For the past three months, the Korea Football Association (KFA) has been under fire for hiring Hong Myung-bo as head coach of the men’s national team without adhering to proper procedures.
The sports ministry, in announcing interim results of its probe into the national football body on Wednesday, said such controversy would have been avoided if the KFA’s chief had not ordered a senior official to first interview candidates other than Hong.
Choi Hyun-joon, inspector general at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, speaks at a media briefing announcing interim results of the ministry’s probe into the Korea Football Association at the government complex in Seoul on Oct. 2, 2024. (Yonhap)
Choi Hyun-joon, inspector general at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, speaks at a media briefing announcing interim results of the ministry’s probe into the Korea Football Association at the government complex in Seoul on Oct. 2, 2024. (Yonhap)
Choi Hyun-joon, inspector general at the ministry, detailed
the KFA’s violations of its rules and regulations during its process of bringing Hong aboard.
For the KFA, the National Teams Committee is in charge of reviewing candidates and recommending one final name to the KFA’s board for coaching appointment. Former coach Chung Hae-sung was named the head of the committee at the start of the coaching search in February but he resigned at the end of June, citing health reasons.
The KFA put its technical director, Lee Lim-saeng, in charge of the process. Circumstances surrounding the transfer of authority from Chung to Lee had been disputed, and Choi said Wednesday that Lee, as a technical official, didn’t have the right to run the ship after Chung’s departure.
Choi also said problems could be traced to an earlier order issued by KFA President Chung Mong-gyu.
After the 10th round of the committee’s meetings, Chung Hae-sung informed his boss that Hong was on the top of the final list, followed by two foreign-born candidates. According to Choi, President Chung ordered
the committee chief to travel overseas to meet with the two other candidates, instead of opening negotiations with Hong.
Choi said Chung Hae-sung decided to step down then because he felt powerless.
Chung Hae-sung, former head of the National Teams Committee at the Korea Football Association, speaks during the questioning session for the parliamentary committee on sports at the National Assembly in Seoul in this file photo taken Sept. 24, 2024. (Yonhap)
Chung Hae-sung, former head of the National Teams Committee at the Korea Football Association, speaks during the questioning session for the parliamentary committee on sports at the National Assembly in Seoul in this file photo taken Sept. 24, 2024. (Yonhap)
“The committee had made its recommendations, and the KFA should have gone ahead negotiating with the top candidate,” Choi said. “However, that did not happen. They went back to interviewing candidates and did not first meet with the candidate at the top of the list. If they had started negotiating with
Hong first, then there wouldn’t have been such big issues.”
Because the KFA wanted to interview the two foreign candidates before talking with Hong, and because Chung Hae-sung didn’t want to be around for it, the National Teams Committee needed a new leader. And putting Lee in charge caused a whole new set of problems because he never should have been in that position in the first place, Choi said.
The inspector general said Chung Mong-gyu did not acknowledge there had been any problems when questioned by the sports ministry.
“He simply said he will address whatever institutional issues there are to address,” Choi added.
Negotiating with Hong before the other candidates would not ultimately have made a difference, since Hong still got the job, but Choi insisted the process still has to be clean.
“As with all personnel decisions, the process must be fair,” Choi said. “And adhering to rules is the most important source of fairness.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency