The 2011-2012 KorFA home match ref reception violations were covered until 2026 JTBC leak, with no proper apology yet.
A long-hidden scandal from the Korean Football Association a decade ago has finally come to light.
Between 2011 and 2012, the Korea Football Association hosted seven home matches for the men’s national team. More than 20 foreign officials invited to serve as referees and match supervisors were all provided with hospitality services that did not comply with regulations. In the detailed expense records, there is a verifiable entry for 510,000 won related to these expenses,a fact that sufficiently confirms the existence of these violations.
As early as 2016, South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had completed a comprehensive investigation into this matter, and the full details of the incident along with supporting evidence had been documented; however, the findings were sealed, and no related information was made public for a decade. It was only recently, after South Korea’s JTBC media outlet released these archived materials, that the incident officially came to public attention.Following the exposure of the
incident, the Korea Football Association did not issue any apology, responding only that the relevant records had exceeded their retention period, without providing any specific explanation regarding the incident itself.
Viewers who have followed soccer matches for a long time will easily notice that there are loopholes in the competition management rules, that oversight mechanisms have failed to function effectively, and that when problems arise, the relevant parties immediately choose to shirk responsibility and evade accountability—using the preservation of the referees’ authority as an excuse. Backroom dealings have been a long-standing issue, and even after incidents are exposed, they still attempt to brush them off with perfunctory responses.
For fans with decades of experience watching soccer—whether in person at the stadium or glued to their TV screens awaiting broadcasts—fairness and impartiality have always been the cornerstone of the viewing experience and the fundamental reason fans are willing to invest their time and energy in the sport.
Violations that cross the industry’s red line cannot be easily overlooked simply because time has passed. No member of the public who cares about the healthy development of soccer will accept such violations being swept under the rug.
