In 2013, the K-League introduced a promotion and promotion system in earnest. Since the two teams were demoted in 2012, numerous teams have continued to compete for survival in the first and second divisions over the past decade. This year, Suwon Samsung, which claimed to be a prestigious K-League, stayed at the bottom and was demoted to K-League 2. In terms of “interest,” the promotion and promotion system has clearly been successfully settled.
The shadow runs deep. The Korea Professional Football Federation has focused on increasing the number of teams for its promotion and promotion policy over the past decade. In 2013 alone, the first year of K League 2, FC Anyang, Bucheon FC 1995, and Suwon FC entered the professional league, while Seoul E-Land, Ansan Greeners, Gimpo FC, Asan in South Chungcheong Province, Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province, and Cheonan City also established the K League 2. As a result, the K League has expanded to a total of 25 teams, including 12 in the first division and 13 in the second division.
With the number of new teams continuing to increase, the weakness of “poor management of K League 2” has hardly improved. This year alone, Gimpo failed to meet the conditions of the first division, which sparked controversy due to its rough-and-ready administration, with plans to expand the number of spectators only at the end of the season when promotion atmosphere was set. Ansan Greeners was found to have been rigged during the selection process, and key figures were investigated by prosecutors. The federation imposed a fine of 50 million won (approx.
Since the K-League 2 was launched, the K-League has been criticized for not paying much attention to the creation of secondary league teams. “Ten years have passed and the K-League still does not thoroughly manage secondary league teams. While establishing the league, we do not provide support worthy of the title of a professional player. We just have to make it and see how it is done,” said an official from the K-League.랭크카지노
The federation has already experienced the dissolution of Chungju Hummel and Goyang Hi FC. The two teams disappeared into history after revealing their inadequacies in various aspects, including finance and administration. Although there are some improvements compared to the early days of its launch, the Federation’s stance of placing the second division in a blind spot has not changed much even after 10 years have passed.
A more serious problem is that soccer is swayed like “slavery” of politics. Currently, there are 14 municipal and provincial teams (excluding military team Kim Cheon-sang). There are five teams in the K-League 1 (Gwangju FC, Incheon United, Daegu FC, Gangwon FC, and Suwon FC), and nine teams in the K-League 2 (Gimpo, Gyeongnam, Bucheon, Anyang, Chungbuk Cheongju, Seongnam, Chungnam Asan, Ansan, and Cheonan). They occupy a much larger portion of the league than corporate teams. Since the Federation’s Vice President Han Woong-soo became the de facto leader, the creation of municipal and provincial teams has continued. The number of provincial and provincial teams is expected to increase further.
City and provincial teams have the advantage of providing stable finances, but they are bound to be swayed by political logic. In fact, the direction of the soccer team varies greatly depending on the logic of the political party, as the head of the local government, which belongs to a political party, is the owner of the team who exercises great power. In the past, one owner made a pledge to disband the soccer team during his campaign before his election. Looking at the new team, Cheonan, the team’s leader, who led the creation of the team, was greatly shaken by the regional political logic this season, and the team’s general manager dropped out.
Another big problem is that soccer players are attempting to ascend to key positions or managerial posts through personal connections, not skills. Not everyone is like that, but a culture of a number of soccer players lining up in politicians such as heads of local governments or city and provincial councilors has already been established. This is also a common concern for most soccer officials. A leader said, “Now, a soccer player who wants to become a manager finds a local politician first. Personnel management changes depending on who holds the strongest and most reliable line these days.”
Quantitative expansion is also the biggest obstacle to the Federation’s fiscal consolidation. As the number of teams increases, the value of players increases. The reality is that the number of registered players is decreasing as the population of Korean soccer players decreases, but the number of players’ options is increasing. Now that the top division is also competing to recruit players from the second division, the annual salary of players is soaring. The bizarre system in which up to three of the 12 top division teams are demoted also contributes to rising labor costs. To survive, even municipal and provincial teams are now spending money boldly. “Sidebacks with the left foot start at 200 million won,” represents inflation in the K-League.
In fact, the average annual salary of K-League players in 2013 was about 118 million won, but it almost doubled to 204 million won in 2022. The second division nearly tripled from about 44 million won to 122 million won. The ironic situation continues that the founding rush selected by the Federation is holding back the fiscal consolidation policy. Since soccer is a global sport, this phenomenon is expected to continue as it is more difficult to control salaries through the internal market.