The size of the electoral college for the election of the next president of the Korea Football Association (KFA) is projected to expand significantly to approximately 20,000 people.

The K-Football Innovation Committee held a non-face-to-face video conference to formulate and announce recommendations regarding the composition of the KFA presidential electoral college.

Holding its 5th meeting since its launch, the Innovation Committee stated through briefing materials that the recommendations aim to "enhance field participation and transparency, basically adopting the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee presidential electoral college revision plan while reflecting the characteristics of football such as professional, corporate, and promotion-relegation leagues."

The recommendations consist of three main pillars: enhancing fairness by holding an election in which all individuals meeting specified criteria participate; enhancing democracy by expanding participation from the field, including players, coaches, and referees; and securing feasibility by promoting the use of an electronic voting system and guaranteeing a secret ballot.

The electoral college encompasses professional players (K League 1 to K4, women's WK League, university U League), amateur players (representatives from K5 to K7 leagues, National Sports Festival, President's Cup, and KFA President's Cup players), registered coaches, registered referees, regular member organization officials, and K2 executives and delegates.

Based on the year 2025, the Innovation Committee estimated that the total electoral college would be around 20,000 people, consisting of approximately 4,000 to 6,000 professional players, amateur players, and coaches respectively, about 3,000 registered referees, and roughly 1,000 others.

However, this figure requires precise calculation work taking into account overlaps and other factors.

The electoral college for the 55th KFA presidential election held in February 2025 was 192 people.

The KFA plans to undergo internal discussions regarding these recommendations and proceed with subsequent procedures for revising relevant regulations and implementation.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee decided to finalize the revision of the "Member Sport Organization Regulations"—which serve as the basis for the recommendations—by this month, and plans to provide administrative and financial support alongside the Korea Professional Football League and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Meanwhile, the Innovation Committee will focus its next meeting on discussing ways and budgets to materialize governance innovation and the systematic nurturing of youth players.

It also decided to promptly arrange a forum to directly explain the matters discussed so far and future topics while listening to opinions.

(Photo provided by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Yonhap News)