*This content was translated by AI.
The Korea Professional Football Federation will hold its first board meeting this year on the 16th. This is the place to vote on the first agendas of this year, including last year's business settlement of the Federation and this year's budget approval. The appointment of the chairman of each subcommittee, whose one-year term ended last year, will also be dealt with on the same day. The same is true for Cho Nam-don, chairman of the reward and punishment committee, who has not changed in 12 years, to be re-elected.
According to the federation, Cho Nam-don, chairman of the reward and punishment committee, served as chairman of the federation's reward and punishment committee for as many as 12 seasons from 2014 to last year. It is the head of the reward and punishment committee that decides disciplinary measures against players or clubs who are referred to the reward and punishment committee in accordance with the federation's reward and punishment regulations. Each subcommittee chairperson has a one-year term, but there is no two-term limit. Lee Kyung-tae, chairman of the medical committee, has served as the head of each subcommittee since 2013, and Cho Nam-don has been serving as the head of each subcommittee since 2014. Other subcommittees, such as the Technical Committee, the Club Qualification Review Committee, and the Finance Committee, are subcommittees that have changed heads or have been established relatively recently.
The problem is that the federation's reward and punishment committee, which has not changed its head for 12 years, has repeatedly been at the center of controversy. There were many cases of criticism for disciplinary decisions that did not receive sympathy from the soccer community, such as excessive or soft punishment. Chairman Cho Nam-don's remarks to the club or players in public were also on the cutting board.
Right now, just last season, the federation's reward and punishment committee was strongly criticized for its racist disciplinary action against then-Jeonbuk Hyundai coach Thanos. At the time, coach Thanos, who was referred to the reward and punishment committee for allegations of racist gestures against referee Kim Woo-sung, insisted that he had no intention of racism, but the federation's reward and punishment committee judged Thanos's actions to be racist and imposed five games of suspension and 20 million won in fines.
Regarding coach Thanos's actions as racist remarks, the federation's reward and punishment committee put the principle that "the evaluation of certain actions should be based on the meaning of actions expressed outside rather than the actor's own intentions." Coach Thanos, who was branded a "racist" due to the federation's disciplinary action, eventually announced his resignation to the club, which led to the resignation of coach Gus Foyet and others. The situation has been reported to the world through foreign media.
For Gwangju FC clubs, which were first referred to the reward and punishment committee for violating fiscal consolidation regulations, they were also infuriated by other clubs for "slick disciplinary action," including 10 million won in sanctions and three-year ban on recruiting players in one year. Gimpo FC's Park Dong-jin, who directly abused his foreign coach with his fingers, was fined 2.5 million won without suspension, and Bucheon FC was also punished for shouting slogans with supporters slandering the opponent. The punishment committee's punishment, which has been controversial over the past decade, including the punishment of 100 million won in sanctions during FC Seoul's so-called "real idol incident," was the decision of the committee under Chairman Cho Nam-don.
The steady voice of the change in the reward and punishment committee in the soccer community is in line with the "distrust" of the reward and punishment committee under Chairman Cho Nam-don. Considering that the most important elements of the reward and punishment committee are fairness and reliability, distrust of the reward and punishment committee is not a good thing for the K League. It is a matter to consider in conjunction with the chairman, who has not changed for more than a decade. According to the federation's reward and punishment regulations, the chairman of the reward and punishment committee can be commissioned by the president with the consent of the board of directors if he has more than 10 years of experience in legal affairs with a lawyer's qualification. If the reward and punishment committee under Chairman Cho Nam-don is set up again this year, it will be the 13th season.
<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>
*This content was translated by AI.
