The Korea Football Association secretly used corporate cards to pay for sexual entertainment for visiting referees and match supervisors during seven South Korea international fixtures in 2011 and 2012, a government audit has revealed. The practice, involving around 10 foreign officials and bills of more than 1 million won (£500) per visit, was detailed in a 2016 Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism report obtained by JTBC but kept from the public for a decade, emerging only now as police investigate the KFA in a separate hiring probe.
The disclosures focus on how the KFA treated visiting officials during key World Cup and Olympic qualifiers, raising questions over why the findings were not released sooner and whether match integrity may have been put at risk. JTBC reported that the alleged inducements were non‑monetary, unlike previous cash‑for‑favour cases in the K‑League, which complicates attempts to link the spending to specific on‑pitch decisions.
