City and provincial teams cannot escape political controversy by nature.
The K-League is again suffering from political controversy. Asan, South Chungcheong Province, a member of the K-League 2, was controversial as it played in the third red uniform, not the blue home uniform, in the home opening match on the 9th.
In professional soccer, “color” has a significant meaning. It is not just color but also represents a team’s identity and culture. Throwing away his unique color and wearing the red jersey used by the opponent team Bucheon FC1995 at the home opening match, which is set to start a new season, is enough to cause problems.
We have no choice but to doubt their political intentions. Asan Mayor Park Kyung-koo and South Chungcheong Governor Kim Tae-heum, the honorary owner of Asan, both belong to the People’s Power. Both of them watched the opening match on the spot. Red is the color that symbolizes the power of the people. It is hard to avoid criticism that they staged some kind of election campaign ahead of the general election in April. The team belatedly explained that it had no political intentions, but it is not very convincing. The Korea Professional Football Association is also considering disciplinary action against them, suspecting their political intentions.
It is nothing new that political controversy broke out in the K-League, exactly in municipal and provincial teams. In the past, some local government candidates even pledged to disband the soccer team. The team used the K-League as a way to eliminate the achievements of its predecessor. One club was also given a severe punishment for failing to prevent direct election campaigns in the stadium.
City and provincial teams are vulnerable to political logic. This is because it depends on the owner’s words. It is inevitable. City and provincial teams go back to the local government’s budget. The owner is the mayor or provincial governor. It is natural that the influence of a real person in power works. If the owner lacks understanding of soccer, there is a high possibility of an accident. The same is true of Asan case in Chungnam.
In the K-League, there are a total of 15 teams for municipalities. Sixty percent of the total 25 teams belong to local governments. After Han Woong-soo, vice president of the Federation, became the de facto leader of the K-League, the number of teams has increased dramatically. Until 2012, before the promotion system was implemented, only seven out of 16 teams had teams for municipalities. Over the past 10 years, the number of teams for municipalities has more than doubled, and has become a big part of the K-League. The number of teams for municipalities is expected to increase further in the future.
The federation introduced municipal and provincial teams into professional football to establish the promotion system and expand quantitatively. The establishment was induced according to various interests, and as a result, the promotion system was safely established.
There are positive aspects, but there are also many negative aspects. Political controversy is a case in point. It happens often, but the federation is repeating what it cannot stop. The Asan incident in Chungnam would not have happened if the federation had not allowed the change of uniforms.
The federation has been criticized for neglecting K-League 2 since the beginning of its second division in 2013. Eleven years have passed, and as of 2024, nine out of 13 K-League 2 teams are municipal and provincial teams, but the federation has yet to properly prevent possible problems. It has repeatedly become irresponsible in that it makes necessary arrangements before letting go. The arrow will return to the K-League and greatly damage its brand value. 핑크알바
An official from the civic team said, “The federation should come up with measures to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents. Local governments have poor understanding of soccer. We don’t know what the problem is. The federation should carefully institutionalize the K-League so that it doesn’t get bruised by political logic.”