The first in the Top Threes series for K League 1 looks at those between the sticks, the goalkeepers of Korea's top flight.

Clean sheets

One simple metric to determine how reliable a goalkeeper might be is their clean sheet record. In K League 1 this season Song Bum-keun of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors kept the most clean sheets with 16 from 37 matches which is 43.2% of the league games he played. Up next is Ulsan Hyundai's Jo Hyeon-woo with 15 from 38 (49.5%) followed by Seongnam FC's veteran custodian Kim Young-kwang with 13 from 28 appearances (34.2%)

Catches

Do they have the tendency to punch, or can they catch? Yang Han-been made the most catches in K League 1 in 2021 with 62 from 36 games, giving him a ratio of 1.7 catches per 90. Up next was Ulsan's Jo Hyeon-woo with 55 from 38 games (1.4 per 90) then Kim Young-kwang makes up the top three with 51 from 38 (1.3).

Punches

Sometimes, though, punching is the only option. Jo Hyeon-woo led K League 1 in this regard in 2021 with 58 punches from 38 games (1.5 per 90), followed by Yang Han-been with 52 from 36 (1.4) - the two were clearly among some of the busiest goalkeepers in K League last season. Then Gangwon's Lee Bum-soo came in third with 51 from 29 matches (1.8 per 90).

[READ: 2021 K League 1 Top Threes - Defending]

Paul Neat
Managing Editor