Category: Sports Related

Some people are beginning to connect the dots in regards to referee massage parlor scandal:

Some foreign media outlets, especially those in Japan, which co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with Korea, have been reporting on the latest allegations, which were made public last week and were revealed through a 2016 Korean government audit. The audit showed the KFA’s corporate credit cards were allegedly used to pay for sex services for visiting foreign referees at massage parlors and sexual entertainment facilities in Seoul and other cities that hosted international matches between March 2011 and March 2012.

These reports revived allegations that Korean officials bribed referees during the 2002 World Cup. 

“During the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, dubious referee calls in the knockout matches against Italy and Spain sparked referee bribery allegations from Western media outlets, including The Guardian and The New York Times,” Zak II, an online outlet by Sankei Shimbun, reported on Friday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This makes me wonder if there are other instances of this going on and this is just the one time it was caught:

The national football association apologized Saturday over allegations that it provided sexual entertainment to foreign referees before and after international matches held in the country between 2011 and 2012.

The apology came after a 2016 government audit showed that the Korea Football Association (KFA) used corporate credit cards to pay for sexual entertainment for visiting referees at massage parlors and other adult establishments in Seoul and other cities that hosted international matches between March 2011 and March 2012.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if this style of halftime show will become a continuing trend for future World Cups or just be a one off American thing?:

K-pop supergroup BTS performed in the first-ever halftime show at a FIFA World Cup final on Sunday (U.S. time), sharing the stage with other global pop stars, including Madonna, Shakira and Justin Bieber.

The group appeared as the second performer during the halftime of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, marking a milestone moment that blended sport and music on one of the world’s biggest stages.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This company in Chuncheon is getting a lot of free advertising due to the performance of Erling Haaland during the World Cup:

The hair tie worn by Norway’s star striker Erling Haaland at this year’s FIFA World Cup is attracting growing attention after it was revealed to have been made by a South Korean firm, company officials said Wednesday, adding the custom-made hair piece has already sold out.

The Kknekki hair tie, produced by Dooji Co., a company located in the Namsan Industrial Complex in Chuncheon, some 75 kilometers northeast of Seoul, caught the attention of football fans after Haaland wore it in every World Cup match, the officials said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

People really need to chill with the hate for Hong Myung-bo because it is getting pretty ridiculous:

Koreans in Los Angeles had hoped to watch Korea play there during the World Cup knockout stage. Instead, they are reacting to the arrival of former coach Hong Myung-bo, whose handling of the national team’s World Cup campaign has made him one of the country’s most criticized sports figures. 

Hong arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday, just days after stepping down following Korea’s disappointing World Cup exit. His departure came as lawmakers prepared to question football officials over the Korea Football Association’s (KFA) handling of the national team amid growing calls for accountability over its performance.

The frustration was evident not only in online posts but also on storefronts across Los Angeles’ Korean community.

Photos shared on Threads and Instagram showed restaurants, cafes and grocery stores posting signs barring Hong from entering. One proposal gained traction on the Korean American online forum MissyUSA, where a user suggested local business owners join in.

“In Korea, he probably thinks he can walk away and people will eventually forget,” the user wrote. “There are plenty of Korean-owned businesses here. Let’s all put up ‘Hong Myung-bo, Get Out’ signs.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but fortunately for Hong there are many other establishments he can go to in LA that don’t care who he is. This is all performative theater for social media clicks.

You have to be one committed soccer fan with nothing better to do to have the time to travel to Incheon Airport early in the morning just to go boo the national soccer team:

Former head coach Hong Myung-bo and a few of his players for the South Korean men’s national football team were met with boos from angry people as they returned home Tuesday from a short stay at the FIFA World Cup.

Hong and nine of his 26 players landed at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, in the wee hours of Tuesday, a little over 24 hours after Hong announced his resignation from the post to take responsibility for South Korea’s exit from the World Cup after the group stage.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

South Korea has to consider this World Cup a total failure. If their goalie could have not dropped a ball that led to the Mexico winning goal in their second game, they probably would have moved on out of the group stage of the World Cup. Now they will be returning to Korea with a lot of questions about what went wrong at this World Cup:

Korea have been eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, unable to sneak into the knockout stage on the heels of group stage woes.

With the tournament having expanded from 32 to 48 nations, the eight best third-place teams get to play in the knockout stage, along with the top two countries from each of 12 groups.

After finishing third in Group A with three points on a win and two losses, Korea failed to crack the top eight among the dozen third-place teams Saturday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is an absurd situation going on that hopefully does not impact the team’s preparations to play Mexico:

Korea’s national football team has effectively turned its back on parts of the domestic press just days before a World Cup showdown with Mexico, a rare and public rupture that exposes a deeper trust crisis between players and legacy media in a country where fans now fact‑check reporters in real time.

The rupture did not begin with tactics or results. It began with contempt, caught on a hot mic.

On June 7, during a light pretraining jog at the national team’s camp, two male Korean journalists mocked some of the players, including captain Son Heung‑min. The footage, laced with sneers about military service exemptions and leadership, later surfaced on the YouTube channel of the TV network JTBC — the local holder of broadcasting rights for this year’s World Cup — turning their backstage banter into public record.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) reportedly summoned the reporters two days later and issued a reprimand behind closed doors. No clear, immediate apology came from the journalists, and the rift widened even as the team beat the Czech Republic last Friday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.