World Cup 2026 exit leaves South Korean football in crisis

"I am genuinely very sorry," Hong Myung-bo said on Sunday as he resigned as head coach of South Korea, just hours after the team's elimination from the 2026 World Cup was confirmed.

The head of the legendary former player, who captained the 2002 team to the semi-finals, was not the first to roll and won't be the last, with the country up in arms as former Manchester United star Park Ji-sung said: "It is miserable that we've come to this moment where we have to look back and ask why we ended up here."

The anger has led to reported death threats on the coach, as well as the locations of player and staff arrivals back to South Korea being kept a secret.

But the reaction is not just down to a dismal fortnight in Mexico. This has been brewing for a while.

Failure in Group A brought fan anger to boiling point.

It started with a promising 2-1 win over the Czech Republic but then a team containing Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in of Paris St-Germain and Bayern Munich's Kim Min-jae lost 1-0 to Mexico. It left the Taeguk Warriors needing a point against South Africa to secure second.

Hong, who also led the team to a group-stage exit at the 2014 World Cup, left captain and talisman Son on the bench and the team slumped to defeat, with former Tottenham Hotspur defender Lee Young-pyo describing it on television as "the worst match by a Korean football team in the 21st century".

After the game, a reporter asked Hong if there had been an outbreak of food poisoning in the camp or something similar, as there could be no explanation for such a performance. To make matters worse, South Korea had to wait more than three days in their training camp to discover whether they would squeeze through into the last 32 as one of the best third-placed finishers or go home.

The camp had not been an especially happy place as earlier in June, media personnel were overheard on camera mocking Son's military record. The former Tottenham star won exemption from the country's 21-month mandatory military service by being part of the team that took gold at the 2018 Asian Games. In return, the players boycotted domestic media duties for a number of days.

Son turns 34 in July and it would not be a surprise if he soon calls time on his international career. There will be no public return to South Korea as the welcome ceremony planned at Incheon International Airport was cancelled. The captain and the players have, however, escaped most of the public ire with the focus on how the sport is governed in the country.

The focus on governance was highlighted by an extraordinary statement posted on social media on Sunday by President Lee Jae-myung. The country's leader said he felt "not just confusion but utter bewilderment at the unexpected outcome", adding that the early exit "appears to be a failure of organisation and personnel".

The statement continued: "When favouritism and cronyism take precedence over competence in selecting a commander, the result is as predictable as fire burning paper."

Chung Mong-gyu, president of the Korea Football Association (KFA) since 2013, was criticised for going outside usual hiring procedures to give Hong the job in July 2024 (just as he had in appointing Jurgen Klinsmann just over a year earlier), with questions asked about the fairness and transparency of the process.

Fans reacted badly and Hong was booed in his first game in charge against Palestine in Seoul in September 2024. The negative feeling never disappeared. It wasn't just the supporters, with the Ministry of Sports conducting an investigation into the KFA and, in November 2024, recommended the suspension of Chung and other officials. The KFA obtained a court injunction to allow the president to run, and win, a fourth turn in February 2025.

Chung, a member of the family that owns Hyundai - the conglomerate which has deep and long-lasting ties with the KFA - announced in May that he was stepping down after the World Cup. "I am well aware that there have been various controversies and criticisms during my tenure operating the football association," he said. "I believe all of this is due to my own shortcomings."

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