Jeonbuk Motors v Ulsan Hyundai FC — prediction, stats and goal analysis

K League 1 · Saturday, 22 August 2026. Final score 1–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 49% 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 goals49%51%Under
Over 3.5 goals29%71%no pick
Both teams to score55%45%Yes

The result model puts Jeonbuk Motors at 44%, the draw at 26% and Ulsan Hyundai FC at 30%, from expected goals of 1.54 and 1.22.

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. Jeonbuk Motors have 9 in 23 this season (7 of 11 at home), Ulsan Hyundai FC 14 in 23 (5 of 11 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 43% and 54%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 23 and 23 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 45% and 48%.

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 47%.

Head to head. These sides have met 9 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 33%. 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 52%, from expected goals of 1.54 for Jeonbuk Motors and 1.22 for Ulsan Hyundai FC. Folding in 30% of that view gives 48%.

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 49%.

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
Jeonbuk Motors2339%26%48%
Ulsan Hyundai FC2361%39%70%

Head to head

11 Jul 26Ulsan Hyundai FC 1–3 Jeonbuk MotorsO2.5
4 Apr 26Jeonbuk Motors 2–0 Ulsan Hyundai FCU2.5
30 Aug 25Ulsan Hyundai FC 0–2 Jeonbuk MotorsU2.5
31 May 25Jeonbuk Motors 3–1 Ulsan Hyundai FCO2.5
1 Mar 25Ulsan Hyundai FC 1–0 Jeonbuk MotorsU2.5
20 Jul 24Jeonbuk Motors 2–0 Ulsan Hyundai FCU2.5

More: Jeonbuk Motors 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.