Korea Football Association


The Korea Football Association is the governing body of football and futsal within South Korea. It sanctions professional, semi-professional and amateur football in South Korea. Founded in 1933, the governing body became affiliated with FIFA twenty years later in 1948, and the Asian Football Confederation in 1954.

History

In 1921, the first All Joseon Football Tournament was held, and in 1933, the Korea Football Association was organized, which created a foundation to disseminate and develop the sport. Park Seung-bin was the first president of the KFA, charged with the task of promoting and spreading organised football in Korea.
The Korea Football Association was reinstated in 1948, following the establishment of the Republic of Korea. The KFA became a member of FIFA, the international football governing body that same year. It later joined the AFC in 1954.

Members

was the president of the Joseon Referees' Association, but he is not officially recognised as the first president.

  • No.PresidentYear
    1Park Seung-bin1933–1934
    2Lyuh Woon-hyung1934–1938
    31938–1942
    4Ko Won-hoon 1942–1945
    51945–1947
    6Ha Kyung-deok 1947–1948
    7Shin Ik-hee1948–1949
    81949
    9Yun Bo-seon1949–1950
    10Hong Sung-ha 1950–1952
    11Hong Sung-ha 1952
    12Chang Taek-sang1952–1954
    13Lee Jong-lim1954–1955
    14Hyun Jung-ju1955
    151955–1956
    16Kim Myung-hak 1956–1957
    17Kim Yoon-ki1957–1959
    18Kim Yoon-ki 1959–1960
    191960
    20Jung Moon-ki1960–1961


  • No.PresidentYear
    21Jang Ki-young 1961–1962
    22Kim Yoon-ki 1962
    23Jang Ki-young 1962–1963
    241963
    25Kim Yoon-ki 1963–1964
    261964
    27Choi Chi-hwan1964–1967
    28Choi Chi-hwan 1967–1968
    29Choi Chi-hwan 1968–1969
    30Choi Chi-hwan 1969–1970
    31Jang Deok-jin1970–1972
    32Jang Deok-jin 1972–1973
    33Ko Tae-jin1973–1975
    34Ko Tae-jin 1975
    35Kim Yoon-ha1975–1977
    36Kim Yoon-ha 1977–1978
    37Kim Yoon-ha 1978
    381978–1979
    39Choi Soon-young1979–1980
    40Choi Soon-young 1980–1983


  • No.PresidentYear
    41Choi Soon-young 1983–1985
    42Choi Soon-young 1985–1986
    43Choi Soon-young 1986–1987
    44Lee Jong-hwan1987–1988
    45Kim Woo-jung1988–1989
    46Kim Woo-jung 1989–1993
    47Chung Mong-joon1993–1997
    48Chung Mong-joon 1997–2001
    49Chung Mong-joon 2001–2005
    50Chung Mong-joon 2005–2009
    51Cho Chung-yun2009–2013
    52Chung Mong-gyu2013–2017
    53Chung Mong-gyu 2017–2020
    54Chung Mong-gyu 2021–2024
    55Chung Mong-gyu 2025–present

    • National teams

    Source:

    Men's teams

    • South Korea national football team
    • South Korea national under-23 football team
    • South Korea national under-20 football team
    • South Korea national under-17 football team
    • South Korea national under-14 football team
    • South Korea national football B team
    • South Korea national futsal team

      Women's teams

    • South Korea women's national football team
    • South Korea women's national under-20 football team
    • South Korea women's national under-17 football team
    • South Korea women's national under-14 football team
    • South Korea women's national student football team

      Defunct team

    • South Korea national beach soccer team

      Competitions

    Current competitions

    Defunct competitions

    • All Joseon Football Tournament: National cup held from 1938 to 1940.
    • Korean National Football Championship: National cup held from 1946 to 2000.
    • Korean President's Cup: Cup competition contested between semi-professional and amateur clubs from 1952 to 2009.
    • Korea Cup : International competition annually held from 1971 to 1999.
    • K League: Professional league held from 1983 to 1994.

      Awards

    Current awards

    • Player of the Year
    • Young Player of the Year
    • Coach of the Year
    • Goal of the Year
    • Referee of the Year
    • Club of the Year

      Defunct awards

    • Best XI
    • Hall of Fame

      Controversies

    Tolerance of match-fixing scandal (2023)

    The KFA tried to give pardons to 100 people formerly employed in football including 48 match-fixing participants on 28 March 2023. However, it rescinded the decision after facing strong objections from fans and sports journalists. Lee Dong-gook, Lee Young-pyo and Cho Won-hee were among the high-profile administrators who assumed responsibility and resigned from their positions.

    Selection of national team manager (2024)

    Between February and July 2024, the men's national team had no full-time manager after Jürgen Klinsmann was fired. Two domestic managers had been temporarily filling in during that period. Selection committee head Jung Hae-seong abruptly resigned just days before Ulsan HD manager Hong Myung-bo was announced as the new national team manager. As the appointment took place in the middle of the K League season, fans and sports journalists and pundits were highly critical while irate Ulsan fans started holding up banners saying "Get out!" directed at Hong and protested in front of the KFA's headquarters.
    Selection committee member and football commentator Park Joo-ho was threatened with legal action by the KFA over a video he had uploaded on his YouTube channel on 8 July. He had been filming with fellow commentator Kim Hwan to discuss the KFA's lack of progress in selecting a new national team coach over the past five months and had reacted with surprise regarding the real-time news of Hong Myung-bo's appointment as the new manager. After that, he explained his reaction and further reiterated the fact he had no knowledge of the appointment despite being part of the committee responsible for the selection of coaches and his frustration with the disorganized nature of the selection process. The reaction was not edited out and the full video was uploaded, garnering several million views. Park refused to retract his claims of cronyism and disorganized leadership at the very top of the KFA management hierarchy. Koo Ja-cheol was among the active players who publicly defended Park on his social media account. Hong's 2002 World Cup teammates Kim Nam-il and Ahn Jung-hwan, who had been silent on the issue until then, both corroborated Park's claims and noted that it had been going since the 2002 World Cup.
    After the massive public outcry from already disgruntled fans and more former players, the KFA stated that it would not pursue legal action against Park but the incident led to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism conducting an independent probe by the Sports Ethics Center and scheduling an inquiry. Park eventually resigned from his position and joined football commentator Park Moon-sung in testifying before an inquiry at the National Assembly that September. There were differences between MCST's findings and Park's contentions. The findings revealed that Hong and David Wagner received the most votes from members of the selection committee including Park, and that the members agreed to give the final say to Jung Hae-seong. On the contrary, the MCST pointed out that KFA president Chung Mong-gyu's attempt to overturn Hong's appointment was the violation of procedure. Jung Hae-seong had recommended Hong to president Chung and immediately resigned from the committee after the president rejected the recommendation. The president, who preferred foreign managers to domestic managers, arbitrarily authorized Lee Lim-saeng to negotiate with candidates, but Lee reached the same conclusion as Jung Hae-seong.
    Nonetheless, public opinion of the KFA deteriorated further following revelations that the organization issued delayed responses to or failed to advocate for Europe-based players regarding the repeated racist abuse they received, with journalists and fans noting the stark contrast to the immediate and strongly-worded statement released in response to Park's YouTube video.