'Hidden power' inside KFA must go: Lee Chun-soo calls for removal of 5 key officials

Former national team footballer Lee Chun-soo said five long-serving officials who have controlled the Korea Football Association for more than two decades must step down for the organization to truly reform.

Speaking Friday on his YouTube channel "Richunsu," Lee said certain figures have been running the KFA behind the scenes for years. "I have five people in mind," he said. "The association will only change when those five are gone."

He argued that replacing the chairman or the head coach alone would not bring meaningful change.

"Even if the chairman leaves and the coach leaves, it means nothing if the people who handled the day-to-day work stay on," Lee said. "Parliamentary hearings should not just summon executives — they need to call in the people who have actually been running the administration."

He added that entrenched staff tend to block reform even when football figures join the organization as executives. "If employees who have managed the administration for a long time say 'this is how we've always done it,' nothing ends up changing," he said. "The people who have kept this organization going for 25 to 30 years are the ones who hold the real power."

Lee also pointed to the limits of the recently launched K-Football Innovation Committee. "What the committee can do is limited," he said. "To truly innovate, you have to push out the people who knew about the problems all along and did nothing."

On the controversy surrounding the appointment of head coach Hong Myung-bo, Lee said the technical director could not have made that decision alone. "It is very likely that the people handling the administration pointed the way," he said. "We need to identify those individuals and hold them accountable."

Lee particularly praised the Korea Professional Football League, noting that the league's atmosphere had shifted and the K League had regained energy as younger staff joined. "The association also needs to overhaul its organization so that capable young talent can actually work there," he said.