20,000 voters to elect KFA president by end of year
The vote will proceed through an electoral college of about 20,000 players, coaches, referees and others, a hundredfold increase from its current size of 200, and take place by the end of the year.
The office of the Korea Football Association in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, on Aug. 6
NEWS1
The president of the Korea Football Association (KFA) will be elected by the end of this year, a state-managed committee tasked with reforming Korean football announced on Tuesday.
The vote will proceed through an electoral college of about 20,000 people, a hundredfold increase from its current size.
The meeting was chaired by Park Ji-sung, the former men’s national team captain who co-heads the so-called K-Football Innovation Committee. The committee was formed in early July to overhaul malpractice in Korean football.
The KFA accepted the committee’s earlier proposal to expand the electoral college from about 200 people to roughly 20,000, including players, coaches and referees. The committee and the football association also agreed to hold the election by the end of the year and consider introducing electronic and online voting to accommodate such a large electorate.
“Preparations will take time, but we reached a consensus with the KFA that a transparent election must take place before the end of the year,” Park said.
Additionally, the committee will move to reform the system for appointing the national team’s head coach. While it will not be involved in the ongoing selection of an interim coach, it plans to propose recommendations to improve the expertise and fairness of the body responsible for appointing a permanent head coach in the future. The committee also discussed ways to adjust youth competitions and league structures to climate change, including increasingly extreme summer heat.
The committee plans to hold an open listening session at the Korea Football Park in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, on Aug. 19 to hear directly from members of the football community and fans and refine the details of its reform proposals.
BY LEE HAY-JUNE [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
