Exclusive: Are They Really Professionals? 64% of Revenue for Regional Citizen-Funded Clubs Comes From Taxes

[Anchor]

Structural problems behind the decline of South Korean football following the North and Central American World Cup are being laid bare. One of the root causes is the fragile ecosystem of professional football, which should serve as the foundation. Following an exhaustive survey of professional football clubs by SBS, it was revealed that the vast majority operate in name only as "professionals" and are virtually incapable of functioning without massive tax support.

First, here is an exclusive report by reporter Lee Jeong-Chan.

[Reporter]

The current K League features a total of 29 teams across the first and second divisions. Among them, 17 teams are so-called "citizen-funded clubs" supported by local governments.

While criticism has persistently been raised that these citizen-funded clubs rely on government "subsidies" funded by taxes rather than their own revenue, an exhaustive SBS investigation showed the situation is far more severe than expected.

An analysis of financial data from 14 clubs—excluding three teams that newly joined this year—showed that last year, these 14 teams received a total of 140.1 billion won in subsidies from local governments, accounting for 64 percent of their total revenue.

Among them, only three clubs—Gangwon, Daegu, and 인천 (Incheon), which have longer histories and operate in the form of joint-stock companies—generated more revenue on their own than they received in subsidies.

Excluding these three, the dependency on subsidies for the remaining 11 teams reached 73.4 percent. Furthermore, even if the independent revenues of all 11 teams are combined, it falls short of the independent revenue generated by just the three clubs of Gangwon, Daegu, and Incheon.

What is even more concerning is that this level of subsidies is still not enough for the survival of citizen-funded clubs.

Paju faced the crisis of unpaid wages in its very first year since turning professional, while Gimhae found itself at a crossroads of survival after securing only two wins in its debut season.

[Jeong Young-doo / Mayor of Gimhae: If we judge that there is neither financial sustainability nor public utility, as the club owner, I have no choice but to make a decision.]

Gimpo, where an accounting staff member was arrested over allegations of embezzling around 8 billion won, is managing to survive by plugging its financial holes with supplementary budgets.

Comparison with major European leagues—which operate professionally based on sponsorship revenue, ticket and merchandise sales, and broadcasting rights fees—is virtually meaningless. This also stands in stark contrast to South Korea's professional baseball, which has enhanced its "self-sustainability" by reducing the proportion of parent company support from 41 percent in 2018 to 25 percent last year.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video Reported by Yoo Dong-hyuk, Hwang In-seok | Video Edited by Lee Jae-sung | Design by Im Chan-hyuk)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.