Chung Mong-gyu (63), chairman of HDC Group, was elected as the 55th president of the Korea Football Association. Chung received overwhelming support and succeeded in his fourth consecutive term.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) held the 55th president election on the 26th. In the election that day, Chung Mong-gyu, Shin Moon-sun, a visiting professor at Myongji University, and former national football team coach Huh Jung-moo ran.

As a result of the first round of voting, Chung was confirmed as elected with 156 votes, more than half of the total 183 valid votes. Shin received 11 votes and Huh received 15 votes.

Since being elected as the KFA president in January 2013, Chung has been at the helm of the Korean football world for 12 years. This is his fourth attempt, and Chung will lead the association for four years until 2029.

Meanwhile, the KFA presidential election was originally scheduled to be held on the 8th of last month, but was postponed once when the court accepted the ‘injunction application for election prohibition’ filed by candidate Huh, claiming it was unfair. It was then postponed again when the election management committee resigned en masse, and the reorganized election management committee confirmed the election date as the 26th.

Previously, the KFA and President Chung were put on the chopping block due to issues such as the unfair controversy over the appointment of national team coach Hong Myung-bo and the inappropriate pardon of disciplinary soccer players. In November of last year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the results of a special audit of the Korea Football Association and demanded that President Chung be subject to ‘serious disciplinary action greater than suspension.’

However, the Korea Football Association filed an administrative lawsuit along with an application for an injunction to suspend execution, claiming that the severe disciplinary action of suspension of qualification against President Chung was unfair. When the court accepted this, President Chung maintained his candidacy.

President Chung accepted the criticism directed at him and appealed for support by promising change. He declared his candidacy for the chairman election on the 19th, saying, “I have received a lot of criticism for my poor management over the past few months. I have thought deeply about what to improve during this process, whether it is a systemic problem or a personal problem of the chairman.” He added, “I humbly accept all the criticism. I am grateful for the time to reflect.”