Ulsan Hyundai FC v Gwangju FC — prediction, stats and goal analysis

K League 1 · Sunday, 19 April 2026. Final score 5–1 (half-time 2–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 43% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals43%57%Under
Over 3.5 goals22%78%no pick
Both teams to score50%50%Yes

The result model puts Ulsan Hyundai FC at 49%, the draw at 29% and Gwangju FC at 22%, from expected goals of 1.37 and 0.82.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. K League 1 has produced over 2.5 goals in 46% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Ulsan Hyundai FC have 4 in 7 this season (2 of 3 at home), Gwangju FC 3 in 7 (2 of 4 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 49% and 46%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 7 and 7 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 43% and 42%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 43%.

Head to head. These sides have met 11 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 27%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 42%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 38%, from expected goals of 1.37 for Ulsan Hyundai FC and 0.82 for Gwangju FC. Folding in 30% of that view gives 41%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 43%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Ulsan Hyundai FC757%29%57%
Gwangju FC743%29%29%

Head to head

22 Nov 25Gwangju FC 2–0 Ulsan Hyundai FCU2.5
18 Oct 25Ulsan Hyundai FC 2–0 Gwangju FCU2.5
28 May 25Gwangju FC 1–1 Ulsan Hyundai FCU2.5
2 May 25Ulsan Hyundai FC 3–0 Gwangju FCO2.5
25 Aug 24Gwangju FC 0–1 Ulsan Hyundai FCU2.5
10 Jul 24Ulsan Hyundai FC 0–1 Gwangju FCU2.5

More: Ulsan Hyundai FC season stats · Gwangju FC season stats · K League 1 table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.