Korea Football Association

History

In 1921, the first All Joseon Football Tournament was held, and in 1933, the Korea Football Association was organized (following the foundation of Joseon Referees' Association in 1928), which created a foundation to disseminate and develop the sport. Park Seung-bin was the first president of the KFA, charged with the task of promoting and spreading organised football in Korea.

The Korea Football Association was reinstated in 1948, following the establishment of the Republic of Korea. The KFA became a member of FIFA, the international football governing body that same year. It later joined the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) in 1954.

Members

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National teams

Source:

Men's teams

• South Korea national football team
• South Korea national under-23 football team
• South Korea national under-20 football team
• South Korea national under-17 football team
• South Korea national under-14 football team
• South Korea national football B team (student)
• South Korea national futsal team

Women's teams

• South Korea women's national football team
• South Korea women's national under-20 football team
• South Korea women's national under-17 football team
• South Korea women's national under-14 football team
• South Korea women's national student football team

Defunct team

• South Korea national beach soccer team

Competitions

Current competitions

Defunct competitions

• All Joseon Football Tournament: National cup held from 1938 to 1940. (Editions from 1921 to 1937 were held by Joseon Sports Council.)
• Korean National Football Championship: National cup held from 1946 to 2000.
• Korean President's Cup: Cup competition contested between semi-professional and amateur clubs from 1952 to 2009.
• Korea Cup (international): International competition annually held from 1971 to 1999.
• K League: Professional league held from 1983 to 1994. (Subsequent seasons have been held by K League Federation.)

Awards

Main article: KFA Awards

Current awards

• Player of the Year
• Young Player of the Year
• Coach of the Year
• Goal of the Year
• Referee of the Year
• Club of the Year

Defunct awards

• Best XI
• Hall of Fame

Controversies

Tolerance of match-fixing scandal (2023)

The KFA tried to give pardons to 100 people formerly employed in football including 48 match-fixing participants on 28 March 2023. However, it rescinded the decision after facing strong objections from fans and sports journalists. Lee Dong-gook, Lee Young-pyo and Cho Won-hee were among the high-profile administrators who assumed responsibility and resigned from their positions.

Selection of national team manager (2024)

Between February and July 2024, the men's national team had no full-time manager after Jürgen Klinsmann was fired. Two domestic managers had been temporarily filling in during that period. Selection committee head Jung Hae-seong abruptly resigned just days before Ulsan HD manager Hong Myung-bo was announced as the new national team manager. As the appointment took place in the middle of the K League season, fans and sports journalists and pundits were highly critical while irate Ulsan fans started holding up banners saying "Get out!" directed at Hong and protested in front of the KFA's headquarters.

Selection committee member and football commentator Park Joo-ho was threatened with legal action by the KFA over a video he had uploaded on his YouTube channel on 8 July. He had been filming with fellow commentator Kim Hwan to discuss the KFA's lack of progress in selecting a new national team coach over the past five months and had reacted with surprise regarding the real-time news of Hong Myung-bo's appointment as the new manager. After that, he explained his reaction and further reiterated the fact he had no knowledge of the appointment despite being part of the committee responsible for the selection of coaches and his frustration with the disorganized nature of the selection process. The reaction was not edited out and the full video was uploaded, garnering several million views. Park refused to retract his claims of cronyism and disorganized leadership at the very top of the KFA management hierarchy. Koo Ja-cheol was among the active players who publicly defended Park on his social media account. Hong's 2002 World Cup teammates Kim Nam-il and Ahn Jung-hwan, who had been silent on the issue until then, both corroborated Park's claims and noted that it had been going since the 2002 World Cup.

After the massive public outcry from already disgruntled fans and more former players, the KFA stated that it would not pursue legal action against Park but the incident led to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) conducting an independent probe by the Sports Ethics Center and scheduling an inquiry. Park eventually resigned from his position and joined football commentator Park Moon-sung in testifying before an inquiry at the National Assembly that September. There were differences between MCST's findings and Park's contentions. The findings revealed that Hong and David Wagner received the most votes from members of the selection committee including Park, and that the members agreed to give the final say to Jung Hae-seong. On the contrary, the MCST pointed out that KFA president Chung Mong-gyu's attempt to overturn Hong's appointment was the violation of procedure. Jung Hae-seong had recommended Hong to president Chung and immediately resigned from the committee after the president rejected the recommendation. The president, who preferred foreign managers to domestic managers, arbitrarily authorized Lee Lim-saeng to negotiate with candidates, but Lee reached the same conclusion as Jung Hae-seong.

Nonetheless, public opinion of the KFA deteriorated further following revelations that the organization issued delayed responses to or failed to advocate for Europe-based players regarding the repeated racist abuse they received, with journalists and fans noting the stark contrast to the immediate and strongly-worded statement released in response to Park's YouTube video.

References

References

1. "The history and result of All Joseon Football Tournament". KFA.
2. "KFA former Presidents". KFA.
3. link. Korea Football Association
4. "National teams". Korea Football Association.
5. link. KFA. (15 December 2020)
6. link. [[The Chosun Ilbo]]. (2023-03-31)
7. link. [[The Chosun Ilbo]]. (11 July 2024)
8. link. Joo-ho. Park
9. {{Cite Instagram. Koo. Ja-cheol. (18 July 2024)
10. link. [[Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. MBC]]. (12 July 2024)
11. link. [[The Chosun Ilbo]]. (19 July 2024)
12. (24 July 2024). "Top Korean football exec booked over controversial national team hire". [[Korea JoongAng Daily]].
13. (10 July 2024). "Football or farce? Inside the Hong Myung-bo appointment saga.". [[Korea JoongAng Daily]].
14. link. [[JoongAng Ilbo]]. (25 September 2024)
15. link. Yonhap News Agency. (2024-09-13)
16. link. [[Yonhap News Agency]]. (24 September 2024)
17. link. Kyunghyang. (2024-10-02)
18. link. Ilgan Sports. (18 July 2024)
19. link. [[The Chosun Ilbo]]. (17 July 2024)