'To determine the strongest women's soccer team in Korea,' the W Korea Cup kicks off in June... Could an upset occur between the WK League and university teams?

*This content was translated by AI.

The W Korea Cup, which will determine the strongest women's soccer team in Korea, is being established.

The Korea Football Association announced on the 26th that the W Korea Cup will be newly established this year and will begin a pilot operation.

A total of 15 teams, comprising eight WK League women's industrial soccer teams and seven university teams, will participate in the W Korea Cup. The tournament will proceed in four rounds, with all matches played as single-elimination games. The previous year's WK League champion, Hwacheon KSPO, will join from the second round.

The Football Association held the draw for the 2026 W Korea Cup at the Novotel Ambassador Suwon on the 22nd. As a result of the draw, matchups between WK League teams and university teams were also confirmed.

Seoul City Hall will face Sejong Korea University, Sejong Sports Toto will face Gangwon Provincial University, and Incheon Hyundai Steel will face Kyungpook National University. The remaining matchups are grouped between WK League teams and university teams.

The first round will be held on the 23rd–24, the quarterfinals (second round) on August 25, the semifinals (third round) on October 11, and the final (fourth round) on November 21. The first round and quarterfinals will be held at Icheon Sports Complex and Icheon Public Sports Stadium, while the semifinals and final will be held at Icheon Sports Complex.

The Football Association plans to operate the tournament stably with a focus on WK League teams and university teams, and then expand the scope of participating teams to include adult and university amateur teams.

Park Il-gi, head of the Football Association's Tournament Operations Division, said, "Although the W Korea Cup, held for the first time this year, still lacks in scale, we will continue to develop the tournament steadily with the goal of improving women's soccer performance and expanding its base."

The W Korea Cup, co-hosted and organized by the Korea Football Association and the Gyeonggi Provincial Football Association, with financial support from Gyeonggi Province, offers a winning prize of 30 million won and a runner-up prize of 10 million won.

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*This content was translated by AI.