In 2024, Korean soccer had to suffer from ‘controversy over fairness’ in the process of appointing Hong Myung-bo as coach of the national team.
The Korea Football Association announced in July that it would appoint Ulsan HD coach Hong Myung-bo as the coach of the national team.
Most fans who expected foreign coaches were greatly disappointed by the results of the six-month appointment of directors.
As for director Hong, it was pointed out that the appointment process was not fair, such as not conducting interviews and presentations.
“Many of the committee members unconditionally supported the Korean coach (Hong Myung-bo). I found fault with any foreign coach,” Park Joo-ho, then a member of the Korean national team’s reinforcement committee, said, adding fuel to the controversy.
The aftermath was fierce. The National Assembly and the government have also stepped up to the plate, saying they will “solve” the issue of supervisory appointments due to repeated criticisms from the public.
The fundamental question of why the “fairness of the appointment of a coach” should be questioned in the first place in a sport where performance says everything and those who make decisions take unlimited responsibility has been buried.
The confusion culminated when the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism released a self-contained audit result that 토토사이트 “there would have been no problem if Hong had been placed as the head coach immediately as the conclusion of the Korea Power Reinforcement Committee without conducting interviews with foreign director candidates.”
The Korea Football Association raised its anger by dealing with sloppy work, such as allowing technical director Lee Im-saeng to take over the appointment of a coach in the middle of the order of Chairman Chung Mong-kyu without a resolution from the board of directors and not communicating properly with the members of the power reinforcement committee.
Amid a series of criticisms that the Korea Football Association is opaque and corrupt, Chung has become an icon of incompetence and self-righteousness as the controversy over the appointment of Hong has erupted.
Chung, who has led the Korea Football Association since 2013, is seeking a fourth term in office despite strong opposition.
After being approved for a second term by the Korea Sports Council’s Sports Fair Committee, he will hold a three-way race with former national team coach Huh Jung-moo and a visiting professor at Shinmun Seon-ji University’s Graduate School of Record and Information Science.
Hong Myung-bo, who anchored amid controversy, is on the eighth ridge of his advance to the finals, leading the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup with four wins and two draws.