*This content was translated by AI.
Judge Kim Woo-sung, who was suspended for three months for interviewing decisions such as racial damage in violation of the rules of the Korea Football Association, will play the role of referee at the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Asian Cup during the disciplinary period. The Korea Football Association emphasized the controversy over the suspension of the "off-season" allocation, mentioning the referee's livelihood that the disciplinary action is effective as all assignments, including off-season training, are blocked, but the controversy over the effectiveness of the disciplinary action has grown even more as it has not been allocated to the Korea Football Association's referees in the first place.
According to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on the 6th, referee Kim Woo-sung will play the role of VAR in the first Group A match of the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup between Vietnam and Jordan at 8:30 p.m. (Korea time) at King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Not only referee Kim Woo-sung, but also referee Choi Hyun-jae will be the referee, and referees Jang Jong-pil and Chun Jin-hee will be the assistant referee, and Korean referees will play the game on the day.
The tournament will feature one to four referees from Asia, including four South Korean referees, including referee Kim Woo-sung. Whether or not to allocate Korean referees for games other than the Vietnam-Jordan match depends on the group stage and tournament matches. As of this day, AFC disclosed the allocation of referees only until the first game of Group C. If South Korea, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, does not reach the final, the Korean judges may remain until the end of the tournament to oversee the final. The competition will open on this day and run for about three weeks until the 24th.
The problem is that referee Kim Woo-sung has been disciplined by the Korea Football Association for "suspension of allocation." Earlier, the Korea Football Association confirmed a three-month suspension of referee Kim Woo-sung on the 15th of last month, saying it violated its "obligations not to conduct any media interviews related to the pre-game decision without prior approval from the association." Judge Kim Woo-sung played Jeonbuk Hyundai-Daejeon Hana Citizen in November last year At the time of Thanos, Jeonbuk coach claimed that the act of putting both index fingers in both eyes was a racist act. After that, he was disciplined by the association for conducting media interviews throughout the decision as well as the situation without the association's approval.
Of course, the suspension of the allocation of the Korea Football Association is only applied to Korea, so it is irrelevant to play as a referee at international competitions. However, considering that the Korea Football Association previously explained the controversy over the effectiveness of the suspension of the "off-season" allocation of referee Kim Woo-sung and even called it "the referee's livelihood," questions only grow about the practical effectiveness of referee Kim Woo-sung's participation in international competitions during the disciplinary period. The disciplinary action against referee Kim Woo-sung came at the end of the K-League, and criticism of its effectiveness was inevitable, but the Korea Football Association also preemptively added controversy over its effectiveness, saying it was "effective" as if it were conscious of the controversy.
Earlier, the Korea Football Association announced the disciplinary action against referee Kim Woo-sung, saying, "Most people think that professional referees only manage professional games, but in the off-season, they are also assigned to off-season training for professional teams, K3 and K4 leagues, and practice games for college teams." "The referees basically do not have fixed salaries, and they earn a living by receiving allowances for each game, so they earn a living by being assigned to tournaments outside of the K-League in the off-season." "Because all these allocations are blocked, it is not true that disciplinary action is not effective because it is a K-League offseason," he said.
In other words, the Korea Football Association explained that referees receive allowances through game allocation such as practice games even in the off-season, but as all assignments are blocked, disciplinary action is effective even in the off-season. In particular, the repeated emphasis on "judgment livelihood" while emphasizing the effectiveness of disciplinary action was inevitably interpreted as a heavy disciplinary action in which it was difficult to expect income as a judge during the disciplinary period.
However, since referee Kim Woo-sung will play at the AFC U-23 Asian Cup during the disciplinary period of the Korea Football Association, at least this period is not related to the KFA's allocation of off-season referees, including off-season training. Moreover, according to Refering World, which reports the news of the referee, referee Kim Woo-sung is expected to be the final candidate for VAR in the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup by AFC and attend a seminar in Doha, Qatar early next month. Since the K-League is scheduled to open at the end of next month, the period when disciplinary action against referee Kim Woo-sung will be applied will be reduced further, and unlike the Korean Football Association's emphasis, the effect of disciplinary action will also be reduced.
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*This content was translated by AI.
