Global talent, local failure: inside contradictions of Korean football

Football analyst Park Moon-sung delivers a keynote speech during an emergency panel forum titled “Diagnosing and Addressing the Crisis of Korean Football” at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis

Public outrage over Korean football reached a boiling point after the national team's group-stage exit from the World Cup last month.

Discontent had been building especially since 2023, when the Korea Football Association (KFA) appointed and later dismissed former national team coach Juergen Klinsmann, before naming Hong Myung-bo as his successor in 2024.

The sports ministry looked for any illegalities regarding the appointments. So did the police. The National Assembly called in KFA President Chung Mong-gyu and Hong to testify.

Hong stepped down following Korea's defeat to South Africa last month. On Monday, Chung from the KFA resigned just hours before the inaugural meeting of the K-Football Innovation Committee.

On Wednesday, football insiders, lawmakers, grassroots coaches and former players gathered at the National Assembly to examine what had gone wrong within the KFA.

Participants agreed that Korean football is facing an unprecedented crisis during the two-hour emergency forum. Speakers described the current state of Korean football as marked by structural problems and warned that, without sweeping reforms, the crisis could turn to a long-term decline for the sport in Korea.

All agreed Korea is facing an unprecedented football crisis, with both the KFA presidency and the national team head coach post vacant after the dismal World Cup campaign.

Korean players, including Lee Kang-in, second from right, and Oh Hyeon-gyu, second from left, look dejected as the final whistle blows and Mexico defeats Korea 1-0 in their Group A match of the 2026 World Cup in Zapopan, Mexico, June 19. Yonhap

Global talent vs. domestic governance

Panelists presented a stark contradiction regarding the Korean national football team: It boasts world-class stars such as Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae, yet the institutions running the domestic game are mired in opaque decision-making, eroding public trust.

Football analyst Park Moon-sung said the current setup makes it “almost impossible” for the next Son Heung-min to come through purely domestic pathways.

“We keep celebrating Son, Lee and Kim as symbols of Korean football,” he said. “But under this system, there will be no next Son produced by Korean football itself.”

Park noted that while other nations’ World Cup stories “made people’s hearts race,” this tournament left Korean fans with “ambivalent emotions” — wanting the team to win, but also “hoping the association gets scolded and really changes this time.”

The Korea Football Association logo is seen at Korea Football Park in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, June 29. Hong Myung-bo resigned voluntarily, taking responsibility for the team’s group-stage exit from the World Cup on the same day. Yonhap

Formal structure vs. lack of accountability

On paper, Korean football has a structure with a dense web of associations, boards and voting bodies. But the panelists said the structure only allows leaders to wield power, without a mechanism to hold them accountable.

Park highlighted the KFA’s 190-member electoral college, which selects the president, as a prime example. Even though public opinion was overall against KFA chief Chung, Park said, Chung was reelected to a fourth term with 86 percent of the delegates’ votes.

In this setup, Park argued, the KFA only needs to “watch the mood of 190 people” rather than millions of fans, grassroots coaches, players or even National Assembly members.

“People have no voting rights, no way to hold them accountable, so they don’t listen to people,” he said, calling for a much broader electorate so that “voices in the field can be heard and leaders can actually fear being voted out.”

Chung Mong-gyu, right, former president of the Korea Football Association, and former national team head coach Hong Myung-bo attend a parliamentary session of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee in Seoul Sept. 24, 2024. Korea Times file

Reform rhetoric vs. stalled change

The third contradiction examined at the panel was the widening gap between repeated talk of reform and the lack of tangible change on the ground.

Rep. Kim recalled how he had already grilled the KFA over coach selection procedures and presidential term limits during a 2024 parliamentary hearing, and acknowledged that even the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee “failed to stop this situation from unfolding” despite early warnings.

Other insiders said the closed nature of the football ecosystem made whistleblowing and internal criticism risky. Former professional player Lee Sang-gi noted that the Korean football community is “very small” where “the same people rotate through committee positions,” making it easy to identify and sideline anyone who speaks out.

Park Ji-sung, second from left, co-chair of the K-Football Innovation Committee and a member of a FIFA subcommittee, speaks during the committee's opening ceremony at Seoul Olympic Parktel in Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

It seemed that the government-backed K-Football Innovation Committee, launched early this week co-led by the sports ministry and former national team players, raised hopes for meaningful change.

Panelists stressed that its success will hinge on breaking entrenched interests and reshaping the structures that protect them. The National Assembly is set to test that resolve on July 22 at a parliamentary hearing during which both Hong and Chung are expected to testify.