Chung Mong-gyu has Work to Do

Written by Michael Welch.

Photo Credit: Yonhap News

Surprise, surprise. Once again, Chung Mong-gyu has been elected President of the KFA. This is his fourth term, and he has held this role since 2013.

However, it is worth remembering that 2024 was a very painful year for the KFA and Chung himself. Chung came under fire from fans and journalists after a poor performance at the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar last year. Chung was directly blamed for the team's poor performance under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach that Chung had personally hired against the wishes of his technical committee.

After that, a farcical head coach search was conducted, with multiple foreign coaches brought in for an interview even though the KFA ended up hiring Hong Myung-bo instead. Fan outrage and critical columns from the Korean media over the coaching decision and sophomoric behavior from the KFA’s search committee heads led to a full-blown government investigation.

Chung, head coach Hong Myung-bo, and disgraced national team strengthening committee chairman Lee Lim-Saeng were brought before the National Assembly to answer questions about the search process. All of the KFA’s corruption and incompetence was laid bare before the Korean people (even though it was certainly a PR play by government officials) and the damage was done. Protest signs started showing up at KNT World Cup qualifiers and the players noticed the terrible environment.

After the hearings, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued its ruling and demanded that Chung be suspended from his role. The KFA wasn’t going to take that sitting down, so they filed suit against the Ministry in the Seoul Central District Court and won. A fourth term campaign was allowed for Chung, so he went ahead and won a controversial election.

Chung ran against two qualified candidates, Huh Jung-moo (former national team manager and experienced football administrator with Daejeon Hana) and Shin Moon-sun (sports analytics professor, commentator, and administrator). Huh specifically protested the original election date of January 8, winning an injunction stating that the election would be unfair because the KFA’s election committee was not impartial and voters were hand-picked by the KFA.

As such, a new election committee was created with outside members from the National Election Commission, and a wider group of voters were selected. The election looked different than it would have, but Chung won support from the regional football associations, club CEOs, coaches, and referees. He campaigned hard and won 156 out of the 183 votes cast. Huh finished a distant second. Like it or not, Chung won the election fairly.

Now that he’s president again, all we can do is look back at what he’s done and what he plans to do moving forward. There have been clear failures during his time as president and Chung has lost popular support because he has few successes to stand on. Chung has been in charge of three World Cup campaigns, and three Asian Cups. The 2014 and 2018 World Cups were disappointing group stage exits, but the squad improved under Paulo Bento and advanced to the Round of 16 for the second time in history on foreign soil at the 2022 World Cup. In the Asian Cup, we lost the 2015 final, and exited in the quarterfinals in 2019 and the semifinals in 2023. It’s not a great record of success. Couple that with the fact that many of these tournament campaigns were marred by costly injury problems brought on by a lack of funding for team doctors and physios and it’s easy to see why the national team struggles under Chung.

The main success that Chung can point to in his tenure is the U23 KNT’s domination of the Asian Games. We have won three straight gold medals from 2014-2022, earning national team stars like Kim Min-jae, Son Heung-min, and Lee Kang-in coveted exemptions from military service. This provides the entire squad precious career flexibility and has led to many players getting the opportunity to play abroad at European clubs. However, one could argue that Chung’s success is offset by the trend that many players now just enlist for military duty earlier in their career, allowing them to move to Europe afterwards regardless of winning an exemption.

Chung has also begun the construction of a new national training center for the KFA, trying to bring the modern touches of St. George’s Park and Clairefontaine to Cheonan.

Photo Credit: UNStudio

The Cheonan NFC is still in the works, and Chung has promised ₩5 Billion towards rising construction costs, as the funding for the center has fallen short of KFA expectations. Getting this project completed will certainly help the quality of youth and national team training standards for the men’s and women’s sides.

Another of Chung’s campaign goals is to completely open up the football pyramid in the example of European pyramids where amateur, semi-pro, and professional sides are all subject to the same promotion and relegation. Currently, the fully professional K League 1 and 2 have a closed pro-rel system, with K3-K7 below it with their promotion and relegation. Lately, with word that the K League will open up to the rest of the pyramid in coming years, K3 clubs that are ready to go pro have applied to join K League 2, with Gimpo FC, Cheonan City FC, and Hwaseong FC all joining K League 2.

Chung was very vague about his campaign goals, with the NFC and expansion of pro-rel system his two campaign promises that the media shared. In recent weeks, he has added a promise to bid for the 2031 AFC Asian Cup as well as the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Chung is not a popular man, but his roots in the Hyundai chaebol mean that he is an immensely powerful man. He will have lots of work to do to regain public trust and deliver on his promises. As of now, it seems as though he’s untouchable. Even a disastrous year of PR could do little to slow him down.