The match-fixing amnesty, which ended with the surrender of the white flag by Chung Mong-gyu (61), president of the Korea Football Association, is now entering a follow-up measure. It is a step to identify the cause of the failure of internal braking along with checking the facts of the process of promoting the nonsensical slope.

On the 31st of last month, Chairman Chung held a temporary board of directors meeting at the Seoul Sinmunro Soccer Hall and withdrew the indulgence given to 100 people, including 48 match-fixers.

Chairman Chung said in his statement that discussions on amnesty had begun about two years ago, but he did not disclose the specific process.

Inside the association, it is interpreted that the petition for pardon, which surfaced from the time the ticket to the finals of the 2022 Qatar World Cup was secured, accelerated in December of last year. It is said that advancing to the round of 16, which Chairman Chung put forward as a justification for pardon, became an opportunity.

After the amnesty promotion team was formed at the time under the direction of Chairman Chung, the chairman group actively jumped in. Afterwards, Fair Commissioner Seo Cheong-hee completed the legal analysis related to the amnesty, which was first confirmed by the association’s in-house lawyer, and the selection of candidates for pardon led by the pardon judge Cho Byung-deuk proceeded without any stopping. In this process, it was as if there was no convergence of outside opinions. It is known that the Professional Football Federation expressed its opposition, but it did not mean much.

The final approval stage, the board of directors, also passed without much pain. A director who attended the second board meeting at the time said, “Unlike the usual board agendas that are shared in advance, it was more like a surprise notification. He hinted that some directors felt burdened by the pardon and requested an opinion gathering process such as a public hearing, but it was passed without a vote.”

Inside the association, the pardon expressed a sense of shame at the fact that there was no internal restraint. The paternalism of footballers who claim to be a ‘soccer family’, or protecting their family, was expected. In the past, there have been requests for pardon from senior soccer players, but resistance from internal members with common sense has put the brakes on.

It was different this time. Appropriate advice could not come from the administrators who were former footballers whom Chairman Chung, who started his third term, used moderately. All of the attendants had adapted to the top-down method accepted when coming down from ‘above’. A high-ranking executive who requested anonymity said, “In the days of Executive Director Ahn Ki-heon, who called the chairman ‘Grandfather’, and Hong Myung-bo, who said, ‘I am not afraid of anything,’ there were voices of opposition, if not checks. It is true that the current system did not do that.” 먹튀검증

The association staff were equally helpless. Not only those who secretly carried out the pardon, but those who watched it were silent. It is evaluated as proof that the atmosphere in which no one takes responsibility is prevalent since Chairman Chung introduced the’Agile organization’ in 2021, which performs work flexibly without boundaries between departments. Association unions, which actively expressed opinions on similar issues in the past, have lost their presence.

Fortunately, the association also took this issue seriously and promised to change. The association decided to examine the process of promoting the amnesty in the near future and find responsibility. However, since this situation started with Chairman Chung’s misjudgment, the general opinion is that responsibility should be placed on the person, not the member.