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Park Ji-sung, co-chairman of the K-Football Innovation Committee, gives a briefing after completing the 4th meeting of the committee at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on July 27. / Yonhap News

The K-Football Innovation Committee has decided to expand the voter pool for the next president of the Korea Football Association from under 300 to over 10,000.

Park Ji-sung, co-chairman of the K-Football Innovation Committee, announced this at a briefing after presiding over the 4th meeting at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art on July 27, which was attended by all members including Ryu Seung-min, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. Under the current Korean Sport & Olympic Committee regulations for member organizations, the voter pool is restricted to under 300 people under an indirect election system, but the committee decided to expand it significantly.

"We decided to wrap up the amendment procedures for the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee member organization regulations, which serve as the legal basis for the reform plan, by August," Park said. The committee expects that increasing the voter pool will allow the voices from the field—ranging from professional, semi-professional, and university levels to members of the lower promotion-and-relegation leagues—to be reflected, thereby enhancing the representation and fairness of the election. This move is expected to partially bridge the gap between public opinion polls and actual voting results, which stemmed from the previous elections having an extremely limited voter pool composed of officials from regional football associations and national federations, along with a select few coaches, players, and referees.

Regarding this, Park explained, "Based on the voter pool reform plan of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, we are discussing ways to adjust it to fit the realities of the KFA by adding members from professional, semi-professional, university, and promotion-and-relegation leagues." He added, "Since it will expand drastically from the previous scale, the proportion of on-field figures such as players and coaches will naturally increase significantly." He also noted that electronic voting is being considered as an election method.

Following the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee's recent rule amendment that extended the deadline for electing a successor in the event of a presidential vacancy from 60 days up to 240 days, the Innovation Committee's decision to expand the voter pool has heightened the likelihood that the next KFA presidential election will resemble a direct election system. Previously, elections had to be held within 60 days of a vacancy, sparking criticism that changing the election method was virtually impossible. The KFA, currently under acting president Lee Yong-soo, previously stated that it has begun procedures to establish a new presidential election system reflecting the reform demands of the Innovation Committee and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee.

                                                                                                          Lee Jang-won