(ATTN: ADDS player's award in paras 8-9)
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- Nearing their first title in the top South Korean football league in 10 years, FC Seoul can pop champagne as early as Sunday.
Entering weekend play, FC Seoul are sitting pretty atop the tables of the 12-club K League 1 with 65 points on 20 wins, five draws and six losses. Ulsan HD FC are in second place with 47 points.
With seven matches left for both clubs, FC Seoul will clinch their seventh championship if Ulsan HD FC do not win Saturday and if FC Seoul themselves win Sunday.
FC Seoul players celebrate their 1-0 win over Incheon United in the clubs' K League 1 match at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul on Sept. 5, 2026, in this file photo provided by the Korea Professional Football League. The players hold up a muffler that reads, "Toward the Seventh Star," referring to a star placed on a team's uniform for winning a league title. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Ulsan HD FC will face Bucheon FC 1995 at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, and a draw will take Ulsan to 48 points. And if FC Seoul beat Gimcheon Sangmu FC the following day, they will improve to 68 points.
In that scenario, the 20-point gap will be insurmountable with six matches to go. FC Seoul would then tie the 2018 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors as the fastest club to clinch a K League 1 title under the current setup, doing so after 32 matches.
FC Seoul are the only club this season not to have lost consecutive matches. They have scored the most goals in the league with 58, 10 more than Ulsan, and have also conceded the fewest goals with 26, two fewer than Gangwon FC.
Up front, Polish striker Patryk Klimala has been leading the way with 14 goals, just one behind Yago Cariello of Ulsan for the league lead, and winger Jeong Seung-won had contributed eight goals and six assists.
On Thursday, Klimala was named the K League 1 Player of the Month for September. In a vote by the league's technical study group, K League fans and players of EA Sports FC Online game, Klimala topped four candidates with 38.60 voting points. Italo Moreira of Jeju SK FC was the runner-up with 27.55 points.
Klimala scored three goals in four matches he played in September. During that month, Klimala was named the Player of the Matchweek on Sept. 15 after netting two goals in FC Seoul's 2-1 win over Jeonbuk three days earlier.
Goalkeeper Gu Sung-yun has been a steady force as the last line of defense, with FC Seoul having recorded 13 clean sheets, the second most in the league behind Gangwon FC's 14.
Head coach Kim Gi-dong is finally enjoying the kind of success FC Seoul first envisioned when they appointed him before the 2024 season. FC Seoul finished fourth in Kim's first season and dropped to sixth place in 2025, leading some frustrated fans to boo Kim at times. But the 55-year-old tactician now has FC Seoul on the cusp of a long-awaited title.
FC Seoul head coach Kim Gi-dong watches his team play Jeju SK FC during the clubs' K League 1 match at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 10, 2026, in this photo provided by the Korea Professional Football League. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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