According to an article by reporter Hanbing in Football Report, on August 23, several Korean media outlets revealed that the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly of Korea will hold a hearing to investigate whether the process of selecting the national team coach was illegal. On September 10, Jung Mong-gyu and Hong Myung-bo, among others, were summoned to attend the hearing.
Hong Myung-bo’s appointment not only dealt a blow to the KFA’s promise of hiring a foreign coach but also was exposed by Park Joo-ho, a member of the Strength Enhancement Committee responsible for selecting the coach, that the selection process did not seek the opinions of all committee members. In addition, Korean media dug up inconsistencies regarding Jung Mong-gyu’s re-election as KFA president four years ago. The KFA’s annual budget reached 180 billion won, with Jung Mong-gyu’s donation only amounting to 1.2 billion won. The Korean Archery Association, with an annual budget of 12 billion won, had a donation of 3.6 billion won from its president. The difference in donations between the two association presidents was three times, with a huge disparity in financial contributions to their respective associations, yet they received the same financial contribution score (25 points) from the Korea Sports Council.
During the same period, the KFA committed 232 violations, but received a perfect score of 10 points for the “Health Evaluation of Group Operations” from the Korea Sports Council. The Archery Association, on the other hand, only committed two violations but only received a score of 6 points. With the Korean archery team sweeping all gold medals at the Paris Olympics and the Korean men’s football team failing to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 40 years, the Korean media’s “reverse accountability” is pushing the non-compliance of the coach selection process towards the deeper issue of questioning the irregularities in Jung Mong-gyu’s re-election as KFA president.
Furthermore, the KFA’s financial status is under scrutiny. The KFA opened a bank account with a deficit of up to 615 billion won (approximately 330 million yuan) without authorization, and still owes former coach Jürgen Klinsmann a total of 7.5 million US dollars in breach of contract (approximately 10 billion won). The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has stated that it will conduct a comprehensive audit and investigation into the KFA’s financial situation. If Klinsmann sues the KFA before FIFA, FIFA may determine that the KFA is subject to government interference, with the worst-case scenario being a complete ban on Korean football from participating in international competitions.
Although this possibility is remote, the unprecedented crisis facing the KFA will have a significant impact on Korean football. At the very least, Hong Myung-bo and the Korean national team players will be affected by the KFA scandal during the 18th round of qualifiers.
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