Geochang Sports Council President Yoo Inhwan: Dream of Hosting Provincial Sports Festival Becomes Reality... Now Preparing for a Successful Event

From considering a solo bid as secretary-general to pushing for a joint bid by four counties
Sancheong, Hamyang, Geochang, and Hapcheon to jointly host the 66th Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Sports Festival in 2027

Yoo Inhwan, president of the Geochang County Sports Council, is working to strengthen the region's competitiveness in sports by attracting national-scale competitions and securing teams for training camps. Beyond simply hosting competitions, he is also focusing on sports marketing that encourages visiting teams to stay longer and connects their stays with local businesses, including accommodations and restaurants.

Under President Yoo's leadership, the Geochang County Sports Council has continued to host existing national competitions in youth soccer, kendo, and ground golf, while expanding into sports such as mountain biking and baseball.

[Photo courtesy of the Geochang County Sports Council] Yoo Seung-min, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (left), and Yu In-hwan, president of the Geochang County Sports Council (right), pose together for a commemorative photo at the 2025 regional sports council tour meeting.

The Little K League Youth Soccer Tournament and the Bongnimgi National Business Kendo Tournament have been held in Geochang every year since 2019, while the Geochang County Cup National Ground Golf Tournament has continued since 2013.

About 2,500 athletes compete in these three tournaments each year. The sports council estimates that more than 3,000 people, including family members and supporters, visit Geochang for the events.

The council has also worked hard to attract training camps. When Suwon FC held a training camp in Geochang for two years, teams from the K3 and K4 leagues and nine university soccer teams played practice matches together, bringing about 400 people to the region.

In women's soccer, the council has attracted about 350 people, starting with Korea University’s women's soccer team and including 13 girls' and women's teams from elementary, middle, and high schools. The teams stayed in Geochang for between five and seven nights, using local accommodations and restaurants.

This year, Geochang hosted seven national-scale competitions, including two youth soccer tournaments and a university club soccer tournament, as well as kendo, mountain biking, ground golf, and baseball. The number of participating athletes totaled 5,715.

To attract national competitions, President Yoo has focused on continuously promoting Geochang's sports facilities and its capacity to host events to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and national governing bodies for individual sports. The council has also maintained a cooperative relationship with Geochang County on improvements to competition venues, safety inspections, and support for participating teams.

Another priority for the sports council is coordinating accommodations, restaurants, transportation, and tourism so athletes and their families can stay in the area during competitions. The aim is to ensure the benefits of hosting national competitions extend beyond the venues and translate into local spending.

Hosting kendo at the National Sports Festival... Building experience in running national competitions. The experience accumulated in running events has helped President Yoo pursue the expansion of national competition hosting.

Kendo was held in Geochang as part of the 105th National Sports Festival in 2024. At the time, the Geochang County Sports Council worked with the Geochang County Kendo Association to strengthen the local foundation for the sport and consulted with relevant organizations, including the Gyeongsangnam-do Sports Council and the Korea Kendo Association, on securing and operating the event.

Geochang had already built experience in operating national-scale kendo competitions, having hosted the Bongnimgi National Business Kendo Tournament every year. Its multipurpose gymnasium and other competition facilities, along with its experience running previous events, provided the foundation for hosting kendo at the National Sports Festival.

President Yoo sees the hosting of kendo at the National Sports Festival as having demonstrated Geochang's potential to attract national competitions in various sports. He is now working to expand the range of sports to include not only soccer and kendo but also recreational sports.

President Yoo pursued hosting the Provincial Sports Festival starting when he was secretary-general. The 66th Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Sports Festival, to be jointly hosted in 2027 by Sancheong, Hamyang, Geochang, and Hapcheon, is another matter he has focused on and pursued for many years.

When he was secretary-general of the Geochang County Sports Council, President Yoo raised the need for Geochang to host the Provincial Sports Festival and considered the possibility of hosting it alone.

However, because the Provincial Sports Festival is a multisport event with many competitions held simultaneously, there were practical limits to what a county-level local government could manage on its own in terms of venue infrastructure and accommodations.

As a result, plans moved forward for Sancheong, Hamyang, Geochang, and Hapcheon to jointly host the event, sharing responsibility for sports facilities and event operations. National Assembly member Shin Seong-beom, along with the administrations and sports councils of the four counties, also supported the joint bid.

During this process, the Geochang County Sports Council took part in working-level consultations among the four county sports councils and communications with the Gyeongsangnam-do Sports Council. Gimhae also submitted a bid during the host selection process, but Sancheong, Hamyang, Geochang, and Hapcheon were ultimately selected as joint hosts.

Following confirmation of the joint bid, President Yoo plans to focus on preparations for competition operations, facilities, and support for participating teams, drawing on the cooperative framework between the administrations and sports councils of the four counties to ensure the event is a success.

Expanding sports facilities is essential to hosting a multisport event on the scale of the National Sports Festival. To host a large-scale multisport event such as the National Sports Festival in the future, Geochang will first need to expand its venue infrastructure and secure official certification for its facilities.

This is because multisport events involve numerous competitions taking place at the same time, making it necessary to have a main stadium that meets official standards as well as specialized venues for individual sports.

Geochang has hosted kendo at the National Sports Festival and various national competitions, with its multipurpose gymnasium as a central venue. However, hosting a multisport event on its own will require official certification of key facilities, including an athletics track and a sports complex, as well as the expansion of venues for individual sports.

President Yoo also believes that Geochang County and the sports council need to work together on the long-term modernization of sports facilities and the certification process to attract national multisport events in the future.

Expanding national soccer tournaments next year... Plans for park golf, tennis, and foot volleyball. President Yoo's next goal is to continue expanding the range of national-scale competitions in individual sports.

The Geochang County Sports Council plans to pursue hosting national soccer tournaments next year in three divisions: youth, high school, and university. It is considering age-specific national tournaments, including the Muhakgi National High School Soccer Tournament and university soccer federation competitions.

The council will also continue to host the Bongnimgi National Business Kendo Tournament and pursue national park golf tournaments, building on the official certification of the Second Changpowon Park Golf Course. It is also considering attracting additional competitions in sports with broad recreational participation, such as tennis and foot volleyball.

[Photo provided by Geochang County] Official emblem of the 66th Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Sports Festival. The event will be jointly hosted by four counties—Sancheong, Hamyang, Geochang, and Hapcheon—from May 14 to 17, 2027.

President Yoo also serves as a member of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee's Regional Sports Committee. Representing Gyeongsangnam-do on the committee, which includes participants from all 17 cities and provinces nationwide, he offers input on promoting local sports, reducing regional disparities in sports, and developing plans and key initiatives for local sports.

The committee also gathers requests for institutional improvements and concerns raised by local sports organizations and conveys them to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee for policy discussions.

The success of the national competition strategy led by Yoo Inhwan at the Geochang County Sports Council will likely depend not only on increasing the number of events but also on how many participating teams it can keep in the region for extended periods and how effectively it can translate their stays into local spending.

With the joint hosting of the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Sports Festival in 2027 approaching, Geochang still needs to address several challenges to strengthen its position as a "sports city," including expanding competition facilities, improving its event-management capabilities, and enhancing accommodations, transportation, and other provisions for participating teams.

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