Korea Football Association (KFA) President Chung Mong-gyu expressed his hope as a football fan that the national team under head coach Hong Myung-bo will advance to at least the round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.
"I think the Korean squad could play 'at least five matches' at the World Cup. It would obviously be better if they play a few more," Chung said at a press conference held at the Pony Chung Foundation Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Friday. "The balance of players' skills has improved compared to four years ago. It's not impossible."
The 2026 World Cup, now three months away, has expanded from 32 to 48 participating nations.
While teams will still play three group-stage matches as in previous tournaments, advancement to the round of 16 has become more difficult as the knockout stage now begins with 32 teams instead of 16.
The "minimum five matches" Chung mentioned refers to the number of games the team would play if they reach at least the round of 16.
Chung also addressed the poor ticket sales for two national team friendlies in November 2025. He attributed the decline to multiple factors, including controversy over the fairness of the head coach selection process, Son Heung-min's departure from the English Premier League, and reduced media interest in Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain and Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich, who are no longer undisputed starters at their clubs.
"I believe the overall responsibility for drawing more attention to football ultimately lies with the KFA," Chung said. "If we work on things step by step, I expect we will regain significant attention with the World Cup."
The press conference was held to mark the first anniversary of Chung's fourth consecutive term as KFA president.
Before the Q&A session, Chung outlined key initiatives for his remaining three years through Executive Director Kim Seung-hee.
A significant portion focused on plans for utilizing the Korea Football Park (KFP), a massive facility recently completed in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.
The KFA aims to use the KFP to expand its player development system, which has previously focused primarily on nurturing top national team-level players through age-group training camps.
The KFA unveiled its Korean football game model called "MIK" (Made In Korea) in 2024. The association plans to share this model across all teams from age-group squads to the senior national team to establish a unified development system.
"We will take responsibility for providing all necessary technical support and execution on the ground so that the MIK promise can be proven through actual performance differences," Kim said.
Chung also announced key business goals, including repaying 39 billion won—half of the 78 billion won borrowed for the KFP construction—within his remaining three-year term, raising the player registration fee frozen for 22 years from the current 10,000 won, and launching a women's Korea Cup.