This year, the Korean national soccer team inflicted an abundant amount of disappointment on Korea. The Korean Football Association (KFA) faced growing scrutiny in 2026 following South Korea’s early elimination from the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The team finished third in its group with one win and two losses, failing to advance to the knockout stage. The team finished third in Group A with one win and two losses, earning three points. However, the expanded 48-team tournament allowed not only the top two teams from each group but also the eight best third-place teams to advance to the round of 32. South Korea ranked 10th among these 12 third-place teams, meaning it missed the cutoff and finished 34th overall. Shortly after the elimination, head coach Hong Myung-bo resigned, followed by KFA president Chung Mong-gyu in July. Their departures brought renewed attention to decisions the federation had made in previous years, including controversies surrounding Hong’s engagement as head coach.
Hong Myung-bo’s engagement as a head coach in 2024
The questions surrounding Hong’s engagement began two years earlier. In July 2024, the KFA selected Hong after spending months considering other candidates, including several foreign coaches. The decision was criticized because Hong was chosen after a relatively brief meeting with KFA technical director Lee Im-saeng, despite the federation’s earlier search for other candidates. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism later reviewed the process and found procedural problems, including concerns about who had the authority to recommend the coach and how the interviews were conducted.
Tragic results for the Korean national soccer team in the 2026 FIFA World Cup
After South Korea’s elimination, many fans expressed their wrath toward Hong. When he and the national team returned to Korea, hundreds of furious supporters greeted him at Incheon Airport with boos and banners. Hong also received an online death threat. While some fans criticized his tactical decisions and the KFA’s process of appointing him as head coach, others directed personal hostility toward him. The strong reaction showed how disappointed fans were with the team’s performance. year. However, it is important to distinguish between criticizing a coach’s decision and making personal threats against him. People blamed Hong’s incompetence as a head coach.
The changes did not stop with the national team. On July 6, Chung Mong-gyu officially resigned as KFA president after more than 13 years in the position. Chung had been reelected to a fourth term in February 2025 and still had nearly three years left in his term when he resigned. He had originally announced in May that he would leave after the World Cup, but he moved his departure forward following South Korea’s elimination from the World Cup. His resignation ended a period of leadership that had lasted since January 2013.
Excuse unacceptable disciplinary actions in the KFA
The problems facing the KFA were not limited to the national team’s coaching decisions in 2026. In March 2023, the federation announced that it would excuse 100 soccer players, coaches, referees and other officials who had received disciplinary action for various offenses. The group included 48 people who had been expelled from Korean soccer for their involvement in a 2011 match-fixing scandal. The KFA said the decision was intended to celebrate South Korea’s qualification for the 2022 Qatar World Cup and its victory over Portugal, which helped the team advance to the round of 16. However, the announcement faced strong criticism from fans and the soccer community, forcing the KFA to reverse its decision just three days later. The controversy raised questions about how the federation made important decisions and whether it considered the views of fans and other members of the soccer community. This pattern of controversial decisions followed by reversals after public criticism also appeared in the dispute over Hong Myung-bo’s appointment in 2024, raising broader concerns about transparency and accountability within the KFA.
With the repeated controversies surrounding KFA, calls for reform have grown louder. In 2026, discussions about changing the KFA’s leadership structure and increasing transparency became a major part of the debate over the federation’s future. Supporters and football officials have called for a system that gives greater accountability to KFA leaders and allows broader participation in choosing the federation’s president. The changes are intended to rebuild trust between the KFA, the national team and Korean soccer fans.
The events of 2026 have placed the KFA at an important point in its history. From the 2023 pardon controversy to the 2024 dispute over Hong Myung-bo’s engagement and the national team’s disappointing World Cup results in 2026, the federation has faced repeated questions about its decisions and leadership. Whether the changes made after the World Cup will lead to lasting reform remains to be seen. For Korean soccer, the challenge now is not only to improve results on the field but also to restore confidence in the organization responsible for running the sport.
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