Civic Groups File Complaints Against 9 K League Municipal Club CEOs

Chief executives of professional K League municipal and provincial soccer clubs who took overseas business trips at taxpayer expense — trips that included junket-style itineraries such as a stay in the world-renowned Mexican resort of Cancun during the 2026 North and Central American World Cup — have been collectively reported to authorities by civic groups.

The Institute for Livelihood Economy and a lawyers' group that scrutinizes prosecutors held a press conference at the National Assembly's communication hall on the morning of the 4th, hosted by Rep. Kim Jae-won of the Rebuilding Korea Party. They announced that they had filed complaints with the National Police Agency against nine executives of local government soccer clubs on charges including breach of trust and embezzlement in the course of duties and violation of the Act on the Management of Local Government Subsidies.

According to the civic groups, the Korea Professional Football League dispatched 25 people, including the CEOs of 21 clubs and league executives, to the site of the North and Central American World Cup in Mexico from June 18 to 26 this year, under the name of the "2026 K League Academy-CEO Course." The total cost was approximately 717 million won, split evenly between the league and each club.

The official document initially distributed to the clubs called only for attendance at the three group-stage matches of the South Korean national team. But the actual on-site schedule included itineraries not in the document, such as a two-night stay in Cancun and tours of historic sites. Participants reportedly held seminars in the morning in Cancun and enjoyed free sightseeing in the afternoon.

Despite the inclusion of such junket-style itineraries, the municipal and provincial club CEOs insisted on expensive business-class seats instead of economy class. Of the 21 participating clubs, 11 were municipal or provincial clubs operated with citizens' taxes, and executives of nine of these spent business-class costs of 15.92 million won per person from club budgets, even though the league had notified them that "choosing economy class would save about 6 million won."

The difference from economy class alone came to 5.92 million won per person, meaning more than 53 million won in taxpayer money was additionally spent by the nine combined. In contrast, some club executives and secretaries-general reportedly voluntarily used economy class in consideration of travel expense rules and club finances, drawing the point that normal, rule-compliant execution had been entirely possible.

The civic groups judged that the nine clubs' business-class spending and the resort junket constituted a violation of the official duty to faithfully manage public institution funds. Through the complaint, they strongly requested a thorough investigation, including securing the nine clubs' travel expense rules and approval drafts, identifying the source of the trip funds (contributions and subsidies), clarifying the circumstances of the Cancun itinerary through investigation of the league and the event's contracted travel agency, and measures to recover improperly spent amounts.

Rep. Kim Jae-won, who first raised the issue at a hearing of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, said, "While claiming that budgets needed for strengthening squads and developing youth were insufficient, they spared no citizens' taxes on the club CEOs' luxurious business-class seats and resort stays." He added, "This goes beyond simple moral hazard and is a grave matter of privately wasting public property."