Jamboree scheduling mess throws wrench into football fixtures

Members of Team K League celebrate a goal by Lee Soon-min, center, against Atletico Madrid during the teams' exhibition match at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, July 23. Yonhap

Some last-minute scheduling changes to the ongoing World Scout Jamboree in Korea have thrown football fixtures out of whack this week, as officials and clubs scrambled to make a football stadium available for a non-sporting event.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Tuesday that the FA Cup semifinal match between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Incheon United, set to kick off Wednesday evening at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, had been postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date.

Though the KFA cited the approaching Typhoon Khanun as the reason for the decision, it could be traced to an earlier move by the jamboree event organizers to hold a K-pop concert at the Jeonju stadium, some 190 kilometers south of Seoul.

The football venue was initially chosen as the site for Friday's concert to close out the World Scout Jamboree, taking place at the Saemangeum reclaimed campsite not too far from Jeonju. Jamboree officials made the announcement Sunday, and the KFA told Jeonbuk and Incheon the following day that their FA Cup match would be postponed to allow jamboree officials to prepare for the event.

Jamboree officials faced heat from football fans for reaching the decision unilaterally without consulting the clubs involved.

However, with the typhoon expected to affect the area later in the week, jamboree officials decided Tuesday to move the concert venue to Seoul World Cup Stadium in the capital city.

Jeonju World Cup Stadium suddenly became available for the FA Cup match, but then there were other issues.

Incheon United had played a K League 1 match at Jeonju on Sunday. And they had decided to stay in the city for a few more days, instead of traveling back home, to prepare for the FA Cup. And once the decision to hold the K-pop concert at Jeonju World Cup Stadium was announced, Incheon returned home Monday afternoon.

Incheon asked the KFA to move the FA Cup semifinal match to their home city of Incheon, lying just west of the capital. But the KFA said it couldn't just switch home teams unless Jeonju World Cup Stadium had issues with their pitch conditions or lighting.

FC Seoul, the team playing out of Seoul World Cup Stadium, weren't scheduled to play at home this week. But they will be back in Seoul on Aug. 19, and there are concerns about the pitch being damaged by the makeshift stage to be set up for the K-pop show for Scouts.

"We think it's unfortunate that football fans and clubs preparing for their home and away matches were all affected by variables related to the jamboree event," the KFA said in a statement. (Yonhap)