▲ Korea Football Association Board of Directors
The South Korean national football team will play all six of its international friendly matches scheduled for this year prior to the Asian Cup under an interim management system.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) held its first board meeting (the 6th) under the acting leadership of Lee Yong-soo at the Football Centre today (July 24) and finalized the procedures for appointing an interim manager.
The contract period for the interim manager will run through the international match window in November.
As a result, the national team will navigate six friendly matches under interim leadership, including four games in September and October, and two games in November.
There are growing concerns that preparations for the Asian Cup, which is set to open in Saudi Arabia on January 7 next year, may face setbacks.
A permanent manager appointed before the Asian Cup will have to head into the tournament without properly testing players in actual matches during the international windows.
The board decided to select the interim manager through an open recruitment process, as stipulated in the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee's regulations on the selection and operation of national representatives.
The open recruitment will be conducted in a bundled format encompassing both the manager and coaching staff, with detailed schedules and conditions for the recruitment process to be announced at a later date.
The board also discussed the operational direction for the upcoming presidential election.
Previously, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee revised its articles of association and election management regulations to extend the deadline for by-elections in the event of a vacancy in the head of a member sports organization and to significantly expand the electoral college.
Accordingly, the board approved the formation of an election management committee consisting of external figures from academia, the legal profession, and the media.
The KFA stated, "The election management committee will begin full-scale activities once the election date is finalized following the completion of the procedures to amend the association's articles of association and presidential election management regulations. We plan to establish an expanded electoral college and election system by closely reviewing the FIFA statutes, the Sport & Olympic Committee's articles of association and member organization regulations, and discussions with the 'K-Football Innovation Committee'."
In addition, the board approved a proposal to raise allowances for national team players across various age groups.
As a result, the call-up allowance has been increased from 100,000 won to 200,000 won per day.
(Photo provided by the Korea Football Association, Yonhap News)
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