THE SITE |
Why did we choose these six in particular? The evaluation was mainly based on four important criteria that we will describe later. This does not mean that other bookies offering this league are not valid: they simply did not meet the standards reached by our chosen ones. One final consideration: all the bookmakers we analyzed are authorized and operate with a regular international license.
The criteria for choosing the best K League betting sites
There is no absolute and universal criterion to evaluate the best K League betting sites. However, our experience teaches us that there are mainly four parameters that betting enthusiasts consider essential. You will find them in the navigation element below, and we have dedicated a single paragraph to each one: just click on the topic that interests you most to read it immediately.
The criteria we used to choose the best bookmakers:
- The competitive percentage of payouts and odds.
- The presence of specific promotions dedicated to the K League.
- The completeness of the live section and the presence of streaming.
- The number of live markets, pre-match and on the app.
The analysis of payouts allows us to understand if a bookmaker guarantees interesting potential winnings, while the specific promotions on the Korean league are a valid incentive to place bets; a high-level live section is essential, given the success of this type of betting. Finally, a high availability of markets allows us to vary our bets and have more profit margins.
Payouts: a fundamental selection criterion
The best betting sites stand out for offering competitive payouts. What does it mean? That with them our potential win will be more generous. It is essential to check that this also applies to bets on the K League. Calculating payouts is not difficult: we did it for you and in the table below you will find the minimum and maximum values of our Top 6.
The minimum and maximum payouts for the K League
- DachBet: 92.0% – 94.5%
- TikiTaka: 91.8% – 93.7%
- Casinova: 91.5% – 93.5%
- 1xBet: 92.2% – 94.0%
- Weltbet: 91.7% – 93.6%
- Slotsvil: 91.6% – 93.4%
Good news: none of the K League betting sites drop below 90%, a percentage under which potential winnings are considered low. The fluctuations between minimum and maximum are slight, a sign of rather stable odds (the percentages were calculated on the most common markets). It is interesting to compare these data with the payouts of Japanese J League bets.
The presence of promotions on the Korean league
To encourage bets on a competition, especially when it is not an event with great “hype” like the Korean league, bookmakers often resort to using betting bonuses: promotions can convince us to place a bet even on a big match between Jeonbuk and Ulsan. In the case of betting on the K League, unfortunately, this does not happen very often yet.
- Occasional promotions on the K League
- Many football markets
- Intuitive graphic layout
DachBet – VISIT THE SITE
The operator mentioned above turned out to be one of the few to adopt this strategy on K League betting. It is probably only a matter of time before many other online bookmakers follow its example. Remember that you can still use the promotions usually offered by bookmakers also for the matches of this league, and compare the situation with the promotions on Japanese J League betting.
Care of the live section
Live betting is always a good idea, and football lends itself perfectly to the adrenaline of this type of play. If the time zone doesn’t scare you and you want to experience K League betting in real-time, make sure the best K League betting sites offer at least a dozen markets with good payouts, and an always updated livescore, possibly with video streaming.
Many markets: imagination to the power!
If someone told you that for a match between Seoul and Pohang Steelers you have more than one hundred markets available and not just five or six, you would be very happy. A wide range of options is always an advantage: the same applies to K League betting. Even more so if the number remains the same on desktop and on betting apps.
In fact, we have observed that the types of bets available for the Korean league range from 50 to 100, a bit less than what happens for the betting markets of the Qatar Stars League, but still more than enough to diversify your bets and thus take advantage of the odds fluctuations, maybe including them in sports betting systems.
The most popular K League betting markets
Especially if we are not familiar with the peculiarities of the Korean football league, it may be difficult to navigate the dozens of markets available for your bets on the operators’ platforms. That’s why we decided to focus only on the most popular ones. By dividing them between single match and outright types, we will describe them in the following paragraphs, using statistics from the 2020 edition to help us.
Betting on the K League
- Match betting
- Outright bets
- All about the tournament
- The teams
Markets on a single match
Among all football bets, the markets related to a single match are the most numerous, as well as the most popular: they do not necessarily require in-depth knowledge and can therefore be chosen based on richer or less rich odds to complete a multiple or system bet. Match winner, Both Teams to Score and Over/Under are undoubtedly the most popular.
The numbers of the Match winner market
1X2
- 37.88%
- 26.52%
- 35.60%
Understanding the meaning of the Match winner market is straightforward: you need to predict the final result of a match (and in fact it is also known as 1X2 or Final result). But the point is: how to decide who will win between Jeonbuk Hyundai and FC Seoul? You turn to statistics!
The last edition of the K League ended in November 2020. We have numbers and percentages on wins and draws. Home wins were the majority (as also happened in the Australian A League), with just a slight lead over away wins; draws were much fewer, as shown by the graph.
The Both Teams to Score market
Both Teams to Score
- 50.00%
- 50.00%
Another market much loved by bettors around the world is the one called Both Teams to Score (or Yes/No). Betting on this type means predicting whether the attacks will overcome the defenses, and more generally if we will witness a hard-fought match.
In the 2020 season we saw a perfect balance, with both outcomes stuck at 50%. Not a great help, in fact, to sort out your K League bets. Compare it with the Both Teams to Score market in the Indian Super League.
Many or few goals? The Over/Under market
Over/Under
- 44.70%
- 55.30%
Still on the goal theme. The Over/Under market can apply to many events in a football match, but it finds its natural “home” in the total number of goals. The goal thresholds to predict over or under range from 0.5 to 5.5, but the standard one is 2.5.
Let’s try to help your K League bets by providing the stats for this type in the 2020 season. Contrary to the previous market, and to what happened for example in the Over/Under of Saudi SPL betting, here the balance breaks and the Under outcome prevails in South Korea, as shown by the graph, albeit slightly.
Outright bets on the K League
Among the football markets available for betting on the K League, there are of course also those related to the final outcomes of the Korean championship, the so-called outright bets. Again, we will examine the three most popular ones, reminding you that these types of bets require greater expertise, based on knowledge of the squads and the most competitive teams, necessary to bet with awareness.
The champion team of South Korea
Let’s start with the Tournament Winner market, the most popular one among the best K League betting sites: here you are asked to predict which team will win the K League. As we will see better later, the peculiarity of the tournament is the championship playoff after the first 33 matches.
In 2020, a season shortened to 27 matchdays due to the coronavirus, Jeonbuk Hyundai was crowned champion, beating historic rivals Ulsan Hyundai by only three points at the end of the playoff. For Jeonbuk, it was the eighth title.
The Relegation market
The Relegation market asks us to predict whether a team will be relegated to K League 2, the local second division. Two relegations are expected: one direct, and one through the two-legged playoff between the second-last of K League 1 and the runner-up of League 2.
In 2020, instead, a relegation round was played, at the end of which the team finishing last was relegated. That fate befell Busan IPark, finishing last with 25 points in 27 matches played.
The top scorer of the championship
Another market as simple to understand as it is difficult to guess is the one related to the league’s top scorer. Who will be the most prolific striker? Not easy: the Korean tournament boasts excellent players from various parts of the world, though not very famous.
In the 2020 K League, for example, the top scorer was Brazilian Júnior Negrão, playing for Ulsan, who scored 26 goals. The good news is that, being so hard to predict, this market always offers very attractive odds.
How to place winning bets on the K League
Let’s turn the page and tackle another topic in our K League betting guide. How can we bet on the K League with a better chance of success? The first tip is undoubtedly to carefully study the statistics, for example those we presented on win and draw frequencies and markets related to goals scored.
A second aspect to consider is the league’s format. The tournament structure, which includes separate groups for title and relegation after the regular season, can overturn the values seen in the first phase. Also, keep an eye on the calendar: the season follows the calendar year, as in the Chinese Super League. In summer, the K League is one of the few leagues still in progress, and the odds can become particularly advantageous!
The K League identity card
| Name: | K League 1 |
| Location: | Seoul |
| First edition: | 1983 |
| Participating teams: | 12 |
| Format: | Round-robin + Title/Relegation Playoff |
| 2021 season duration: | February – October |
| Most titled teams: | Jeonbuk Hyundai (8 titles), Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (7) |
Organized by the South Korean Football Association, K League 1 (K리그1) is the top professional football division in South Korea. The first edition took place in 1983 with five teams, and Hallelujah won the title. Today the tournament features 12 participating clubs, many of which are linked to large industrial conglomerates (Chaebol), whose names appear alongside the cities of origin in the club names.
The championship consists of a 33-match regular season, after which the teams are split into two groups of 6 (Final A and Final B). The teams in group A fight for the title and a spot in the Asian Champions League, while those in group B fight to avoid direct relegation or the promotion/relegation playoff with a K League 2 club.
In the all-time winners’ list, the most successful club is Jeonbuk Hyundai with eight titles, followed by Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma with seven victories (currently in the second division). Completing the list of the most successful teams are FC Seoul with six titles and Pohang Steelers with five.
The 5 noble teams of the K League
To bet on the K League with awareness, it is helpful to know the main protagonists of the tournament. In recent years, Jeonbuk Hyundai has been the dominant force. Below is an overview of the five most representative teams in the league.
- Jeonbuk Hyundai. Green-blue kit, symbol a three-legged crow, Jeonbuk Hyundai of Jeonju is South Korea’s football powerhouse par excellence. It has won eight titles since 2011 and was once coached by José Morais, former assistant to José Mourinho.
- FC Seoul. The red-and-black team from the capital is South Korea’s second most successful club. Their last league title came in 2016. They have also won two national cups and a Super Cup.
- Ulsan Hyundai. Runners-up in 2019 and 2020, the “Tigers” of Ulsan are among the league’s rising teams. They have won two national titles and one Asian Champions League in 2012.
- Pohang Steelers. A historic club linked to steel giant POSCO, Pohang Steelers boast five titles and three Asian Champions League wins. They wear a red-and-black horizontally striped kit and have a strong winning tradition.
Suwon Samsung Bluewings. Founded in 1995, the Bluewings already have four national titles, five Korean FA Cups, and two consecutive Asian Champions League victories in 2001 and 2002. One of the most prestigious and well-structured clubs in the tournament.
K League betting, to wager on a very trendy tournament
Our guide to the best K League betting sites can now be considered complete. Let’s recap the topics covered, starting with the list of the 6 best bookmakers to bet on this fast-growing tournament. We examined the most popular markets, explained key statistics, and presented the most interesting teams. At this point, all that’s left is to try your luck!
FAQ
What are the best bookmakers for the K League?
Among the most reliable betting sites for betting on the K League are international operators like DachBet, TikiTaka, Casinova, 1xBet, Weltbet, and Slotsvil. We selected them for their excellent offers on this Asian league: competitive payouts, varied markets, and in some cases even dedicated promotions.
How many markets are there for K League betting?
The number varies from bookmaker to bookmaker. In general, even for less-followed matches, platforms offer between 50 and 100 types of bets, both on desktop and via mobile app. Big matches offer even more.
Is it possible to bet on outright markets?
Absolutely. Outright bets on the K League are available on all sites that include this league in their schedule. In addition to the classic “Tournament Winner”, you can often find markets on relegation and top scorer as well.
What criteria did you use to select the bookmakers?
We know that every bettor has different preferences. However, there are four universal parameters to evaluate a good K League bookmaker: high payouts, dedicated promotions, a performing live section, and a wide variety of markets. The operators selected in our guide excel in all four aspects.
