Brand Management Strategy for Korean ... - Brunel University

such as the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga attract huge attention
from millions of global fans. Described as the "world’s game", football has long been a
source of competition, history and champions (Anon, 2005). Given the degree to which
football teams are commercialising and diversifying, in terms of their business interests,
it is becoming increasingly necessary to develop a consumer base which is willing and
able to purchase products and services offered by the sports team franchise. European
and South American teams have thus far led this development, however Asian and
African teams are also now following their European counterparts’ lead. The most
significant difference between these groups may be in their brand value.
The K-League is Korea's premier professional football league with fourteen member
teams. Founded in 1983, with five member teams as the Korea Super League, the K-
League was the first professional football league in Asia. In 1994, the Korea Super
League adopted the name K-League. Since its original five team membership, the
league has expanded to fourteen teams (Bae, 2009). It cannot be denied that the K-
League has contributed to the remarkable upgrade of the overall level of Korean
football and to the participation in the six consecutive tournament appearances of the
world cup finals (1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, and 2006).
However, despite the high level of interest of Korean people in football among all the
team sports, the interest and popularity of the K-League and its teams is relatively low.
An initial reason for the unpopularity may be found in the beginning of the league in
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