Cancelled twice, postponed indefinitely! The Korean Football Association presidential election is full of farce

The reporter reported coldly The election for the president of the Korean Football Association, originally scheduled for January 8, has been cancelled twice and postponed indefinitely. Coupled with the collective resignation of the Korean Football Association's election committee on January 10, and on January 13, two candidates, Heo Jeong-mo and Shin Wen-sun, demanded that Jung Mong-kyu's candidacy be disqualified, and the Korean Football Association's presidential election has become a farce. Due to the vacancy of the position of the chairman of the Football Association, many matters of the Korean Football Association, especially the preparation and competition of the national teams at all levels, may be greatly affected this year.

The election for the president of the Korean Football Association was launched in December last year, and the three candidates include Jung Mong-kyu, who is seeking a third re-election, former South Korea coach Heo Jeong-mo, and Myongji University professor Shin Moon-sun.

The original election day was set for January 8, and the three candidates did everything they could to get votes.

Xu Dingmao said that he would incorporate Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo and other foreign legends into the management of the Football Association and inject fresh blood. He also opposed the relocation of the Football Association to the costly Cheonan Football Center, insisting on preserving Paju, the "soul" of Korean football, and at the same time building overseas training centers for the Korean team in Europe, following Japan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Xin Wenshan is more radical, insisting that after being elected, the financial details of the Korean Football Association will be made public, and once it is found that Zheng Mengkui's financial violations or even illegal acts are discovered, he will be investigated to the end.

But the real farce of the Korean Football Association presidential election is the open and covert battle over whether the election process is open and transparent. First of all, Shin Wensun questioned the opacity of the eight members of the election committee appointed by the Korean Football Association, and like the three national team coaches Klinsmann, Hwang Sunhong, and Hong Myung-bo, they were all selected by Jung Meng-kyu's personal will. Heo Dingmao's proposal to vote online was also rejected by the Korean Football Association, and the outside world accused him of favoring Zheng Mengkui. Because at the time of the election on January 8, many K-League club managers and players who have the right to vote were training overseas and could not return to China to vote in person. The fewer people who participate in the in-person vote, the easier it is for the votes to be manipulated.

Zheng Mengkui did not sit still, and he successfully "rebelled" against four local football associations and four professional clubs around the Cheonan Football Center by promising to donate 5 billion won (25 million yuan) to the Cheonan Football Center. Heo Dingmao's counterattack was sharp, first applying to the Seoul court for an injunction on December 31 last year, asking for a postponement of the election on the grounds that the members of the Korean Football Association's election committee were not transparent. On January 2 this year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea rejected the Korean Football Association's request for a reconsideration of the financial review, and at the same time required the Korean Football Association to announce the severe punishment of Jung Mong-kyu within a month, including a one-month suspension.

The ban from the court and the resolution of the government department led to the farce of the election of the president of the Korean Football Association. The Tribunal's decision on 7 January left the elections scheduled for 8 January to be postponed. The Korean Football Association set a new election date for January 23 and agreed to redraw lots for the election committee and make public the personal information of the members of the Electoral College. However, Heo Jeong-mo and Shin Moon-sun still oppose the new election date, stressing that the Korean Football Association's rescheduling is still a unilateral notice rather than the result of prior consultation with the candidates.

In desperation, on January 10, the Korean Football Association Election Committee resigned en masse, and the new election date was postponed indefinitely. Xu Dingmao and Xin Wenshan chased after each other, and on January 13 publicly questioned the inability of Zheng Mengkui, who was about to be disciplined and suspended, to be a candidacy. Heo said that if the Korean Football Association does not punish Jung Mong-kyu, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will recover the 5.6 billion won subsidy issued to Jung Meng-kyu's fictitious Korean Football Association's business plan, and also impose a five-fold fine. In addition, the South Korean government's subsidies to the Football Association will also be suspended for up to five years, with a total loss of up to 250 billion won (1.25 billion yuan).

The Korean Football Association can only consider delegating the election to the National Election Commission of South Korea and restructuring the Election Commission at the same time. But all this will take time, because the reorganization of the election commission will have to make public the personal information of the members of the election committee. This requires the consent of the 150,000 members of the Korean Football Association, as well as a draw of lots to form the members of the election committee under the supervision of a representative of the candidate team or a third party. Even if the process is accelerated, it will take at least 20 days for the Korean Football Association insiders. Heo Jeong-mao and Shin Wen-sun hope that all Korean professional teams trained overseas will return to China until February 4, and strive to get all members with voting rights to vote and increase their chances of victory.

The continuous postponement of the presidential election of the Korean Football Association will inevitably affect the work that the Korean Football Association will start this year. First of all, the South Korean U20 national youth team is preparing for the U20 Asian Cup, which may also affect the South Korean team's preparation for the round of 18 in March.

Although it is difficult for Heo Dingmao and Xin Wenshan to shake Zheng Mengkui in South Korean football, the farce of the election of the chairman of the Football Association may cause far more damage to South Korean football than people imagine.