Corporate Cards and Massage Parlours: The South Korean Football Association’s Decade-Old Sleaze

International football governance has rarely been confused with a monastery, but recent revelations out of Seoul suggest a rather literal interpretation of sporting hospitality. The Korea Football Association is issuing grovelling apologies after local media unearthed a decade-old practice of providing foreign referees with sexual services. When match officials arrived to oversee qualification games for the 2012 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup, their itineraries apparently included state-subsidised excursions to massage parlours.

Brought to public attention by broadcaster JTBC, the arrangements detail seven specific instances between March 2011 and March 2012 where the governing body procured illicit entertainment for visiting referees. These activities were systemic enough to be logged on corporate expense accounts. The KFA scrambled to contain the fallout, issuing a defensive statement expressing regret over the historical misconduct. The association apologised for causing concern over the decade-old events, claiming that many within the organisation were entirely unaware of the parliamentary and police scrutiny they would eventually provoke.

What makes the affair particularly damning is the institutional silence that followed. The illicit activities were fully documented in a 2016 investigation conducted by the national sports ministry. For years, the findings gathered dust until recent media pressure forced the association’s hand. In a desperate attempt to salvage its modern reputation, the KFA stressed that corporate credit cards are no longer used to fund sexual services for match officials. The governing body insisted that inappropriate conduct of this kind is absolutely not currently taking place, setting a remarkably low bar for its current ethical standards.

This historical sleaze surfaces at an inconvenient moment for the South Korean football establishment, which is already buckling under administrative chaos. Just days before the prostitution scandal broke, Seoul police raided the KFA headquarters to investigate the highly irregular 2024 appointment of national team coach Hong Myung-bo. After conducting a protracted search for foreign managerial talent, the association abruptly abandoned the process and handed the job to Hong following a suspiciously brief meeting.

The opacity of Hong’s hiring triggered immense public anger, largely because his previous stint as national coach from 2013 to 2014 ended in a dismal group-stage exit at the World Cup. Now, the KFA must simultaneously defend its current executive decision-making while answering for past bribery. The dual scandals paint a picture of a sporting authority operating free from basic ethical constraints. Whether buying the favour of referees with massage parlour visits or hand-picking coaches through backroom deals, the association treats governance as a mere suggestion.

Written by Andreas Hofer andreas.hofer@alpineweekly.com