Police Investigate Korean FA Amid World Cup Fallout
South Korean football, still reeling from a miserable World Cup, woke up to something even darker on Thursday: police inside the Korea Football Association’s own headquarters.
Officers from Seoul’s financial crimes unit carried out search and seizure operations at the KFA offices, part of an investigation into how former national team coach Hong Myung-bo was appointed ahead of the ill-fated 2024 campaign.
At the heart of the probe is a stark allegation — “obstruction of business” in the recruitment process. Investigators are examining whether senior KFA figures improperly steered Hong into the job, potentially breaching the organisation’s internal rules.
Hong, 57, stepped down in June, days after South Korea crashed out at the group stage of the expanded 48-team World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The exit hurt. The manner of it stung even more.
A shock 1-0 defeat to South Africa sealed their fate and triggered a wave of anger at home. The team failed to reach the last-32 knockout phase, a failure that sharpened existing doubts about how and why Hong had been handed the reins in the first place.
Those questions, once confined to columns and talk shows, have now drawn in the police.
A Seoul police spokesman confirmed that financial crimes investigators are “looking into whether there were charges of obstruction of business during the appointment of Hong Myung-bo”. Local media have reported that the focus includes alleged improper intervention by senior KFA officials in the hiring process, potentially in violation of the association’s own procedures.
For a federation already under fire for the team’s performance on the pitch, the sight of officers combing through its offices marks a new and damaging chapter. The World Cup disappointment has moved beyond tactics, selections and missed chances.
Now the fight is over how the man in the dugout got there in the first place — and whether the country’s football leadership played by its own rules.
