Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
K League lodges complaint with Juventus
Korean football fans leave Seoul World Cup Stadium during a friendly match between Juventus and the K League All-Stars, Friday, disappointed by the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The K League said, Tuesday, it has lodged a protest with Juventus, denouncing the Italian football club for its “carelessness” and “arrogance.”
The Serie A team had a friendly match with the K League All-Stars in Seoul, Friday, but it is now in hot water after its megastar Cristiano Ronaldo merely warmed the bench contrary to a prior agreement, disappointing 63,000 Korean football fans who visited the stadium to see him play in Korea for the first time in 12 years.
However, along with the non-appearance of Ronaldo, the K League also pointed out other “unreasonable demands” that Juventus made before kick-off.
The team bus arrived at the venue 15 minutes after the match was supposed to start, delaying the kick-off by an hour.
According to the football body, despite the late arrival, the defending Italian league champion demanded that the length of the match be reduced to 40 minutes in each half, not 45 minutes. It also wanted a shortened half-time break, from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.
The league added that the team's ranking official threatened to cancel the match and pay a penalty unless their demands were accepted ― although all of their demands were rejected eventually.
In addition, the K League also made it clear in the official letter of complaint that it was disappointed and even angered by the football club's behavior as it provided full administrative support for the match based on the club's reputation.
“We said in the complaint that Juventus has lost its decades-long reputation with Korean football fans and media overnight after the exhibition match,” a K League official said.
While protesting Juventus, K League is also calculating penalties for breach of contract against TheFasta, the agency that organized the match.
The contract between Juventus and the agency stipulated Ronaldo would play in at least for one half of the match, a Ronaldo fan meeting and a certain portion of the first-tier players would appear in the game.
According to the league, there are four to five contractual obligations that were breached, requiring the organizer to pay over 100 million won ($84,600) for each.
“Ronaldo did not play at all and the fan meeting did not go as planned. In addition, Juventus did not field the required portion of first-tier players,” the official said.
“After making a precise calculation, we plan to seek financial compensation from the organizer soon.”
The Ronaldo no-show has caused public outcry from Korean football fans, who are now teaming up to file a joint lawsuit against TheFasta.
One law firm has recruited nearly 2,000 people who have decided to join its class action suit as of Monday.
Another lawyer even filed a complaint with police against the agency, Juventus and Ronaldo on suspicions of “fraud.”
In the complaint, lawyer Oh Seok-hyun from L.K.B. & Partners said the victims (the audience) bought the tickets after believing Ronaldo would play, so TheFasta, Juventus and Ronaldo swindled them out of some 6 billion won.