K-Football Innovation Committee Holds First Public Hearing: "Need to Increase Youth Matches and Expand Investment"

Youth Football Field Coaches Voice Appeals to Innovation Committee
"Only 2 to 3 Tournaments a Year, Held in the Middle of Winter and Summer"

"Youth players in Europe gain experience and develop by participating in dozens of tournaments each year. In contrast, youth players in our country compete in only two tournaments a year, or three at most. Even those few tournaments are held during the coldest and hottest periods of the year."

A coach at an elementary school in Gyeonggi Province voiced strong criticism of the poor conditions facing Korean youth football, making these remarks at the K-Football Innovation Committee public hearing. This hearing was held in the main auditorium on the first floor of the Korea Football Park Stadium in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, on August 19.

The K-Football Innovation Committee, which launched on July 6 last month with a pledge to redesign the future of Korean football, held its first direct gathering with football fans on this day. Chairman Park Jisung said in his opening remarks, "Please share your honest thoughts from the field, and we will carefully consider even the aspects we may not have seen ourselves, and discuss deeply how Korean football should move forward."

The main topic of the public hearing was the development of youth football in Korea. Chairman Park identified this as the second most important issue, following the reform of the Korea Football Association's election process.

Football coaches and parents who attended the hearing first pointed to an absolute lack of matches.

One coach noted, "In the case of Seoul, due to a lack of available fields, teams can only play about 10 league matches a year," and added, "To broaden the football base, there is a need for investment in expanding privately operated sports fields and facilities."

Lee Dongjin, Executive Director of the Ulsan Football Association, pointed out a reduction in the budget for the nationwide elementary, middle, and high school football leagues. Even though the number of participating teams in these nationwide youth leagues has roughly doubled since their launch in 2009, the initial budget of 10 billion won has now been reduced to around 3 billion won. Lee commented, "These days, almost every student spends hundreds of thousands of won a month on private lessons," and, "As the budget decreases, the financial burden on parents increases further."

Along with vitalizing the youth league, some argued that the direction of league policy needs to be clarified. An elementary school football coach said, "We need clear guidelines on what the youth league is meant to achieve and how it will help players develop," and, "Among field coaches, there is growing doubt about the point of the league if it continues to operate as it currently does."

An additional improvement task cited was the concentration of national tournaments during the periods of extreme heat and cold. Currently, most tournaments are held during school vacations in January-February and July-August, putting both player safety and performance at risk. Suggestions were made to distribute tournaments throughout the spring and fall semesters. In particular, in light of recent climate changes that have made heat waves and heavy rains worse than before, there was strong consensus that the tournament schedule must change.

Chairman Park emphasized that regaining the trust lost by the Football Association is the starting point for the Innovation Committee, and that rather than resorting to short-term fixes, it is important to set clear goals and maintain policies in the long term. He stated, "When problems arise, it's not about completely changing everything, but about steadily sticking to our established plans while making necessary improvements."

Yoo Seungmin, co-chairman of the committee and president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, called for greater investment in youth football. After being told by a Korea Football Association official that the Association’s annual budget is about 160 billion won, of which 30 billion to 50 billion won goes to youth football, Yoo stressed a need to increase this investment further.

He pointed out, "There are currently about 25,000 youth football players, while the total number of K-League 1 and 2 players is only about 1,100," and added, "Even though youth players make up an overwhelming share, it seems that budget support is overwhelmingly focused on the national ‘A’ team." He emphasized, "Looking ahead 10 or 20 years, there must be direct investment in youth football until Korean football becomes truly strong."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.