Stream the South Korean K League from Anywhere in the World
Last updated on
October 7th, 2022
- Always evades internet control in the PRC
- Keeps ahead of the Netflix VPN detection algorithm
- Benchmark tests show excellent speed
- Smart DNS service, understands the technology
- Comprehensive security add-on package.
- No data throughput limits and has a no-logs policy
South Korea’s top-tier football league, or simply K League, is well underway. The oldest Asian professional football league is contested by twelve clubs this year. The season traditionally starts in late February and lasts until late September, so you still have plenty of live action to stream.
The K League playoffs are organized interestingly – the top team from the regular season qualifies for the final automatically. The second-placed team qualifies for the semi-final, and so on. So the second half of the season is when the most exciting matches unfold as the strongest clubs lock horns. Will Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors win their sixth title?
Where to stream the K League Matches online
In South Korea, KBS, MBC Sports+, and SPOTV cover all K League matches. KBS is the national broadcaster, so you can watch K League on local TV for free. Although KBS is available online for the worldwide audience, its online streaming doesn’t cover K League.
- MBC Sports+ is a premium cable channel known for its superior sports broadcasting, which doesn’t seem to offer online streaming, however.
- SPOTV+ is a South Korean premium broadcaster covering K League, UEFA Champions League. NBS, and UEFA Europa League. Sometimes SPOTV streams K League matches directly on their SPOTV YouTube channel.
- JTBC3 Fox Sports is the South Korean edition of Fox Sports. The subscription-based service offers online live streams of K League matches in South Korea.
Then there is K League’s official website offering grainy but free live streams via Worldwide K League Live portal. You can also try your luck with the official K League YouTube channel, which occasionally streams some matches live.
Another option is Naver Sportshttp://sports.news.naver.com/kfootball/index.nhn, a South Korean streaming provider. Finally, Afreeca.tv is a viable option. Short for “Any FREE broadCasting,” Afreeca is a South Korean P2P video streaming portal. With Afreeca, you need to look for available K League streams manually, and there is no guarantee you’re going to find them on a consistent basis.
If you are in Europe, you can register with bwin and stream all K League matches live.
Why use a VPN to stream the K League Matches
Unfortunately, K League is poorly covered outside of South Korea. If you are a South Korean expat, or simply like Asian football, you have to hop from one YouTube channel to another in hopes someone is kind enough to stream the current match live. So your safest bet to stream your K League matches consistently and in high quality would be via one of the official broadcasters or bwin.
But the catch with the broadcasters and bwin is they are locked to their specific regions, South Korea and Europe respectively. You can’t access K League streams from outside of South Korea (or Europe for bwin).
Enter VPN. A Virtual Private Network is a tool that allows you to emulate your location in a country of your choice. In this case, you need to spoof into South Korea, so you need a VPN provider with servers there. Once you connect to a South Korean VPN server, it assigns you a South Korean IP address, and you appear as a regular South Korean Internet user to all websites you visit. All local streams are unlocked, and you can get the full coverage of K League.
Understandably, all official K League web streams are in Korean. Even the English version of Worldwide K League Live offers the translation of basic buttons while everything else is in Korean. If you don’t speak Korean – and I suppose many non-Korean football fans might be interested in streaming K League – your best shot would be to stream K League via bwin. But bwin is also geo-restricted. To bypass its geo-block, connect to one of the European VPN servers and stream K League matches for free.
A word of caution – if you need to spoof into South Korea, consider buying a rock-solid VPN with proper security and privacy safeguards. The thing is South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced nations with stringent state-imposed censorship. If you want to stay below the state’s radar, you need a reliable VPN that doesn’t leak your location and identity.
The ongoing conflict with its northern neighbor allows the South Korean government, local businesses, and schools introduce restrictions on the Internet use without ever bothering to justify them.
If you’ve spent some time living in South Korea, you must be familiar with regular school- and office-imposed firewalls that block you from accessing social networks, as well as AfreecaTV and K League streams. Schools and businesses probably do this because they want you to focus on studies and work. But it means you can’t spend your coffee break live streaming K League. With a VPN, you can bypass all local and state firewalls and unlock your sports streams.
Benefits of VPNs
- Ability to bypass school and office firewalls
- Ability to unlock sports streams and TV shows
- Improved security due to robust encryption
- Better privacy since your Internet Service Provider is unable to monitor your traffic
- Ability to bypass ISP throttling
How to stream K League with a VPN
- Pick a VPN provider and buy a subscription. Some providers offer free trials while others a money-back guarantee.
- Install the VPN program on your device and log in.
- Open the list of VPN servers and connect to a server in South Korea to unlock local streams, or to one of the European servers to unlock bwin K League streams.
- Once connected, launch your browser (make sure to clean its cache first) and go to your streaming provider’s site.
- Now you should be able to stream K League matches in HD – and privately.
Best VPNs for streaming K League from anywhere in the world
ExpressVPN
- Always evades internet control in the PRC
- Keeps ahead of the Netflix VPN detection algorithm
- Benchmark tests show excellent speed
NordVPN
- More US city locations than its rivals
- Includes malware protection
- No-logs policy
PureVPN
- Excellent client with pre-configured modes for streaming, P2P, privacy
- Kill switch
- Support for wide range of protocols, including OpenVPN
IronSocket
- 7-day refund (if you buy via credit card or PayPal)
- P2P allowed (servers supporting P2P are marked)
- Great security features
Hide.me
- Lifetime free plan available
- Port forwarding available
- Certified zero logs
