The President's Cup is the longest-running cup competition in South Korean football having been created back in 1952. The competition was initially dominated by the military sides that competed, however by the 1960s the university and company sides started to come to the fore. In the early to mid-1970s a whole host of work teams of Korean banks arrived on the football scene and in 1972 Korea Housing & Commercial Bank won the first of their six President's Cup trophies.
The premier knockout competition for non-professional teams, the President's Cup also accepts reserve sides of K-League clubs. Kookmin Bank's 1983 win preceeded their eventual participation in the first ever K-League season, however since then only a handful of the professional sides have had a team in the final. 1988 was unique in that both finalists were ex K-League members, with Hallelujah edging out Kookmin Bank to lift the trophy.