Suwon Bluewings boast the largest payroll among the 14 clubs in South Korea’s first division professional soccer league, the league office said Thursday.

According to the K League Classic, Suwon is paying its 31 players a total of 9.1 billion won ($7.9 million) this season, for an average of 292.5 million won per player. Both are the highest totals in the league.

Based in one of the country’s most passionate football cities, Suwon has been one of the league’s most popular clubs since its foundation in 1996.

A four-time league champion and a three-time FA Cup winner, Suwon is currently in first place this season with four wins and one loss.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors ranked second with 8.1 billion won.

According to the league, the average player salary for all 14 teams came to 146.1 million won.

The K League Classic said 10 of the 14 teams are paying their players at least 100 million won on average this year.

Daejeon Citizen, one of six publicly owned clubs, had the lowest payroll with 2.8 billion won and the lowest average salary with 65.7 million won.

The football league, which began play in 1983, has never before revealed team payrolls and average wages for players.

Other professional sports leagues, such as the Korea Baseball Organization and the Korean Basketball League, make team finances public each season.

“To improve financial transparency in operations of the league and individual clubs, we decided at a board meeting last fall to disclose team payrolls,” the K League Classic said in a statement. (Yonhap News)