Referee bribery scandal set to fade into history

The issue of Korean Football Association (KFA) and the bribery of foreign referees looks set to fade into history, unless more lurid details emerge in the weeks and months to come.

Earlier this summer, a leaked government audit revealed that officials who had come to Korea in 2010 and 2011 to oversee qualification games for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 World Cup were provided "sexual entertainment" by the KFA, with payments made to various establishments using a corporate credit card.

Earlier this week, the National Police Agency said that too much time had passed for further action to be taken. “It appears that the statute of limitations has expired for the charge of facilitating prostitution,” it told reporters in a briefing. Even if there were no "real life" consequences, there was always the possibility of soccer’s governing bodies getting involved in the scandal.

As yet, that does not seem to be the case. The Korea Times has made repeated requests for FIFA, the organization that oversees the world game, to comment on the situation. There has been nothing said officially, but behind the scenes, there is a feeling in the Swiss city of Zurich that this is a matter for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to deal with, as it was the AFC that organized the matches in question. Again, as yet, the Kuala Lumpur-based body has yet to comment and there are few signs that this will change.

As things stand, the international media is losing interest in the situation in the absence of any progress and the stories are going to fade even more unless something new emerges. If the Korean police don’t find anything, it will have to come from foreign organizations that are not FIFA and the AFC.

There have been some demands in Oman for something to be done as one of the games alleged to have been affected involved its national team, but nothing has happened yet. The Japan Football Association has also said that it will investigate following reports that Japanese referees were on the receiving end of favors but, again, that remains to be seen.

If Korean authorities can’t investigate and soccer authorities won’t, then, it would seem that the crazy page in this crazy chapter that tells of Korean soccer in the summer of 2026 is about to be turned.

It will still influence what happens with potential reform of the KFA. The feeling among soccer fans and media is that much needs to change and that will make the job of Park Ji-sung much easier. The former Manchester United star is in charge of the committee to reform the game and the KFA, starting with the expansion of the number of people who can vote for the next president.

Park is keen to have the election done and dusted by the end of the year. "We expect the electorate to be close to 20,000. It will not be easy to hold the election using only the methods we have used so far," and explained, "Whether electronic voting or online voting, a new system must be introduced."

While the KFA may be wary of too much change, the organization may soon be breathing a sigh of relief regarding the bribery scandal.