Gimcheon Sangmu FC v Ulsan Hyundai FC — prediction, stats and goal analysis

K League 1 · Tuesday, 5 May 2026. Final score 1–2 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 46% 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 goals46%54%Under
Over 3.5 goals26%74%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts Gimcheon Sangmu FC at 37%, the draw at 29% and Ulsan Hyundai FC at 34%, from expected goals of 1.2 and 1.12.

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. Gimcheon Sangmu FC have 3 in 11 this season (1 of 5 at home), Ulsan Hyundai FC 6 in 11 (2 of 5 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 40% and 49%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 11 and 11 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 47% and 43%.

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 46%.

Head to head. These sides have met 8 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 63%. 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 46%.

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 41%, from expected goals of 1.2 for Gimcheon Sangmu FC and 1.12 for Ulsan Hyundai FC. Folding in 30% of that view gives 45%.

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 46%.

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
Gimcheon Sangmu FC1127%9%73%
Ulsan Hyundai FC1155%36%64%

Head to head

22 Mar 26Ulsan Hyundai FC 0–0 Gimcheon Sangmu FCU2.5
5 Oct 25Gimcheon Sangmu FC 3–0 Ulsan Hyundai FCO2.5
24 May 25Ulsan Hyundai FC 3–2 Gimcheon Sangmu FCO2.5
27 Apr 25Gimcheon Sangmu FC 2–0 Ulsan Hyundai FCU2.5
19 Oct 24Gimcheon Sangmu FC 0–0 Ulsan Hyundai FCU2.5
6 Oct 24Ulsan Hyundai FC 2–1 Gimcheon Sangmu FCO2.5

More: Gimcheon Sangmu FC season stats · Ulsan Hyundai 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.