Sports ministry demands suspension of top football official over coaching hiring

The sports ministry on Tuesday demanded at least the suspension of the country’s top football official over the controversial hiring of the men’s national team head coach, along with other irregularities.

In announcing the final findings of its investigation into the Korea Football Association (KFA), the ministry asked that Chung Mong-gyu at least be suspended from duty, along with other senior KFA officials.

According to the ministry, the KFA may also choose to dismiss Chung, who has been at the helm of the football governing body since 2013 and is expected to pursue his fourth term early next year.

The KFA had been under considerable heat since hiring Hong Myung-bo as head coach of the men’s national team in July. Detractors of the move claimed the KFA had not stuck to a proper vetting process and had only brought Hong aboard after an impromptu meeting with the coach, instead of having a formal interview.

The ministry said it had also asked the KFA to “seek measures to address procedural flaws” when it hired Hong. The ministry said such steps would include going back to the drawing board and having the National Teams Committee, a KFA body in charge of national team coaching searches, recommend new candidates for the board of directors to approve.

When announcing interim findings on Oct. 2, the ministry said the KFA broke several rules in hiring Hong. But the ministry also acknowledged that problems would have been avoided if Chung had not ordered a senior official to first interview candidates other than Hong.

Choi Hyun-joon, inspector general for the ministry, said the KFA must take action in response to the ministry’s demand for discipline within a month.

Should the KFA decide to appeal the ministry’s findings, the ministry will review the appeal within two months.

“We expect the KFA to make an appropriate decision, in line with the public opinion and standards,” Choi said. “However, if it fails to accomplish that, we at the ministry will take all policy measures, including limiting the amount of subsidies provided to the KFA. We will do everything in our power to ensure the KFA will transform into a normal organization with fair and transparent decision-making processes.”

Choi said the ministry is demanding a tough penalty on Chung because of what he represents as head of the KFA.

“He is in a position where he oversees all administrative affairs at the KFA, and he, more than anyone, has to abide by rules and proper procedures and has to respect the board of directors,” Choi said. “However, as we found out in our investigation, Chung made unreasonable instructions and violated rules by getting himself involved in the coaching hiring process. His actions warrant discipline according to the KFA’s own set of rules, and we decided he should be at least suspended from duty.”

When asked if the ministry is essentially nudging Chung off his post, Choi said, “That is absolutely not the focus of this investigation.

“The people have spoken, and they wanted us to look into what’s going on at the KFA, in accordance with laws and principles,” Choi said. “And we simply performed our duty and responsibility in response. And we felt it was our responsibility to let the public know about Chung’s arbitrary action and to hold him accountable. Any organization where the leader makes all the decisions on his own is not normal.”

Choi pointed out that the KFA’s technical director, Lee Lim-saeng, was thrust into the lead role in hiring Hong, when Lee didn’t have such authority to handle the process. Choi also said the KFA asked its board of directors to approve Hong’s appointment in writing instead of doing so at a formal in-person meeting.

“Because of these grave procedural problems, we are asking the KFA to get its act together,” the ministry official said. “As part of that process, the KFA may choose to retain coach Hong or void its contract with him. It will be up to the KFA to make that decision.”

Choi said the KFA may choose to reopen the entire coaching search for the men’s national team, and Hong may even be nominated once again and be hired, as long as the KFA follows proper steps of allowing its National Teams Committee to do the work and then its board of directors to give its final stamp of approval in person.

Mindful that the men’s national team is in the midst of the World Cup qualifying campaign, Choi said the ministry is not urging the KFA to fire Hong, per se.

“It could be one of the ways to address the procedural issues, but I am not here to tell the KFA what the right course of action is for them,” Choi added.

Choi said the probe, which began July 29, also uncovered rule violations when the KFA hired Jurgen Klinsmann, Hong’s predecessor, in early 2023.

According to the ministry, the National Teams Committee must nominate a candidate for final approval by the board of directors, as per KFA rules. However, the ministry said Chung Mong-gyu went ahead with interviewing Klinsmann, even though the KFA honcho had no rights to be directly involved in the hiring process. The ministry added that Klinsmann’s appointment was never put to a vote by the board of directors.

The ministry’s investigation also identified problems with the KFA’s hiring of coaches across different levels of the national team who did not have proper coaching certifications. The ministry also said many of those coaches were not approved by the KFA’s board of directors.

The ministry also raised issues with Chung’s ill-advised attempt in March 2023 to pardon 48 former players who had been disciplined for match-fixing charges.

During the ministry’s investigation, FIFA warned the KFA of possible sanctions for violating its obligation to operate independently.

This was in reference to Article 14, Paragraph 1 (i) of the FIFA Statutes, in conjunction with Article 19, Paragraph 1, which states, “Each member association shall manage its affairs independently and without undue influence from third parties.”

Choi insisted that the ministry “respects” both FIFA statutes and the KFA’s autonomy.

“A lot of people expressed their disappointment with the unfair and opaque decision-making process when hiring the national team head coach, and we decided to launch this investigation as the supervisory body,” Choi said. “We absolutely do not think we have run afoul of FIFA’s policies. FIFA also demands its member associations to follow its rules. It’s my understanding that FIFA believes our investigation was done in an effort to ensure good governance at the KFA.”