Assistant manager at both the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals, Pim Verbeek was the popular choice to make the step up to the top job in the wake of Advocaat's departure immediately after the finals in Germany, and the Dutchman was entrusted with the task of leading Korea to the 2007 Asian Cup. Korea were less than impressive in the qualifying stage, drawing at home to both Iran and Syria whilst losing the final away tie in Iran but qualified in second place in the group nonetheless.

SK Pro Football Club, the body in charge of Bucheon SK, moved their financially ailing football club from their Gyeonggi-do home of the past five years to the island of Jeju, to take up residence in the vacant Seogwipo World Cup stadium, in an effort to revitalize their fortunes both on and off the pitch. Also on the move were National League side Hummel FC, who moved their home base from Uijeongbu to Icheon, the former home of the Sangmu reserve side who instead opted to compete in the K-League reserve league in 2006. Sangmu's place in the league was taken by Busan Transportation Corporation. One new club was created for 2006 as Gyeongnam FC became the 14th members of the K-League.

In the K-League, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma swept all before them to claim their seventh championship crown. Coach Kim Hak-bum's expensively assembled side romped to victory in the first stage of the K-League season, suffering just one defeat to Suwon as they finished ten points clear of second placed Pohang. A record crowd of 21,437 was in attendance at the Tancheon stadium for the first leg of the championship final against Suwon and witnessed Seongnam secure a single goal victory. In the return leg the visitors triumphed 2-1 to claim the title yet again. There was further disappointment for Suwon a matter of days later as they went down 2-0 to Chunnam Dragons in the FA Cup final.

During the course of the season Woo Sung-yong became only the fifth player to reach the 100 K-League career goal mark, and became the first Korean player since former Seongnam forward Kim Do-hoon in 2003 to finish the league's top goalscorer.

Whilst the real fairytale story of the 2005 Korean FA Cup tournament revolved around Ulsan Mipo Dockyard's great run to the final that ultimately ended in defeat, Jeonbuk's single goal victory in that final was the start of a campaign that would ultimately win them the crown of 'best in Asia'. Jeonbuk's win gained them entry to the 2006 AFC Champions League tournament and, grouped with Dalian Shide, Gamba Osaka and Da Nang, it looked as if it would be a tough challenge for the K-League strugglers. Despite coming close to withdrawing from the tournament because of the club owners' concerns over financial viability, Jeonbuk topped their group and qualified for a quarter-final tie against Shanghai Shenhua. Defeat in the first leg looked to have ended their hopes of progression, however Jeonbuk rallied to a 4-2 second leg win which set up a semi-final against Ulsan. Jeonbuk again pulled off a remarkable second-leg comeback as, having lost the home leg 3-2, they crushed Ulsan 4-1 in the away tie to reach the final. Goals from Yeom Ki-hoon and Botti gave them a 2-0 win over Al-Karama in the first leg, however Jeonbuk came perilously close to suffering overall defeat in the away leg as the Syrians went 2-0 up by the hour mark and threatened to overrun the Koreans. Brazilian forward Ze Carlos came to the rescue five minutes from time and Jeonbuk claimed the crown of champions of Asia.

The win booked Jeonbuk's place in December's FIFA Club World Championship in Japan, and though they lost out 1-0 to Mexican side Club America in their round 1 match, they cruised to a 3-0 win over New Zealand side Auckland City to claim 5th place in the tournament.

There was an increased focus on the K2 League, rebranded the National League, in 2006 as it was announced the champions would be eligible for promotion to the K-League should they satisfy certain criteria. Goyang Kookmin Bank triumphed over Ansan Hallelujah in the playoff final and, given their earlier assurances that they desired to move back up to the top flight, the project looked to be a success. In the aftermath of the victory, the club officials reversed their decision and announced their intentions to stay at National League level, leading to them being docked 20 points ahead of the 2007 season.