‘Maybe’ but ‘as expected’. A glimpse of hope was shattered. Korean football’s ‘restoration of diplomatic power’ was nothing more than a ‘long dream’.
Chung Mong-gyu (61), president of the Korea Football Association, failed in the FIFA council member election for Asia on the 1st. Only those in the top 5 out of the 7 candidates running for the election could have been elected. But four years ago, it was pushed back by Mongolia and this time by the Philippines.
If you look inside, it’s even more disastrous. Heads of each country mark plural ‘O’ and ‘X’ for every seven candidates. As a result of the secret ballot of 46 member states of the AFC, Chairman Chung only received 19 out of 45 valid votes. This means that only 19 countries voted ‘O’ for Chairman Chung. 6th out of 7 It is one vote more than Dujaokai (18 votes, China), who is at the bottom. In the case of China, it appeared that the voters stopped visiting the international stage after the ‘Corona Pandemic’.
On the other hand, Sheikh Ahmad Khalifa Al Thani (Qatar, 40 votes), Kelp Gojo (Japan, 39 votes), Yasser Almisehal (Saudi Arabia, 35 votes), Mariano V. Araneta Jr. (Philippines, 34 votes), Datuk Haji Hami Dean Bin Haji Mohd Amin (Malaysia, 30 votes) all exceeded the majority, and the election was confirmed in the first round of voting.
In order to undo last year’s Asian Cup bid failure, Chairman Chung challenged the FIFA Council, a key body that deliberates on major policies of FIFA. He also had an aspiration to reconnect the broken bridge on the international football stage.
However, the ‘cruelty of the election’ continued unquestionably. He ran for the 2015 FIFA Executive Committee election and drank a high. Two years later, he was elected a member of the newly introduced FIFA Council and served for close to two years, 메이저놀이터 but failed to win re-election in 2019. He also fell out of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) vice-presidentship. This year, he once again accepted the ‘report card of tears’.
It’s ‘Lost 4 Years’. Asia’s first World Cup quarter-final, advancing to the World Cup finals 10 times in a row, and reaching the World Cup final 16 for the first time in 12 years are just ‘our own joy’. Korean football is just a ‘remote island’ not in the mainstream of Asia.
Now I’m ashamed to blame anyone. The term ‘cartel of the Middle East’ is boring. At the 33rd AFC General Assembly held on this day, the host of the 2027 Asian Cup was also confirmed. As expected, Saudi Arabia succeeded in attracting it. The Asian Cup has been held in the Middle East for the third time in a row, leading to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
It has been a long time since the Middle East won the hegemony of the AFC. Kozo Kozo, president of the Japan Football Association, is wisely taking care of the material in their gaps, as if serving as a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and then as a member of the FIFA Council. On the other hand, Chairman Chung is in a ‘different world’.
After becoming the head of the Korea Football Association in 2013, he succeeded in a third term in 2021. I’ve been on the AFC stage for 10 years, but I can’t seem to get along. Korean football’s ‘high-profile diplomacy’ is still the same, and reliability is also at the bottom. Even if you do ‘skinship’, your sincerity is questioned. One footballer said: Unfortunately, Chairman Chung is not popular among AFC members. He hinted that there is a strong perception that he is ‘begging’ for votes only during elections, although there is no exchange normally.”
As such, Korea’s soccer diplomacy is ignored by the Middle East and pushed back by its ‘neighbor country’, Japan. Support is also falling in ASEAN and Central Asia, which are close to the side with ‘power’.
Two years later, Chung’s tenure as head of the Korea Football Association ends. Soccer is an international sport. It seems that it is not easy to ‘restore diplomatic power’ under Chairman Chung’s system.