The reporter reported coldly On the afternoon of February 26, the election of the president of the Korean Football Association, which had been delayed for more than a month, finally came to an end. Chung Mong-kyu, who was plagued by scandals last year, won the election by a landslide of more than 85 percent and will begin his fourth term as president of the Korean Football Association. Xu Dingmao and Xin Wenshan, who had high hopes before, won a total of less than 15% of the votes and ended in a fiasco. The "Jung Mong-kyu era" of Korean football began in 2013 and theoretically will last for up to 16 years. The "chaebol monopoly" that has plagued Korean football for many years has no hope of being terminated in the short term.

Last year, the Korean Football Association led by Jung Mong-kyu was full of scandals. In the stadium, the South Korean team missed the Asian Cup championship and broke out infighting, the U23 Asian Cup lost and missed the 10 consecutive Olympic men's football competitions, and the top 40 match was forced to draw by Thailand at home.

Outside the stadium, the Korean Football Association suddenly pardoned 100 football figures suspected of manipulating the game in March last year, triggering a wave of public opinion opposition, and finally had to retract the fate. The completion date of the Cheonan Training Center promoted by Zheng Mengkui has been continuously postponed, which has affected the training of South Korean national teams at all levels.

South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as South Korea's parliament, have both launched an audit investigation into Chung Mong-kyu and the Korean Football Association. The Korea Football Coaches Association also issued a public statement opposing Chung's re-election, and a poll at the end of last year showed that more than 60 percent of respondents opposed his re-election. But in the end, despite Heo Dingmao and Shin Wen-sun challenging Jung Mong-kyu, and even successfully postponing the election date from January to February, all this could not bring down Jung Mong-kyu, the chaebol who controls South Korean football.

Of the 192 people who had the right to vote, 183 voted, and out of 182 valid votes, Jung Mong-kyu received 156 votes, former South Korea coach Heo Jeong-mo received 15 votes, and Myongzhi University professor Shin Wen-sun received only 11 votes. Zheng Mengkui, who was re-elected, even said that he did not expect such a big advantage in the election.

Although Chung won the election, his official appointment still needs to be approved by Yoo Seungmin, the new president of the Korea Sports Association. Last year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea conducted a special investigation into the Korean Football Association and demanded that Chung Mong-kyu be suspended from his job. On January 23, the Korean Football Association filed a lawsuit with the court, asking for a stay of the punishment.

On February 6, a South Korean court accepted the appeal, and the suspension of Zheng Mengkui has been suspended. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to appeal and is confident of winning the case, and if it fails to suspend Chung Mong-kyu, it will also stop providing government subsidies of 30 billion won (about 150 million yuan) per year to the Korean Football Association. South Korean fan groups are planning to protest in front of the headquarters of the Korean Football Association against Chung's re-election and want the Korean Football Association to make more reforms.

In an effort to quell public outrage, Chung promised a series of reforms after his election, starting with the completion of the construction of the Cheonan Football Center and its normal operation. The Cheonan Football Center has received about 94 billion won (about 470 million yuan) in investment this year alone, and he has also donated 5 billion won (about 25 million yuan) out of his own pocket. He also promised that the K-League relegation system will be improved, and there will be a clearer demarcation between the professional K1 and K2 leagues, the semi-professional K3 and K4, and the amateur leagues K5, K6 and K7.

South Korea will also go all out to host the 2031 Asian Cup and the 2035 Women's World Cup, so that Korean fans can enjoy the dividends of hosting the tournament at home. He even agreed to consider reform initiatives by his rivals, Heo Ting-mao and Shin Moon-sun, such as learning from Japanese football and setting up a permanent overseas training base for South Korean national teams at all levels in Europe.

Of course, it remains to be seen how much of these so-called reform promises will ultimately be fulfilled. Chung Mong-kyu's first task after his election was to resolve the sharp contradictions between him and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. For now, at least, the latter is aiming to bring down the chaebol of South Korean football. If this dead knot cannot be untied, the scandal and crisis surrounding Jung Mong-kyu in South Korean football will continue, and even affect the preparation of the South Korean team for the round of 18.