Cheongju Showking

Cheongju Showking sit in the K5 League Chungbuk, the fifth tier of South Korean football and the level reserved for the Chungcheongbuk-do region.

The club took shape in May 2020, and within two seasons it had topped the Chungbuk group, in 2022, and earned a place at the K5 League Championship, the competition that decides the country's amateur title. That run remains the club's calling card.

Cup football has its own rules, and Showking have tested them in the Korean FA Cup, where lower-tier sides get a rare crack at opponents outside their own bracket. Their 2023 appearance brought them up against Jungnang Chorus Mustang and Gangneung Citizen, ties that offered a step up in competition rather than a realistic path deep into the draw.

The club's own name causes more confusion than its results: English-language records have rendered it as Cheongju Shocking, though Showking is how the club identifies itself.

Home games are played at Cheongju Stadium, also known as the Cheongju Sports Complex.