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David D. Lee

When South Korea’s national football team returned home on Tuesday after their shock group-stage exit from the 2026 World Cup tournament, the fury of fans was not targeted at captain Son Heung-min or other players.
It was aimed at head coach Hong Myung-bo, who announced his resignation during a press conference in Guadalajara, Mexico – the tournament’s co-host – on June 28.
South Korea lost 1-0 to Mexico and South Africa after opening their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic. The results were not enough for them to qualify for the next round as one of the best third-placed teams.
Escorted through Incheon International Airport by security guards around 3am, Hong was greeted by thunderous boos, insults and protest banners declaring that “South Korean football is dead”. An online death threat made against him before the team arrived prompted a police investigation.
On June 29, the national team’s official supporters’ club, the Red Devils, demanded that he “kneel before the entire nation and leave the football world forever”.
Even President Lee Jae Myung has chimed in, saying he felt “utter bewilderment” at the result and ordered the culture ministry to investigate what he described as failures in the team’s organisation and personnel.
The backlash exposes not just widespread public disappointment over another failed World Cup campaign, but also anger among South Koreans regarding whether the people chosen to lead national institutions have earned their place by merit, according to analysts.

Football knowledge or favouritism?
While fans questioned Hong’s cautious tactics – including his decision to leave Son on the bench during the first half of the decisive defeat to South Africa – much of the outrage centred on how he became the team’s coach in the first place.
Hong, who flew to Los Angeles – where his family lives – after resigning, told reporters there were “things I want to say, and one day they’ll come out”, while denying reports of locker room divisions.
His appointment in 2024 was controversial, in part because the Korea Football Association (KFA) brought back a coach still closely associated with South Korea’s winless 2014 World Cup campaign.
Many supporters accused the KFA of favouring one of its own after several foreign candidates had reportedly undergone an extensive vetting process.
President Lee echoed that frustration in a social media post. He wrote: “When favouritism and cronyism take precedence over competence in selecting a commander, the result is as predictable as fire burning paper.”

Online, rumours of a “Korea University cartel” spread rapidly, with memes alleging that alumni wielded outsize influence in the KFA’s leadership. Hong, KFA president Chung Mong-gyu and several senior officials all graduated from the university.
Former national team member Park Joo-ho, who served on the KFA’s National Team Strengthening Committee, revealed in 2024 that some committee members were told a domestic coach “had to be appointed” despite them favouring experienced foreign candidates.
A subsequent culture ministry audit concluded that Hong’s appointment had fallen short of “basic standards of fairness and common sense”.
On Wednesday, police in Seoul announced an investigation into whether criminal offences were committed over the coach selection process in favour of Hong.
A familiar cycle
The public fury has revived memories of Hong’s first spell in charge.
After South Korea’s disastrous 2014 World Cup campaign, fans greeted the returning squad at Incheon airport by throwing toffees, a ritual traditionally associated with funerals to ward off bad luck. The incident became symbolic of one of the Taegeuk Warriors’ most disappointing appearances at football’s most prestigious tournament.
Lee Ki-kwang, a sports science professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, pointed out that Hong was not the only national football coach to have experienced public anger over underperformance.

In 1998, Cha Bum-kun – regarded as one of South Korea’s greatest footballers – was dismissed during that year’s World Cup following a 5-0 defeat by the Netherlands in the group stage, a humiliating fall after having been named Asian Coach of the Year a year earlier.
“I think the tendency to make the head coach bear the blame has become even stronger in the social media era,” Lee Ki-kwang said. “Once criticism starts, it snowballs very quickly.”
He said expectations had grown since South Korea’s run to the World Cup semi-finals on home soil in 2002 and the emergence of football stars such as Son, Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae on the world stage.
Even Paulo Bento, who guided South Korea to the last 16 in Qatar in 2022, departed after the tournament following criticism of his poor relationship with certain players and refusal to bow to public opinion.
South Korean football has become trapped in a cycle of short-term thinking with an emphasis on quick results, according to Lee Ki-kwang.
“Japan works under a century-long goal to win the World Cup by 2092,” he said. “South Korea only thinks about the next World Cup. We don’t even talk about the tournament after that.”
He also points to bigger structural differences in the country’s football scene.
While South Korea’s K-League had struggled to draw fans in recent years, Japan was able to build “a strong domestic professional league and an excellent player development system”, Lee Ki-kwang said.

At this year’s World Cup, the Japanese team progressed to the round of 32 and faced Brazil. The Samurai Blue led and held their own against the five-time World Cup champions for much of their knockout match before losing 2-1.
In contrast to Hong’s hostile reception in Incheon, Japan national football team coach Hajime Moriyasu was cheered by fans when he returned home at Haneda Airport in Tokyo along with a group of Japanese players on Thursday.
Rather than replacing coaches after a disappointing tournament, Lee Ki-kwang said South Korea should confront longer-term problems, including declining youth participation in football, poor player development and a weak domestic league.
“We should be talking about the real issues,” he said.
On Friday, the culture ministry announced the creation of a K-football innovation committee comprising former players and leading sports experts to propose long-term reforms.
A nation obsessed with fairness
For Lee Taek-gwang, a cultural commentator and professor at Kyung Hee University, the reaction to Hong reflects something much larger than football.
“It’s fundamentally a fairness issue,” he said. “People care deeply about whether procedures have been followed properly – sometimes as much as the outcome itself.”
Since the country’s full democratisation in the 1990s, South Koreans have increasingly judged institutions based on whether their decisions are transparent and fair.


That same mindset has fuelled public outrage over military-service exemptions for athletes and preferential treatment for the children of politicians and public figures. The 2019 admissions scandal is a prime example where allegations that the family of former justice minister Cho Kuk manipulated university admissions sparked widespread anger and political turmoil.
“When people believe the rules haven’t been applied equally, there is a well-established culture of speaking out,” Lee Taek-gwang said.
Responding to the criticism, the KFA said on Friday it would adopt an open recruitment process for the next national team coach.
But Lee Ki-kwang questioned whether greater transparency alone would improve South Korean football.
“Selecting coaches or players doesn’t necessarily have to appear completely fair to everyone. The KFA’s job is to make decisions it believes will produce the best results for Korean football; letting public sentiment drive the process isn’t really the right approach,” he said.
“If the process is perfectly transparent and the team still performs badly, would people stop criticising? I don’t think so. They will still think of something to criticise.”


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South Korea’s head coach Hong Myung-bo (centre) and members of the national football team arrive at Incheon International Airport on Tuesday. Photo: The Korea Times

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Hong Myung-bo announces his resignation as head coach of the South Korean men’s national football team at a press conference in Zapopan, Mexico, on Sunday after their exit in the World Cup tournament. Photo: EPA

Players of South Korea react after their 1-0 defeat to South Africa in the World Cup group match in Monterrey, Mexico, on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attends a briefing in the Blue House in Seoul on Monday. In a social media post, Lee called on the sports ministry to investigate the country’s early World Cup exit. Photo: EPA

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From the president to football fans, South Koreans are asking whether unfairness lies behind the national team’s World Cup collapse


From the president to football fans, South Koreans are asking whether unfairness lies behind the national team’s World Cup collapse.


South Korea’s World Cup loss spurs anger over ‘cartel’ of elites, favouritism

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From the president to football fans, South Koreans are asking whether unfairness lies behind the national team’s World Cup collapse

From the president to football fans, South Koreans are asking whether unfairness lies behind the national team’s World Cup collapse