Extra time was scrapped from the 2000 K-League championship. Instead, ties were decided directly in a penalty shoot-out, with the winner receiving one point. Anyang topped the table at the end of the regular season, with Bucheon finishing fourth. Bucheon worked their way through the play-off matches to line themselves up with a final match against Anyang.
Anyang won the first play-off match 4-1 despite playing the whole second half with outfield player Jin Sun-jin playing in goal due to an earlier injury to first-choice keeper Shin Ui-son. A penalty-kicks win in the second leg after a 1-1 draw gave Anyang the 2000 League Championship 5-2 on aggregate.
The Olympic team headed to Sydney in 2000 to face Chile, Morocco and Spain in their group stages. A disastrous start saw the Koreans trampled 3-0 by Spain, and even wins over Morocco and Chile were not enough to see them through to the next round as they went out on goal difference. However, the Koreans could take comfort from their best Olympic football tournament participation to date.
The main national team also secured qualification to the 12th Asian Cup competition held in Lebanon, where they were eliminated by Saudi Arabia in the semifinals. Korea eventually won the third-place match 1-0 against China.
Huh Jung-moo, who had succeeded Cha Bum-keun as Korean national coach after the 1998 World Cup, was relieved of his duties after the Asian Cup campaign. The KFA, eager to improve the national team's standing and make an impression at the home World Cup tournament, set out with the goal of appointing a foreign coach. After the Japanese appointed French coach Philippe Troussier to lead them into the World Cup, any previous reluctance to spend money in attracting a big name coach to the position dissipated, and the KFA eventually brought in Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, who had led Holland to fourth place at the 1998 World Cup, and who had a very impressive track record at domestic level. Hiddink wasn't the first foreign coach to occupy the Korean national team hot-seat, as former USSR Olympic coach and then Korean Olympic team coach Anatoli Bychovets had led the national team in three friendly matches in 1994 immediately after the USA World Cup.
In the K-League, Chonbuk Hyundai Dinos again changed their name, dropping 'Dinos' and substituting it with 'Motors'. Bucheon SK moved out of the Mok-dong stadium and into the newly finished Bucheon stadium. Problems also arose over Ilhwa Chunma's stay in Seongnam. The team, owned by Ilhwa foundation, the business arm of Moon Sun-myung's controversial Unification Church, drew harsh criticism and protest from radical Christian groups within the city, leading to the Mayor of Seongnam banning the club from playing at the Seongnam stadium. The KFA and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism intervened to sort out the problem, and eventually a satisfactory conclusion was reached to allow the team to continue playing in the city.
The league had dispensed with the play-off system for 2001, and instead was ready to declare the top team after the regular season as champions. Despite the preseason problems, Seongnam emerged to take the title, finishing two points ahead of Anyang.
The KFA called time on the Amateur Football Championship as an independent competition at the end of the 2000 season, and the 56th competition for 2001 was merged into opening stages for the Korean FA Cup competition. Mipo Dockyard had triumphed in the final Championship in 2000, with Korea National Railroad finishing as runners-up. Daejeon, despite ending the K-League season at the foot of the table, found form right at the end of the year and eventually won the 6th FA Cup, beating Pohang Steelers 1-0 in the final with a first-half goal from Kim Eun-jung.
Suwon Samsung Bluewings entered the 20th Asian Club Championship that season, and lifted the trophy with a final victory over Jubilo Iwata. Just like Pohang three years previously, Suwon would successfully defend their title the following season in an all-Korean final, defeating Anyang LG Cheetahs 4-2 on penalties. In both seasons Suwon also added the Asian Super Cup to their trophy cabinet.
New national team coach Hiddink got off to a rather inauspicious start to his reign in the hot-seat. When the KFA hosted the Confederations Cup tournament in mid-2001 the Korean team crashed to a 5-0 defeat at the hands of World Champions France. Two subsequent victories over Mexico and Australia did little to cover the wounds, and when they crashed 5-0 to the Czech Republic just two months later and struggled in three matches against Nigeria (twice) and Senegal, people began to question the wisdom of appointing a foreigner to the top job in Korean football. Hiddink countered that he should be given time to build the side for the 2002 World Cup, but the signs were not looking good for the tournament just under one year away.
