Crisis in South Korean Football: The Fallout from the World Cup
An autumn of discontent in South Korean football has turned into something far more serious.
What began as frustration at a poor World Cup has spiralled into a full-blown crisis around the national team and its governing body, the Korea Football Association (KFA). Coach Hong Myung-bo has gone. KFA president Chung Mong-gyu has gone. Both men have faced questioning from parliamentarians, and police have raided KFA offices. This is no routine post-tournament inquest; it is a reckoning.
At the centre of it all stands Son Heung-min. Or at least, he used to stand there unchallenged.
For years, Son has been the undisputed face of South Korean football, the superstar around whom everything else revolved. His status seemed untouchable, his name the first on any team sheet. Now even that is under debate. In a divided squad and a fractured public mood, the conversation has shifted from how best to build around him to a starker question: should he start at all?
That notion, not long ago, bordered on the absurd. Son was the ex-Spurs icon, the relentless runner, the leader, the finisher, the man who carried a nation’s expectations with apparent ease. Yet the fallout from the World Cup has stripped away the old certainties. Poor performances on the biggest stage have collided with internal tensions and political scrutiny, leaving no one beyond criticism.
The pressure has not just toppled the leadership structure. It has forced South Korea to confront what kind of team it wants to be and who should lead it onto the pitch. A squad already riven by divisions now sees its main figure under the harshest glare of all.
As John Duerden explores, this is not simply a tactical debate about where Son fits, or whether his legs can still press as ferociously as before. It is about symbolism, hierarchy and the direction of a national side that has lost its way. When even the safest seat in the dressing room no longer feels safe, it tells you everything about the scale of the storm South Korean football is trying to ride out.
