While the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has begun a full-fledged audit of the Korea Football Association, there is a possibility that there will be an unprecedented extreme measure if there is a clear defect in the process of appointing Hong Myung-bo as coach of the national soccer team.
An official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who began the main audit on the 12th, said in a phone call with OSEN, “We will focus on the controversy that arose during the appointment of director Hong, and whether the process has been carried out properly,” but added, “If there is a clear defect, extreme measures may be taken.”
Regarding the “extreme measures,” the official explained, “It refers to the fundamental nullification of the appointment of the national team coach.” In short, if the association concludes that it violated the procedural rules in the process of appointing Hong as the head coach of the national team, it could lead to the cancellation of the appointment of the national team coach for the first time.
Another ministry official said, “It would not be easy to nullify the appointment of a coach. We can’t just put the appointment back on track,” adding, “We found a problem during the basic investigation, which led to the need for an audit. Otherwise, we would not have conducted an audit.”
Hong is already serving as the head coach of the national team. He already went on a business trip to Europe to appoint a foreign coach and meet key European players including Son Heung-min (32, Tottenham Hotspur).
In addition, Hong is preparing for the first Group B match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals against Palestine at Seoul World Cup Stadium on March 5. He has to play an away match against Oman on Saturday, five days later. For now, he has to announce the coaching staff and the team’s roster.
If the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s audit results find a defect that requires “extreme action,” it means that the process of appointing a coach must go through again from the beginning. The September A-match is likely to proceed as it is, but it could directly hurt the team’s advance to the World Cup finals. 토토사이트
Until now, he has been appointed as the coach of the national team, but there have been no cases in which his appointment has been nullified due to procedural problems. They say that the first-ever nullification of the appointment of a national team coach could occur.
As we saw when Hong was appointed, fans are expected to have different opinions. The opinion that Hong cannot be given up on the World Cup and that even if he does, the appointment should be cancelled. Only then will Korean soccer be able to survive will likely face fierce opposition.
What is important is that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism considers the issue related to the Korea Football Association as important. As the political circles are paying attention, they are determined to produce results that the people can understand through this audit.
Moreover, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is showing its willingness to improve the constitution for each sports association, saying, “It is the right time to reform as well as refine sports policies,” in the wake of Ahn Se-young’s recent remarks aimed at the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist’s sniping at the Korea Badminton Association.
However, the ministry’s audit is proceeding at a slow pace. The Korea Football Association, which originally said it would do its best to audit, has not responded to the ministry’s request for submitting data since the audit began.
An official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said in a phone call with this newspaper on the 12th, “The audit schedule is disrupted by not submitting the data requested by the Korea Football Association,” and pointed out, “We do not submit the data that we thought we could receive for sure with a lawyer. It is a shame to actively cooperate.”
The ministry says it can understand why it refuses to submit data on the contract with Jurgen Klinsmann and Hong Myung-bo for reasons such as confidentiality clause. However, it has not received other data properly due to various reasons such as trade secrets.
As a result, the ministry’s audit schedule was also disrupted. The ministry’s original goal was to finish the audit by the end of August. However, it has no choice but to move on to September. An official at the ministry stressed in a previous report that the audit will continue until September if it is not enough.