▲ Gwangju's Ba Loua (center) celebrates a goal with Ha Seung-woon (left)
Bottom-placed Gwangju FC pulled off an upset against second-place Ulsan HD, claiming their first victory in the league after 29 matches.
In the 31st round home match of the Hana Bank KLeague 1 2026 held at the Gwangju World Cup Stadium on the 11th, Gwangju beat Ulsan 4-3, powered by Ba Loua, who was involved in all of his team's goals with two goals and two assists.
This marks Gwangju's first win in K League 1 since a 3-2 victory against Incheon United in the second round, ending a 29-match drought. During the winless streak, Gwangju recorded 12 draws and 16 losses across K League 1 and 2, setting the record for the most consecutive matches without a win.
Although it remains difficult for Gwangju to escape the bottom of the table, they broke their humiliating winless chain to claim their second win of the season (12 draws, 17 losses).
Ulsan remained at 47 points.
League leaders FC Seoul (65 points), who hold an 18-point lead over Ulsan, can now secure the K League 1 title on their own for the first time in 10 years since 2016 if they add just 4 points in their remaining 7 matches.
Ulsan suffered the upset against Gwangju despite starting key players, including goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo, midfielder Lee Dong-kyeong, and defender Jo Hyeon-taek—who participated in the national team's four consecutive A-matches—along with defender Choi Seok-hyun, a member of the gold medal-winning squad at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Gwangju's Ba Loua in the 23rd minute of the first half and Ulsan's Eric in the 25th minute both had their goals ruled out for offside, leaving both sides disappointed.
The deadlock was broken in the 30th minute of the first half.
Yago received a cross sent by Ulsan's Bojanic from the left side of the midfielder inside the penalty area and finished it with his left foot.
Initially, Yago was called offside, but the decision was overturned following a video assistant referee (VAR) review, and the goal was acknowledged.
Gwangju launched a counterattack.
In the 36th minute of the first half, Ha Seung-woon penetrated the left side of the penalty area and passed the ball toward the goalmouth, where Ba Loua smashed it into the net with a left-footed volley.
It was the first league goal in 15 matches for the Côte d'Ivoire-born forward Ba Loua, who had previously scored in the Korea Cup but only had one assist in K League 1.
In the 39th minute of the first half, as Ba Loua delivered a cross from the left side of the penalty area, Idele headed it in from the right side of the goalmouth to turn the match around.
Idele recorded a goal in his third consecutive match.
Ulsan also leveled the score before the end of the first half in the 43rd minute when Kim Young-gwon headed in a corner kick taken by Lee Dong-kyeong.
It was Lee Dong-kyeong's 11th assist of the season (along with 11 goals), who became the first South Korean player to achieve 10-10 (goals-assists) in K League 1 for two consecutive years.
Gwangju took the lead again in the 21st minute of the second half.
Shin Chang-mu slipped into the right side of the penalty area to receive a through ball from Ba Loua and slotted it home with his right foot.
Ulsan missed an opportunity to equalize in the 28th minute of the second half when Yago's goal was once again ruled out for offside.
Surviving the scare, Gwangju extended their lead in the 32nd minute of the second half when Ba Loua headed in a cross from Lee Min-ki for an additional goal.
Gwangju conceded another goal to Yago from a penalty kick during stoppage time, but held onto their lead until the end.
Yago, who scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season, surpassed Klimala (Seoul, 14 goals) to climb to the top of the scoring list alone, though his feat was overshadowed by the team's defeat.
(Photo provided by Korea Professional Football League, Yonhap News)
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