The Women’s Business Soccer WK League, which the Korean Women’s Football Federation declared to give up its operation, will return to its original position.
This is because the Korea Football Association, which had been mentioned as a key player to revive the sluggish league, was reluctant to direct management and agreed with the Women’s Federation to increase subsidies.
Federation Chairman Oh Kyu-sang said in a phone call with Yonhap News on the 27th that he accepted the request, saying, “The association will give the budget for the time being, so we requested the operation of an organization that is in charge of the league separately with the size of the secretariat.”
The association also said that the federation has reached a final agreement to continue to take charge of the WK League.
Chairman Oh expects to receive at least hundreds of millions of won from the association for the operation of the secretariat.
Through this, it plans to create a separate department by recruiting new professionals capable of marketing, public relations, foreign cooperation, international exchanges, and competition management.
Currently, there are only four secretariat members of the Federation, and there are no specialized personnel needed to expand the base.
Earlier on the 14th, Chairman Oh declared a “bomb declaration” that he would quit operating the WK League, but reversed his position on the association’s support plan within a few days.
Originally, Oh’s attempt to give up the WK League was due to the deterioration of the federation’s finances, which have operated Changnyeong WFC since 2018.
In recent years, subsidies from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have decreased, and the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a severe operational difficulty.
According to the disclosure of public interest corporations by the National Tax Service, subsidies, which were maintained at about 3 billion won every year until 2021, decreased to 2.5 billion won in 2022 and fell to 2 billion won last year.
The federation, which needs hundreds of millions of won to survive the Changnyeong WFC next season, intends to apply for subsidies from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism through the association.
Through this, the federation explains that if the Changnyeong WFC problem is resolved, the league’s administration can be reinforced with subsidies from the association while maintaining the eight-team system.
After completing the “Traffic Cleanup” with the association, the league will proceed with the league’s schedule normally, including opening the rookie draft as scheduled on the 12th of next month.
The federation is in a position to significantly improve the league’s administration, which has been criticized by the incident, but there is still skepticism about whether fundamental reform is possible.
Full-time players play, but the WK League, an unemployed league that is not professional, has failed to create a source of income during the period under the control of the league, and the mobilization of spectators has also declined.
According to the Korea Football Association’s integrated computer system, the average attendance per WK League game this season was 261.
The average attendance of Suwon FC (183), the only champion who receives admission fees, was also less than 200.
It was also expected that the federation’s declaration of “abandonment of operation” would provide an opportunity for fundamental reforms in women’s soccer in Korea.
This is because if the WK League moves from the federation (youth, business team) to the association (national team, daily sports), it is expected to improve its low commerciality and competitiveness, which are structural flaws of women’s soccer, such as synergy with the national team and promotion and marketing. 카지노사이트
In response to this point, Oh replied that he would reorganize the organization to turn the situation around as he set up a separate organization for the first time for the development of the WK League.
The reason why the association did not directly operate the WK League is the practical problem of a period of great administrative instability and the low business feasibility of the WK League.
With the election for the president of the Korea Football Association in less than two months, it seems that the decision to “consign” the federation was made because it was not easy to decide on issues such as the acquisition of the WK League and to establish an operation strategy.