Civic groups have filed criminal complaints against the heads of K League civic and provincial football clubs who visited the Mexican resort city of Cancun using taxpayers' money during the 2026 North and Central America World Cup.

The Civil Society Institute for Livelihood Economy and Lawyers Checking Prosecutors held a press conference titled "Filing Professional Misconduct Complaints Against 9 Local Government Football Club Heads Over Cancun Resort Stay and Business Class Flights" at the National Assembly Communication Hall this morning (August 4), hosted by Rep. Kim Jae-won of the Rebuilding Korea Party.

Subsequently, they filed complaints with the Korean National Police Agency against the heads of each respective club on charges including occupational breach of trust, occupational embezzlement, and violation of the Act on the Management of Subsidies by Local Governments.

According to the civic groups, the Korea Professional Football League sent 25 people—including heads of 21 clubs and league executives—to Mexico where the World Cup was held from June 18 to 26 under the pretext of the "2026 K League Academy - CEO Course."

The total cost amounted to 710.07 million won, which was split evenly between the professional league and each club.

Although the finalized program was supposed to be limited to attending three group-stage matches of the South Korean national team, it actually included a two-night sightseeing itinerary in the world-renowned resort destination of Cancun.

This itinerary was not stated in the official notice distributed to the clubs.

During their stay in Cancun, the participants attended seminars in the mornings and spent their afternoons on leisure activities such as touring historical ruins.

Despite the inclusion of leisure-oriented schedules, the heads of the civic and provincial clubs took the business class instead of economy class for the trip.

Out of the 21 participating clubs, 11 were civic and provincial clubs operated with citizens' taxes. Among them, the heads of 9 clubs executed business class expenses amounting to 15.924 million won per person from their respective club budgets, even though the professional league had notified them via an official document that "opting for economy class would save approximately 6 million won."

The price difference between economy class (9.995 million won) and business class is 5.929 million won per person.

The total for the 9 individuals amounts to roughly 53 million won.

The head of Yongin FC used economy class despite holding the same general manager rank as the accused club heads, and the secretary-general who attended as the representative for FC Anyang chose economy class on the grounds that "the travel expense regulations do not permit the use of business class for their position."

The civic groups argued that executing the budget in compliance with regulations was entirely feasible.

The Civil Society Institute for Livelihood Economy and Lawyers Checking Prosecutors concluded that the business class expenditures and leisure trip by the heads of the 9 civic and provincial clubs constituted an act of breaching their professional duties to faithfully manage the funds of corporations operated with citizens' taxes, thereby securing financial gains and inflicting losses on each corporation.

In the complaint, the two organizations requested investigations into ▲ securing travel expense regulations and approval drafts for the 9 clubs, ▲ identifying the sources of travel expenses (contributions and subsidies), ▲ investigating the circumstances of the Cancun itinerary through the league and the event-managing travel agency, and ▲ retrieving improperly executed expenditures.

Aside from the criminal complaints, they are also reviewing measures to file a request for resident audit against the relevant local governments.

Rep. Kim Jae-won, who first raised this issue on July 30 during a hearing of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly regarding the Korea Football Association, criticized, "While claiming there is a lack of budget to spend on players and youth prospects, they spared no citizens' tax money for club heads' business class seats and stays in Cancun."

(Photo: Yonhap News)