K League 2 bottom of the table 2026 - four clubs are out of the top five and none of them go down

Four clubs in K League 2 are already out of the promotion race. Cheonan, Ansan, Jeonnam and Gimhae all carry a tragic number of 0 for a top five place, and all four still have six or seven matches to play. There is no relegation place in this table, so none of them is playing for survival. What is left is where they finish, and for three of the four the ceiling is still several places above where they sit.

Every figure here is as of the September 20 update. The last results in the data are from September 19 and 20, and the next fixtures are October 9 to 11. A club is out when five rivals already hold more points than its own maximum, counted with those rivals frozen where they are. The five points doing the excluding are Suwon's 53, Suwon FC's 48, Seoul E-Land's 48, Daegu's 46 and Hwaseong's 44.

Jeonnam are sixteenth on 21 points from 25 matches, 4 wins, 9 draws and 12 defeats, with 28 scored and 43 conceded. Seven matches left gives them a ceiling of 42, the highest of the four eliminated clubs. That 42 sits two points below Hwaseong's 44, and 44 is the mark that would keep them alive, because a ceiling level with the fifth club is not a ceiling beneath it. Two points, spread across a season, is the entire difference between a club that is out and a club that is not. Their best reachable finish is sixth.

Cheonan are fourteenth on 23 from 26, 4 wins, 11 draws and 11 defeats, 30 scored and 37 conceded. Six left gives a ceiling of 41. Eleven draws is a lot, matched only by Gimpo, and behind only Chungbuk Cheongju's 14 and Yongin's 12. Cheonan have lost fewer matches than Ansan, Jeonnam and Gimhae, and scored more than any of them, and are out anyway because draws do not move a ceiling fast enough. Their best reachable finish is sixth, the same as Jeonnam's.

Ansan are fifteenth on 22 from 26, 6 wins, 4 draws and 16 defeats, 27 scored and 49 conceded for a goal difference of minus 22, the second worst in the league. Six left gives a ceiling of 40 and a best reachable finish of seventh. Sixteen defeats is the joint most in K League 2, level with Gimhae, and 49 conceded is joint worst, also level with Gimhae. Four draws is the fewest of any club.

Gimhae are seventeenth on 13 from 25, 2 wins, 7 draws and 16 defeats, 19 scored and 49 conceded for minus 30. Two wins is the fewest in the league, 13 points the fewest, 19 goals the fewest and minus 30 the worst goal difference. Seven matches left gives a ceiling of 34, the lowest ceiling in the table, and a best reachable finish of eighth, because seven clubs already hold more points than 34 and Chungnam Asan on exactly 34 are level rather than above.

Just above the four, the ropes are short. Yongin are thirteenth on 27 with seven left and a tragic number of 2. Chungbuk Cheongju are twelfth on 29 with six left and also on 2. Paju are eleventh on 29 with seven left and on 3, and Seongnam are tenth on 31 with seven left and on 3. Ten of the seventeen clubs can still finish last, and the list starts as high as Chungnam Asan in eighth. The bottom of this table is not settled just because the top five race is settled for four clubs.

All four eliminated clubs play in the next block, and three of them at home. Chungnam Asan visit Gimhae on October 10, Yongin visit Jeonnam on October 10, Gyeongnam visit Cheonan on October 10, and Ansan travel to Suwon on October 11. Three of those four fixtures put a club that is out against a club that is still alive, which means three of the eight matches in the round can move somebody else's tragic number while settling nothing for the home side.

How to read these numbers. A tragic number is the count of further defeats after which a top five finish becomes impossible, counted with every rival frozen on the points it holds today, so zero means it is already decided. A clinch number is the smallest further return in league points that guarantees the outcome even if every rival wins out, and a blank there means no run of a club's own results can get it done. Level clubs are separated by goal difference, then goals scored, then wins, none of which this arithmetic models, so nothing is ever settled on a tie: a rival who can still draw level with you blocks your clinch, and a rival you can only draw level with does not eliminate you. The live table is at, the remaining fixtures at, the promotion and tie rules at, and the four clubs above have their own pages at, /kleague2/team/32, /kleague2/team/07 and.