The Korea Football Association (KFA, ) is the governing body of football and futsal within South Korea. It sanctions professional, semi-professional and amateur football in South Korea. Founded in 1933, the governing body became affiliated with FIFA fifteen years later in 1948, and the Asian Football Confederation in 1954.

History In 1921, the first All Joseon Football Tournament was held, and in 1933, the Korea Football Association was organized (following the foundation of Joseon Referees' Association in 1928), which created a foundation to disseminate and develop the sport. Park Seung-bin was the first president of the KFA, charged with the task of promoting and spreading organised football in Korea.

The Korea Football Association was reinstated in 1948, following the establishment of the Republic of Korea. The KFA became a member of FIFA, the international football governing body that same year. It later joined the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) in 1954.

Members

President: Vacant Vice-presidents: Lee Yong-soo, Shin Jeong-sik, Kim Byung-ji Executive director: Kim Seung-hee General secretary: Jeon Han-jin Heads of departments Fairness: So Jin International: Jeon Han-jin Technical: Vacant Competition: Kim Hyun-tae Communication: Wi Won-seok Referee: Moon Jin-hee Ethics: Kim Yoon-ju Medical: Kim Gwang-jun Development: Hyun Young-min Administrative inspector: Jeong Tae-seok, Lee Tae-ho

Presidents Shin Ki-jun was the president of the Joseon Referees' Association, but he is not officially recognized as the first president.

No. President Year 1 Park Seung-bin 1933–1934 2 Lyuh Woon-hyung 1934–1938 3 1938–1942 4 Ko Won-hoon (2) 1942–1945 5 1945–1947 6 Ha Kyung-deok (2) 1947–1948 7 Shin Ik-hee1948–1949 8 1949 9 Yun Bo-seon1949–1950 10 Hong Sung-ha (2)1950–1952 11 Hong Sung-ha (3)1952 12 Chang Taek-sang1952–1954 13 Lee Jong-lim1954–1955 14 Hyun Jung-ju1955 15 1955–1956 16 Kim Myung-hak (2)1956–1957 17 Kim Yoon-ki1957–1959 18 Kim Yoon-ki (2)1959–1960 19 1960 20 Jung Moon-ki1960–1961 No. PresidentYear 21 Jang Ki-young (2)1961–1962 22 Kim Yoon-ki (3)1962 23 Jang Ki-young (3)1962–1963 24 1963 25 Kim Yoon-ki (4)1963–1964 26 1964 27 Choi Chi-hwan1964–1967 28 Choi Chi-hwan (2)1967–1968 29 Choi Chi-hwan (3)1968–1969 30 Choi Chi-hwan (4)1969–1970 31 Jang Deok-jin1970–1972 32 Jang Deok-jin (2)1972–1973 33 Ko Tae-jin1973–1975 34 Ko Tae-jin (2)1975 35 Kim Yoon-ha1975–1977 36 Kim Yoon-ha (2)1977–1978 37 Kim Yoon-ha (3)1978 38 1978–1979 39 Choi Soon-Young1979–1980 40 Choi Soon-Young (2)1980–1983 No. PresidentYear 41 Choi Soon-Young (3)1983–1985 42 Choi Soon-Young (4)1985–1986 43 Choi Soon-Young (5)1986–1987 44 Lee Jong-hwan1987–1988 45 Kim Woo-choong1988–1989 46 Kim Woo-choong (2)1989–1993 47 Chung Mong-joon1993–1997 48 Chung Mong-joon (2)1997–2001 49 Chung Mong-joon (3)2001–2005 50 Chung Mong-joon (4)2005–2009 51 Cho Chung-yun2009–2013 52 Chung Mong-gyu2013–2017 53 Chung Mong-gyu (2)2017–2021 54 Chung Mong-gyu (3)2021–2025 55 Chung Mong-gyu (4) 2025–2026

National teams Source:

Men's teams South Korea national football team South Korea national under-23 football team South Korea national under-20 football team South Korea national under-17 football team South Korea national under-14 football team South Korea national football B team (student) South Korea national futsal team

Women's teams South Korea women's national football team South Korea women's national under-20 football team South Korea women's national under-17 football team South Korea women's national under-14 football team South Korea women's national student football team

Defunct team South Korea national beach soccer team

Competitions

Current competitions The K League, a professional league founded by the KFA in 1983, has been held by its independent association since July 1994.

Competition Note Current champions Next season Korea Cup (domestic) National cup held since 1996. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (2025) 2026–27 Korea Cup K3 League Men's semi-professional league held since 2020. Gimhae FC (2025) 2026 K3 League K4 League Men's semi-professional league held since 2020. Dangjin Citizen (2025) 2026 K4 League WK League Women's semi-professional league held since 2009. Hwacheon KSPO (2025) 2026 WK League U-League Universities' league held since 2008. Dankook University (2025) 2026 U-League

Defunct competitions All Joseon Football Tournament: National cup held from 1938 to 1940. (Editions from 1921 to 1937 were held by Joseon Sports Council.) Korean National Football Championship: National cup held from 1946 to 2000. Korean President's Cup: Cup competition contested between semi-professional and amateur clubs from 1952 to 2009. Korea Cup (international): International competition annually held from 1971 to 1999.

Awards

Current awards Player of the Year Young Player of the Year Coach of the Year Goal of the Year Referee of the Year Club of the Year

Defunct awards Best XI Hall of Fame

Controversies 1992: B team's participation in Asian Cup qualifiers In May 1992, the KFA decided to sent their B team, which consisted of university players and semi-professional players without professional players, to the 1992 AFC Asian Cup qualification in order to maintain the schedule of the K League, causing controversy. The next month, South Korea failed to qualify for the 1992 AFC Asian Cup after losing 2–1 to Thailand. In September, president Kim Woo-choong announced his resignation five months beforehand ahead of the end of his tenure after being disappointed by this failure brought by executives including Shin Moon-sun, Lee Yong-soo and .

2023: Tolerance of match-fixing scandal The KFA tried to give pardons to 100 people formerly employed in football including 48 match-fixing participants on 28 March 2023. However, it rescinded the decision after facing strong objections from fans and sports journalists. Lee Dong-gook, Lee Young-pyo and Cho Won-hee were among the high-profile administrators who assumed responsibility and resigned from their positions.

2024: Selection of national team manager Between February and July 2024, the men's national team had no full-time manager after Jürgen Klinsmann was fired. Two domestic managers had been temporarily filling in during that period. Selection committee head Jung Hae-seong abruptly resigned just days before Ulsan HD manager Hong Myung-bo was announced as the new national team manager. As the appointment took place in the middle of the K League season, fans and sports journalists and pundits were highly critical while irate Ulsan fans started holding up banners saying "Get out!" directed at Hong and protested in front of the KFA's headquarters.

Selection committee member and football commentator Park Joo-ho was threatened with legal action by the KFA over a video he had uploaded on his YouTube channel on 8 July. He had been filming with fellow commentator Kim Hwan to discuss the KFA's lack of progress in selecting a new national team coach over the past five months and had reacted with surprise regarding the real-time news of Hong Myung-bo's appointment as the new manager. After that, he explained his reaction and further reiterated the fact he had no knowledge of the appointment despite being part of the committee responsible for the selection of coaches and his frustration with the disorganized nature of the selection process. The reaction was not edited out and the full video was uploaded, garnering several million views. Park refused to retract his claims of cronyism and disorganized leadership at the very top of the KFA management hierarchy. Koo Ja-cheol was among the active players who publicly defended Park on his social media account. Hong's 2002 World Cup teammates Kim Nam-il and Ahn Jung-hwan, who had been silent on the issue until then, both corroborated Park's claims and noted that it had been going since the 2002 World Cup.

After the massive public outcry from already disgruntled fans and more former players, the KFA stated that it would not pursue legal action against Park but the incident led to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) conducting an independent probe by the Sports Ethics Center and scheduling an inquiry. Park eventually resigned from his position and joined football commentator Park Moon-sung in testifying before an inquiry at the National Assembly that September. There were differences between MCST's findings and Park's contentions. The findings revealed that Hong and David Wagner received the most votes from members of the selection committee including Park, and that the members agreed to give the final say to Jung Hae-seong. On the contrary, the MCST pointed out that KFA president Chung Mong-gyu's attempt to overturn Hong's appointment was the violation of procedure. Jung Hae-seong had recommended Hong to president Chung and immediately resigned from the committee after the president rejected the recommendation. The president, who preferred foreign managers to domestic managers, arbitrarily authorized technical director Lee Lim-saeng to negotiate with candidates, but Lee reached the same conclusion as Jung Hae-seong.

Nonetheless, most fans and media empathised with Park's claims which criticised the association's cronyism, and were furious at the fact that Lee one-sidedly begged Hong to manage the national team after hearing Wagner's presentation over 50 pages long. The public opinion of the KFA deteriorated further following revelations that the organization issued delayed responses to or failed to advocate for Europe-based players regarding the repeated racist abuse they received, with fans and journalists noting the stark contrast to the immediate and strongly-worded statement released in response to Park's YouTube video.

2026: Corruption investigation Following South Korea's disappointing exit in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, president Lee Jae Myung called for an investigation into the KFA.

On August 6, 2026, JTBC News reported that, during the 2012 London Olympics and the qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the Korea Football Association had allegedly used corporate credit cards to pay hundreds of thousands of won for massage-parlor services for foreign referees, including expenses involving sexual services. At the time, prosecutors dismissed the case without charges due to insufficient evidence regarding the provision of sexual services. It was also reported that providing the sexual services to foreign referees seems to have been a customary practice.

See also South Korea national football team K League Football in South Korea Women's football in South Korea

References

External links Official website Korea Football Association at FIFA Korea Football Association at Asian Football Confederation