Will the hot race for president of the Korea Football Association 12 years ago be repeated.
After announcing his bid for the fourth term amid controversy, current chairman Chung Mong-kyu officially conveyed his intention to run to the Korea Football Association and began his move as a candidate.
Chairman Chung signed a statement of intention to register candidates on the 2nd and submitted it to the association.
As a result, Chairman Chung was automatically suspended from his job. Vice Chairman Kim Jung-bae will act as chairman until the next chairman is elected.
In order for Hyun to challenge himself as the next chairman, he should announce his intention to run for the election 50 days before the expiration of his term to the Korea Football Association. Two days are 50 days before the expiration of his term in office, Jan. 21, 2025.
Earlier, former national team coach Huh Jung-moo announced his candidacy for president of the Korea Football Association at the Olympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the 25th of last month and effectively began his campaign. Candidate Huh also shook hands with Chairman Chung at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, where the Korea Cup (formerly FA Cup) was held on the 30th of last month.
As Chairman Chung then signed a statement of intent to register candidates, the election is likely to be held in 12 years since 2013.
Chairman Chung first ran for president of the Korea Football Association on January 28, 2013, and held an election. The election at that time is still considered the “all-time” election for the president of the Korea Football Association.
This is because four candidates, including Chung, a former president of the Korea Professional Football Federation, Heo Seung-pyo, a longtime opposition figure in the soccer community, Kim Seok-han, a former chairman of the National Secondary Football Federation known as a wealthy man, and Yoon Sang-hyun, a former member of the ruling party.
At that time, only a few representatives from the Korea Football Association, including the president of the provincial football association and the president of the football association at all levels, had the right to vote in the election.
If no candidate wins more than a majority in the first round of voting, the final round was held. In the first round, Chairman Huh Seung-pyo received eight votes, then-Professional Federation President Chung Mong-gyu received seven votes, Chairman Kim Seok-han received six votes, and lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun received three votes. If President Chung Mong-gyu was not concerned, he could not reach the final round and almost fell.
However, a major reversal occurred in the second round of voting, and candidate Chung Mong-gyu won 15 votes as he secured most of the votes for Kim and Yoon, beating chairman Huh Seung-pyo who had only nine votes. At the time, candidate Han said, “I couldn’t catch the votes and it was a really tough election.”
Since then, Chairman Chung Mong-gyu ran alone in 2017 and 2021 and was elected without a primary.
This time, the atmosphere of the primary race was ripe as the opinion that someone should control him gained convincing power due to the Korean soccer crisis and a series of errors in his administration of the Korea Football Association (KFA), and coach Huh actually announced his candidacy.
There is another variable to this. Sejong University professor Lee Yong-soo, who served as technical chairman of the Korea Football Association during the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup and the 2018 Russia World Cup, is reportedly considering running for president.
It is expected to be even more exciting if three people compete for the chairman’s position.
If Chairman Chung is the head of Hyundai Industrial Development Co., which ranks 31st in the Korea Fair Trade Commission’s conglomerate group, and the owner of the professional soccer team Busan I’Park, coach Huh is a former soccer player who led Korean soccer to the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Professor Lee, who is considered to run for office, is also a former player, but the result is somewhat different from coach Huh. He has extensive administrative experience and is also a scholar who is good at technical research, having served as vice chairman of the Korea Football Association and chairman of the technical committee several times.
First of all, the overwhelming observation in the soccer community is that Chung is quite dominant in the bilateral structure between Chung and Huh. Even if it becomes a three-way structure, Chung is expected to control hegemony.
Chairman Chung has been associated with the soccer community for 30 years, starting with Ulsan Hyundai (currently HD) owner in 1994.
Many predict that it will be advantageous in the election campaign because he is an entrepreneur who can make financial contributions to the Korea Football Association in many ways and has high support from heads of affiliated organizations and provincial associations with “current premium” on his back.
However, while the Korea Football Association has been criticized for its opaque administration and incompetence, controversy over fairness broke out in the process of appointing Hong Myung-bo as the national team coach.
In addition, as an entrepreneur, he experienced the collapse of Hwajeong I-Park in Gwangju in January 2022 during his term as president of the Korea Football Association. Chairman Chung is recognized as an incompetent manager and administrator in Korean society, and if he is elected president of the Korea Football Association again, the disappointment of the public and fans in the soccer community as a whole could deepen. 온라인바카라
Chairman Chung believes that he should be the chairman once more for the completion of the Korea Football Center to be built in Cheonan, along with the position that his negative perception of him has been distorted.