KFA needs a new governance system, not just a new president

Kim Ki-han

The author is a professor of physical education at Seoul National University.

Chung Mong-gyu, the president of the Korea Football Association (KFA), announced in May that he planned to resign after the FIFA World Cup 2026. With the national team's failure to advance to the Round of 32, discussion is expected to intensify over who should become the next KFA president and what qualifications that person should possess. Yet if Korean football is to move forward, the more urgent question is not who will lead the association but how it should be governed.

For decades, the KFA presidency has largely been held by owners of major conglomerates or prominent business executives. When the association struggled financially, these leaders often supported it with personal donations or corporate resources. Their international business networks also helped expand Korea's influence in global football diplomacy.

The problem is that this management model depends too heavily on the abilities of a single individual. The president serves on a part-time basis as the association's representative, while day-to-day operations are delegated to an executive vice president appointed by the president. Such an arrangement blurs the boundaries between authority and accountability. Decision-making becomes concentrated in a small circle and organizational management can easily be shaped by personal relationships rather than institutional principles.

When the president makes poor decisions, it is unclear whether meaningful checks exist. Board members are nominated by the president. The chair of the Disciplinary Committee and the secretary general are also presidential appointees. Under such a structure, challenging the president's wishes is difficult. This is not a problem of personalities but of institutional design. The association's performance and reputation become excessively dependent on one individual.

That owner-style approach may have worked when the association's responsibilities were relatively limited. Today, however, football administration has grown far more complex. Sponsorships, financial management, youth development, support for lower-tier and semiprofessional leagues, the training of coaches and referees, the use of data and technology and international sports diplomacy all require specialized expertise. No organization of this scale can rely on the talents of a single leader. The KFA should transition to a system based on professional management and institutional accountability.

Leading football organizations abroad have already embraced governance models that separate oversight from executive authority. At the Football Association in England, the chair serves in a nonexecutive role overseeing governance, while a professional chief executive appointed by the board independently manages operations and the budget. Chief Executive Mark Bullingham, an experienced sports business executive, is responsible for the organization's performance and reports directly to the board, which evaluates his results. Professional management and board oversight work together to ensure accountability.

Football Australia follows a similar model. Its chair and board establish strategy and governance while a professionally recruited chief executive runs the association. Last year, the organization strengthened this approach by appointing Martin Kugeler, formerly the chief executive of a streaming platform company, through an international recruitment process.

Whether the KFA president comes from the business world or is a former player is beside the point. The essential questions are how the association is managed, how that management is supervised and who is ultimately accountable for the results. A part-time president who delegates authority to personally appointed executives without effective oversight cannot restore public trust or strengthen Korean football's competitiveness.

The direction shown by football governance in England and Australia is clear: Disperse authority and strengthen accountability. The president and board should set the organization's vision, represent it externally and appoint and evaluate senior management. A professional chief executive selected through an open and competitive process should oversee finance, personnel, the national teams and marketing. The board should regularly assess management performance and retain the authority to hold executives accountable before their terms expire if necessary. Board appointments should not be overly dependent on the president, and major decisions, including coaching appointments and financial expenditures, should be made through transparent procedures.

After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Korean companies strengthened professional management and corporate accountability. The KFA should now undergo a similar transformation. For Korean football to take its next step, governance off the pitch must advance just as much as tactics on it. The next KFA president should present a leadership model and institutional vision suited to that challenge.