Choi Soon-ho, the head of Suwon FC in the K League 1 of professional soccer, who recruited Son Joon-ho, who was permanently expelled by the Chinese Football Association on charges of match fixing, said in an administrative audit of Suwon City that he still has no problem playing, but said he would carefully judge ethical issues.
According to Bae Ji-hwan, a member of the People’s Power, on the 26th, Choi Soon-ho, head of Suwon FC, said in an administrative audit of the sports promotion department of the Suwon City Council’s Culture and Sports Committee.
“We have announced that we will permanently expel Son from China, but it is not widely accepted in the world. The FIFA has yet to issue an authoritative interpretation,” Choi said.
“The announcement was made by the Chinese Football Association in September and informed FIFA 10 days later. FIFA reviewed it and sent it back due to insufficient evidence. Afterwards, China sent an official letter after supplementing the contents for a month, but FIFA has yet to announce it,” he added.
“The same goes for the soccer community. We judged that it was the principle of presumption of innocence until FIFA’s interpretation of authority is made,” he said.
Regarding Jeonbuk Hyundai’s final failure to recruit Son for fear of Son Joon-ho’s list in China, he explained, “We have prepared all the steps to terminate the contract if it becomes a problem.”
“However, the level of contract in Jeonbuk was the same as ours, but there was one more,” he said. “I understand that there was a problem of compensation as to what to do if the risk in China explodes. Jeonbuk’s sponsor is Hyundai Motor. I understand that Son Joon-ho gave up the contract with Jeonbuk because there is a clause that (Son Joon-ho) has to compensate Hyundai Motor to some extent if there is a disadvantage,” he added.
“(Jeonbuk’s demand) is not related to soccer. We were not in a situation where we could ask for anything else,” he said. “We didn’t know at the time that Jeonbuk made such a proposal to Son Joon-ho, but we found out later. It is not normal for a provision for compensation to be included.”
Choi, who led the recruitment of Son Joon-ho in June, said it was an opportunity to reconsider ethical standards.
“If it was something that happened in our country, I would have found a clear basis as well. However, China is very unstable and there are many problems, so I recruited it with respect to the player’s position,” he said.
On September 11, a day after the Chinese Football Association’s disciplinary action was announced, Son Joon-ho held a press conference and received 200,000 yuan (38 million won), but he was criticized even more for saying he did not remember why he received the money.
As public opinion worsened, Suwon FC eventually terminated Son Joon-ho’s contract on the 13th.
“If I have this problem again, I will judge more carefully than before,” Choi said. “This time, I realized that my thoughts, soccer fans, and the media are different on ethical issues,” he said. “I will keep in mind that this will not be repeated in the future.” 온라인바카라
Meanwhile, Son Joon-ho, who played for Shandong Taishan, a Chinese professional football team, was released in March this year after being criminally detained by Chinese police for “non-state workers” in May last year, joined Suwon FC in June and returned to the K League.
However, Son Joon-ho, who did not give a clear explanation on what charges he was arrested and released from China, was permanently expelled by the Chinese Football Association on Sept. 10 on match fixing charges.