"Controversies keep repeating themselves because there is no one in charge."
That was the complaint of a football official I met recently, sighing repeatedly while speaking. The official was describing how the noise surrounding South Korea's national football team keeps expanding and reproducing itself. The official added that attention should focus on the problems of the system rather than on the players.
The national team has been badly shaken by a wave of talk about players retiring from international duty, which surfaced after four friendly matches in September and October. The episode even spawned conspiracy theories about severe factional infighting within the squad. Some fans singled out a particular player as the chief culprit and bombarded him and his club with abusive online comments.
What appeared on the surface was a controversy over a handful of players. But the prevailing view within Korean football is that the root cause is a crippling leadership vacuum running through the Korea Football Association and the national team system as a whole.
The association's response in the immediate aftermath reflects that absence of leadership. As criticism rained down on the players, the governing body did little beyond posting a statement asking the public to stop the attacks. In the meantime, the players had to endure messages of abuse and ridicule that went well beyond acceptable limits.
The damage is deepening, yet restoring the leadership needed to address the underlying problems appears a distant prospect. More than 100 days have passed since former association president Chung Mong-gyu stepped down to take responsibility for the debacle at the 2026 World Cup in North America, but a new executive board has yet to be formed. An attempt to overhaul the presidential election system, based on recommendations from the government-led K-Football Innovation Committee, was halted as an investigation by FIFA, the sport's global governing body, gathered pace.
With the formation of a new executive board stalled, the process of hiring a new head coach to lead the team at the Asian Football Confederation's Asian Cup in January 2027 has not even begun.
The absence of leadership means not merely a temporary standstill but a step backward. Rebuilding Korean football, which has sunk to its lowest point since the World Cup, will become possible only when proper leadership is in place at both the association and the national team. The country cannot simply wait for FIFA's investigation to end. A swift restoration of leadership demands action from the association, the wider football community and the government.