In between football seasons comes the silly season - a time when clubs are looking for new players and vice-versa. The internet bulges with stories of interest, denials, refusals, offers, medical tests, breakdowns and then, sometimes, a picture of a beaming player wearing a new club shirt. The World Cup comes around every four years to add extra impetus. The global stage acts as a month-long advertisement for players. In Korea’s case it lasted almost three weeks but it was enough to set a few wheels in motion. Potentially the biggest transfer of a South Korean player this summer is that of Park Chu-young. The striker, who turned 25 last week, already plies his trade in Europe and has been with AS Monaco since August 2008. His solid performances in France were noticed in bigger leagues and then his impressive displays in South Africa, have, according to reports, persuaded English Premier League clubs to check their bank balances to find the $10 million or so that would be necessary to buy him. Monaco doesn’t want to sell but that doesn’t always matter in the modern transfer market. The Ligue One team played an exhibition against Incheon United on July 11 after which coach Guy Lacombe was quizzed by local journalists about the future of the former FC Seoul star. The boss said the usual stuff about that ‘Park is a Monaco player’ but admitted that ‘never’ was not a common word in the lexicon of football. The English media took notice of such remarks and so did, according to reports, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Aston Villa and Fulham. It is an impressive list and while such reports should often be served with a pinch of salt, there is a gathering of momentum that suggests that Park will be on his way north before the end of the summer. It will be a move welcomed by a Korean media that likes to see its stars in England, the most popular league in the world. Those journalists would probably choose Liverpool, 18-time English and five-time European champions, as the preferred destination. With Park Ji-sung at Manchester United, another Park at United’s great rival just up the road would add an interesting extra sub-plot ahead of the new season. New Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson, who hardly selected Seol Ki-hyeon in his time at Fulham, has asked the club’s loyal fans that if they have to read transfer reports, not to read too much into them."We are looking to add to and improve the squad, but I prefer not to talk or say what we are doing until we have something concrete to announce,” he told the club’s website. "We are being linked with players left, right and centre and it amuses me that we are sometimes linked with players we haven't even heard of.” The well-travelled Hodgson has certainly heard of Park as it has been claimed in England and Korea that he tried to buy the star for former club Fulham in April 2009 only for the player to choose to stay by the Mediterranean rather than move to the London club with a stadium on the banks of the River Thames. Liverpool, as one of the biggest clubs in Europe, would be a different proposition despite the fact the club is in debt and seeking new owners. Before the World Cup not many had heard of Cho Yong-hyung but the Jeju United defender played in all four games in South Africa and could be about to move direct from the K-League to the Premier League, something just two players, Lee’s Chung-young and Dong-gook, have done before. The agent of the softly-spoken star has been happy to publicly declare interest. "Aston Villa and a few other European clubs have shown interest," said Yoon Ki-yeon. "I can confirm that he is on their transfer list and I expect the official deal will be made after the World Cup." Some moves had been completed already. Cha Du-ri lined up in South Africa along with Ki Sung-yong and now the son of Korean legend Cha Bum-keun will be joining Ki in Glasgow at the home of Celtic. The fun is only just beginning and will only intensify as mid-August and the start of the European season approaches. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

Football never stops. The World Cup has just finished but a full program of K-League returns this weekend after the summer break. Much has happened since May 9 when the 15 teams were last in action not least the fact that the national team reached the second round in South Africa for the first time ever in a World Cup held overseas. There is always a ‘World Cup effect’ to be felt domestically after the quadrennial competition comes to an end. The beautiful game has been unavoidable for the past few weeks and the success of the national team will give a boost to attendances around the country. How much and for how long, well, those are the questions currently being asked by a number of journalists. As always, we will just have to wait and see. Unfortunately for local fans, many of the stars who shone in South Africa are already back in Europe and not too many K-Leaguers who took the pitch in the Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg will be in action in Gwangju, Ulsan and Incheon over the coming weeks. The ones that did return may have their ranks thinned further as the Taeguk Warriors’ good performances on the global stage caught the eye of European clubs. Defender Cho Yong-hyong has already been linked with a move to English Premier League team Aston Villa and with the European transfer season about to reach full throttle in the next few weeks, more rumors, reports, links and even moves are sure to happen. Other World Cup related K-League action is the fact that a number of teams have had their coach linked to the vacant national team position after Huh Jung-moo stepped down on July 2. There have still been a couple of coaching changes already. The biggest story is that of Cha Bum-kun. South Korea’s 1998 World Cup boss left Suwon Bluewings on June 6 after six years in charge of the two time Asian champion. The first part of the season was a terrible one for the club’s many fans who are accustomed to tasting, or at least getting a whiff of it. After eight defeats in eleven games, Suwon is bottom of the standings. His replacement is an interesting one. Suwon is a team accustomed to big name players and coaches but the club appointed Yoon Sung-hyo. The former Suwon player and assistant coach has enjoyed some success coaching Soongsil University but will find life at the Big Bird a little different. In years to come, the club’s appointment will either be seen as a stroke of genius or symbolic of a lack of ambition. His first K-League match comes against fellow strugglers Daegu FC on Sunday. Incheon United is also in the midst of change. Serbian boss Ilja Petkovic quit in June as his wife was reportedly ill and they wanted to return home. Soon after though, reports came through that Serbia’s 2006 World Cup coach seemingly had his geography a little confused as he ended up in Qatar, a land renowned for lucrative coaching contracts, to take over Al Ahli. Assistant manager Kim Bong-kil will take charge of the team until the end of the season. Ulsan Horangi starts the second part of the season in top spot and face third-placed Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the biggest game of the weekend. Ulsan boss Kim Ho-gon has shown tentative interest in the vacant national team coaching job while his Seongnam counterpart Shin Tae-yong has ruled himself out of the running. By the time the two meet, the decision will be made and there could be a part of Kim hoping that he will not be sat on the UIsan bench on Sunday. The Tigers may be in first place but it is tight at the top with just three points separating first and fifth and six between the leaders and Busan in eighth. Jeju United is a surprise second with Seongnam ,Seoul and Gyeongnam all close behind. There is still more than half of the season to go however and much football to be played. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

It turns out that ‘Koreaphobia’ is a condition not easily cured. For South Korea and China, this week is the ‘decider’. The two neighbours have crossed swords twice this year already with the score resting at 1-1. Events over the next 48 hours will determine which nation emerges as the winner. The Koreans have long had the upper hand when it comes to the beautiful game. In 32 meetings between the two national teams, China had never won. Such a woeful record gave rise to the pseudo-psychological condition that described the fear of playing Korea. It was a term coined in the Middle Kingdom but taken up with gusto in the Land of the Morning Calm. That all changed on a February evening in Tokyo when China shocked the Asian Tigers with a 3-0 win. The result wasn’t flattering in the least and it could easily have been more. The victory was the best moment for Chinese football since they reached the 2004 Asian Cup final. It was greeted with a hail of happy headlines on the west side of the Yellow Sea and provoked gloom, doom and much soul-searching over on the east. Only a 2-0 win over Ivory Coast a month later lightened the mood ahead of the World Cup - that and last week’s results. The Asian Champions League reached the halfway stage and as it did so, Korea’s four representatives in the competition met China’s quartet. Each of the eight groups contains four teams with the top two progressing to the second round. It was a clean sweep for Korea as all four K-League teams triumphed against Chinese Super league opposition. Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma started the week coming back from a goal down at home against the Chinese champion. Beijing Guoan took the lead in the first half due to former Scotland international Maurice Ross but the Yellows hit back with three goals in the final twelve minutes to win 3-1 and stay on course for the second round. Two hours later, Suwon Bluewings recorded a vital 2-0 victory in the Chinese province of Henan to cement its place at the top of Group G. A similar result in Wednesday’s return match at Suwon World Cup Stadium will likely see Cha Bum-keun’s team reach the knockout stage. If Korean players think the winter is dragging on at home then Jeonbuk Motors faced freezing conditions in northern China at the home of Changchun Yatai. Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee wondered aloud if the host watered the freezing pitch overnight in order to turn it into an ‘ice rink’. The charge was denied. It didn’t matter in the end as though Changchun took the lead midway through the second half, late goals from ‘The Prince’ Choi Tae-wook and ‘The Lion King' Lee Dong-gook gave the Motors an impressive win in a tough environment. Changchun visit Jeonju on Tuesday. The fantastic fourth win came on a bitterly cold night in Pohang. The Pohang Steelers were not at their best but still squeezed past the challenge of Shandong Luneng to win 1-0. The visitor missed a late penalty to end a bad week for Chinese soccer. Naturally, it was mentioned by more than one media source in Korea though there was a good deal of restraint showed. The Beijing media was a little depressed but there was at least some sense of perspective from leading newspaper Titan. “Our four teams shouldn’t give up,” said Titan. In the ‘Korea vs. China Asian Championship Series’, we lost 4-0 although the national team won 3-0 last month. We know we couldn't catch up with Japanese and Korean football in one night time but there is a long way to run. Our clubs shouldn’t give up their Asian Champions League hopes. That would be a much bigger shame.” “All four Chinese clubs lost their match in ACL in single matchday, it is the first time this has happened.” Said ‘Soccer’. “And they were all defeated by Korean rivals. We may have cured Koreaphobia in international matches for the first time in 32 years but the shameful results returned.” Such sentiments could easily change over the next 48 hours. Tags Soccer News football

It wouldn’t be the K-League without a strong Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. The Yellows have won seven league titles and possess the biggest trophy cabinet in the southern half of the peninsula. It was 2006 however when the golden trophy last resided just south of Seoul. Since then, Pohang, Suwon and, most recently, Jeonbuk have claimed the mantle. The second half of 2008 and the first half of 2009 was a tough time for the club’s fans. Kim Hak-bom had led Seongnam playing attractive and successful football but the gruff tactician’s powers seemed to fade after four years at the helm. At the end of 2008, the former powerhouse looked a little slow and predictable and it was no surprise when Kim was out of the door. The identity of the new man was something of a surprise. Shin Tae-yong may have been called ‘Mr Seongnam’ due to the fact that he spent 12 seasons with the club as a player but when he was appointed as coach, he had little experience to suggest that he could lead the club back to the summit. As his playing career started to come to an end, Shin headed to Australia and the new A-League. The midfielder barely got a chance to show Queensland Roar fans what he was made of before injury intervened. Shin stayed on with the Brisbane-based club as an assistant coach. Still, few expected the 39 year-old to be announced as Seongnam coach for the 2009 season. It didn’t start well. Australian football is regarded as one where power is more prized than technique. Shin seemed to confirm that stereotype by introducing a more direct style to a Seongnam team that had long been known for a fluid passing game. In came giant Montenegrin marksman Dzenan Radoncic – a striker not known for his subtlety - and from Australia came a defender that was just as big, Sasa Ognenovski. The first half few months were disappointing. The team looked disjointed and toothless. Over time though, results and performances started to improve and in the second half of the season, Seongnam was the team in the best form. That was partly due to the arrival of Mauricio Molina. The former Colombian international quickly established himself as the leading foreign player in the league. His goals, his passing, his creativity and set piece ability have all played their parts. Seongnam made it to the final of the championship play-off series at the end of the season, only to lose out to Jeonbuk Motors. Even with the undoubted class of Molina, not much was expected in 2010 as Seongnam lost its midfield heartbeat. Star player Kim Jung-woo answered the call of the military and started his two-year stint with Gwangju Sangmu while partner Lee Ho answered the call of his wallet by accepting a big-money move to UAE club Al Ain. So far at least, they haven’t been missed. Last Friday, Jeonbuk became the first team to score a goal against this Seongnam team in 2010. Prior to that, Shin’s men had won two Asian Champions League matches, defeating the highly-rated Kawasaki Frontale of Japan 2-0 before heading to Australia to win by the same scoreline at the home of Melbourne Victory. Earlier this week came the visit of Beijing Guoan. The Chinese champions, like Seongnam, had won both games so far and took the lead through former Scottish international Maurice Ross. Three goals in the last 12 minutes from the Korean team means that Seongnam are looking very good indeed for a place in the second round. Domestically, the start to the K-League was just as good. An opening weekend 3-0 against Gangwon FC was followed by a demolition of Incheon United. The usually solid west coast team was thrashed 6-0 by a rampant Seongnam. Then the Yellows went to the home of the Jeonbuk and came within a whisker of winning. Only a 94th minute free-kick from Eninho gave the host a 1-1 tie and stopped Seongnam moving to the top of the K-League standings. Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee was relieved after the final whistle. “Seongnam is a very good and balanced team,” said Choi. “It was a really tough game for us and we are just happy that we managed to get a goal at the end.” It is a measure of how well Seongnam is doing that coach Shin was disappointed with a 1-1 tie at the home of the champions. “We missed lots of chances and that is why we didn’t win the game,” he said. “it is always hard to concede such a late goal but overall we played well. We are going well and feeling confident but we know that the season is just beginning.” Tags Soccer News football

The 2009 K-League season was a special one for a certain southwestern region as Jeolla Province welcomed the golden championship trophy for the first time ever. No longer can Jeonbuk Motors claim to be the only team on the continent to have won the Asian title without ever winning the domestic prize. The car metaphor can be driven too far but the Motors were well-oiled from March to December. The team from Jeonju accelerated into top gear quickly, maintained top speed for most of the journey and despite a couple of bumps in the road and slippery patches, the engine was in just as good a condition at the end of the journey as it was at the beginning. A late goal from Lim Sang-hyub gave Jeonbuk a draw at Gyeongnam on the first day of the season back in March and from then, the team never looked back. Six wins came from the next seven games with the only ‘failure’ a 1-1 tie at the home of Asian champions Pohang Steelers. Seven-time champions Seongnam were thrashed 4-1 and Jeju lost 5-0 at home while the favourites for the title, FC Seoul also came off second best. Battling it out with Seoul and Pohang for first spot, Jeonbuk ended in identical fashion, collecting 19 points out of a possible 21 in the run-in. Such form enabled the team in green to finish top of the standings at the end of regular season. That didn’t mean the title however as in Korea, there are still championship play-offs to negotiate. They proved no problem as Jeonbuk defeated Seongnam Ilhwa in the final in early December –recording a 3-1 win that kept 37,000 fans warm in chilly temperatures. There is no doubt as to which player grabbed the headlines. Lee Dong-gook did not have the best of times from 2006 to the start of 2009. ‘The Lion King’ missed the 2006 World Cup through injury, and then moved to England at the start of 2007. Those 18 months in the English Premier League with Middlesbrough didn’t go well and Lee returned to Korea in the second half of 2008. His subsequent short spell with Seongnam did not go well either and he headed to Jeonbuk before the start of the new season. The 30 year-old may have failed in England’s northeast but he has been a big success in Korea’s southwest with 20 goals coming from Lee’s feet or head in 27 games. It is great to be here and scoring goals,” he said just before the season ended. “I am enjoying my football and playing with some very good players.” His words were as accurate as his feet in this case. Lee has the headlines but the supporting cast was impressive. Just like Jeonju’s famous dish of Bi Bim Bap, Jeonbuk’s offence has contained a healthy mix of different ingredients with Lee’s goals providing the kochujang , the hot pepper sauce that gives the dish the kick it needs. A glance of the list of the players who recorded the most assists during the season reveals that Jeonbuk players occupy the top three spots. Choi Tae-wook and Brazilians Luiz Henrique and Eninho have contributed greatly to Jeonbuk’s success as well as the club’s easy-on-the-eye style of play. At the back, Kim Sang-sik, jettisoned by Seongnam at the end of last season, was impressive for his new club while goalkeeper Kwon Soon-tae and fellow defender Choi Chul-soon were the model of consistency despite rarely grabbing the headlines Jeonbuk has never grabbed the league title until now. Things are changing in Korean football and Jeolla Province now has its seat at the top table of soccer powers in the Land of the Morning Calm. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News football

With the benefit of hindsight it was written in the stars that FC Seoul’s season would end last Saturday after losing to Chunnam Dragons in the first round of the K-league’s championship play-offs. Seoul thought they shouldn’t have needed to play the match at all. The capital club spent the whole season slugging it out with Jeonbuk Motors at the top of the K-League and expected to go straight to the final, or at least, the semi-final. That all changed on the last day of the season as Seoul conceded a last-minute goal at home to Chunnam Dragons. That 1-1 tie saw Seoul slip into third. That finish meant Seoul had to negotiate the entire play-off series. As luck would have it, the first play-off opponent was Chunnam. And Chunnam was the last. For Seoul, it is very much a case of what might have been. For much of the season, the red-and-blacks looked the likeliest champion but when the push came to the shove, the team didn’t quite have the indefinable quality that champions need – the ability to dig in and fight for everything. The game again finished 1-1 after 90 minutes. Seoul’s penalty area was the least crowded place in the whole city after 12 minutes and Chunnam striker Lee Gyu-ro took advantage to fire a fierce shot low into the home net. Three minutes later however, Seoul drew level. A delightfully measured slide-rule pass from Ki Sung-yong gave Jung Jo-gook an easy chance from close range. The excitement didn’t last and the game drifted towards penalties. Two Seoul players missed the target completely – Kim Sung-yung and, dismally, Lee Jong-min. Ki Sung-yong saw his kick well-saved. It was the last action for Ki in the Seoul shirt. He has already signed for Scottish giants Celtic in a $4 million deal and heads to Glasgow at the end of the year. Kwak Tae-whi scored the winning penalty. The international defender has spent much of the season battling injury but was fresh as a daisy as he shot home emphatically against his old club. "The players were confident about defeating FC Seoul before the game,'' Chunnam coach Park Hang-seo said."They figured out their opponents and were more confident. We will focus on regaining our fitness level for the second round match on Wednesday.” The match was the last in the three season tenure of Senol Gunes. It was a widely expected that the man who took Turkey to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup would be off home at the end of the season. Hometown club Trabzonspor had come knocking earlier in the year but now the Korean contract has ended, Gunes is free to head home back to the Black Sea and that is where he will probably be seen very soon. “I am leaving but I will never forget the fans in Seoul and my time here,” Gunes told Seoul's official site. “We have come a long way together and I am sure that next year the club will keep improving and Seoul will become champions.” That didn't happen under FIFA's coach of 2002 and the team also exited this year's Asian Champions League at the quarter-final stage. “Though I had a very happy three years here, I am sorry and frustrated that we didn’t win. This year was especially disappointing and I am sad as anyone.” While Seoul missed out on a first title, Gunes did enough to give the capital club a reputation for playing decent football and giving young footballers a chance. The likes of Park Chu-young, Lee Chung-yong and Ki Sung-yong become well-respected players around Asia and have all earned big money deals in Europe. The challenge for the new coach is to help the many young players at the club reach the same level. Gunes will not be in the Land of the Morning Calm to see which of the three teams remaining lift the K-League trophy. Seongnam conquered Incheon United after a penalty shootout despite having two defenders and their coach sent off. A subsequent and narrow win over Chunnam Dragons has earned a semi-final match against Asian champions Pohang Steelers. The rested Steelers are strong favourites against a weakened and tired Seongnam side and should win through to the final where Jeonbuk Motors are waiting. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News football

With most attention on the exploits of Pohang Steelers in the Asian Champions League and the national team’s friendly matches in Europe against Denmark and Serbia, the fact that the K-League is about to embark upon its championship play-off series has almost gone unnoticed. Six teams are still in with a chance of the domestic title. One is Jeonbuk Motors. The team that finished first in the regular season gets the reward of being able to lie in wait in the final match in December and see which of the other five teams will be left standing. Four are in action this weekend – though only two will survive to go to the next stage. The first play-off takes place on Saturday in the capital as FC Seoul meets Chunnam Dragons and the following day, Incheon United travel to Seongnam Chunma. The two teams that emerge from the quarrelling quartet will meet each other next Wednesday. The winner of that will take on Pohang, second placed in the league, in the semi-final. Seoul finished the regular season in third place and out of all the four teams that are in action this weekend, the capital club is the one that really doesn’t want to be in this situation. Senol Gunes’s men spent most of the season in the top two spots and didn’t expect to be fighting it out with four others just to reach the semi-final. It all happened on the last day of the regular season, ironically against Chunnam at Seoul World Cup Stadium. The host needed to win to confirm second place and if Jeonbuk lost, it would go top. Thirteen minutes from the end, Seoul striker Dejan Damjanovic, who had earlier missed a penalty, fired a fierce shot into the top corner of the Dragons’ Den from a distance of 25 meters. It was a great strike but the way in which he celebrated was less impressive. Running towards the Chunnam bench, the Montenegrin shouted at the visiting staff and threw his shirt on the grass in front of them. The referee threw the excitable European out of the game though he had to be restrained from confronting Chunnam coach Park Hang-seo on his way off the field. The Dragons took advantage of their one-man advantage to equalize in the final minute to drag Seoul down from second to third. Another consequence of Damjanovic’s dismissal is the fact that he will not be able to play on Saturday. Even without their star striker however, Seoul will be confident of progressing to the next stage in front of its own fans. Chunnam finished in sixth place, eleven points behind Seoul. The team from South Jeolla Province has a star foreign striker of its own, Brazilian Adrian Chuva. The South American scored 13 goals this season and with Korean international defender Kwak Tae-hwi returning to fitness, the Dragons have a chance to recreate Pohang’s march to the 2007 title. Two years ago, after an unspectacular season in which the team finished fifth, the Steelers suddenly slipped into top gear in the play-offs and defeated Gyeongnam, Ulsan, Suwon and then Seongnam (twice) to lift the golden K-League trophy. Incheon finished fifth this time round but don't really look like a team ready to put Korea’s best teams to the sword. The West Coasters are just happy to be in the play-offs for the first time since 2005 after coming close on a number of occasions in recent years. The team, built on a strong defence line, has trundled along in the top six all season. Coach Ilja Petkovic took his team to the south coast on a final day of the regular season needing to defeat Busan I’Park to confirm a top six finish. A desperate mistake from Busan goalkeeper gave Incheon an unlikely goal and a vital win. The trip to Seongnam is much shorter for Incheon but the hosts are much stronger. Seongnam have a good record against Incheon over the years and over the last few weeks, the Gyeonngi giant has been in excellent form, winning seven out of its final ten games of the regular season. Sadly for the Yellows however, they lost out in the FA Cup final last weekend to Suwon Bluewings after a penalty shootout. All these play-off games are individual cup finals and anything could happen. Tags Soccer News football

In Korean football, you are nothing without a nickname. You don’t have to be called to the national team to get one but it helps. This season, we have seen the return to form of a number of old heads and the appearance of some long-unused aliases headlines in the huge portals.

As the Year of the Rat gave way to the Year of the Ox in Seoul, Dr. Chung Myung-joon was finally herded out of his office as the head of the Korean Football Association (KFA) to be replaced by Cho Chung-yun. It really was the end of an era. For the first time in 16 years, Dr. Chung did not be hand out New Year presents to staff at the KFA. Suave, sophisticated and a smooth operator, he is a well-known figure in the world of soccer and is still the vice-president of FIFA. In South Korea, he is just well-known. The son of Chung Ju-yung, the legendary workhorse, entrepreneur and founder of Hyundai, is a figure that, as Koreans say, has very wide feet. Chung Junior is the boss of Hyundai Heavy Industries, is a member of congress and like his father, unsuccessfully ran for president. For a time in 2002, it looked as if he would make it to the Blue House only to fall with the end in sight. Chung instead became Roh Moo-hyun’s running mate but dropped out the day before Roh won the election in December 2002. 2002 was almost a dream year for Dr Chung. Six months earlier he basked in the national team’s success at the World Cup. He fully deserved the plaudits as he was the man credited with bringing the tournament to South Korea in the first place. Despite the fact Japan started its campaign two years earlier, Chung threw himself into persuading the world that Korea was the place to be and he did so with energy and guile that even his father would have been proud of. He was vindicated in 1996 as Korea was awarded the tournament along with its neighbor across the East Sea. He was thrilled in 2002 when the team outdid Japan on the field and the nation did the same off it. It has been a very happy 16 years for me,” Chung said as he departed. “It will be strange not to be the president any more but I am still vice-president of FIFA until 2011 and will be hard at work helping soccer develop.” Chung’s other activities and connections proved effective in helping Korean soccer develop but that time has passed, or should have. More a businessman and politician than a football guy, Chung brought a new level of politics to KFA House, and another thing he was accused of bringing to the large building in the exclusive Seoul neighborhood of Shinmunro was a number of Hyundai men. It remains to be seen what influence he will continue to have at the KFA – he is now honorary boss – but for now, it is time to give Cho a chance to prove that he can be his own man. He was certainly out on his own as the results of the election came in. Cho, who has been at the KFA since 1998, defeated rival Heo Seung-pyo in an election held last week by 18 votes to 10. Thank you for choosing me as president of the KFA,” Cho said. “I am willing to listen to voices from seniors and juniors and I will embrace people who did not support me, as well as those who backed me to develop South Korean football,'' he added. There are a number of issues that need to be looked into. The way the body goes about choosing its national team coach is clumsy. Last time round it was a major embarrassment played out in front of the world’s media as Dr. Chung dropped the ball and public rejections came from high-profile European coaches. Broadcasting rights is an issue that was hard to solve given Chung’s connections with the big television networks in Yeoido. Finding the right broadcaster to work with, one that can promote and develop the game is something worth looking into. Improving facilities at the grass-roots and youth level is already happening but input from the top does no harm. The biggest challenge though is for the new guy is to step out from the shadow and influence of the old guy. Chung Mark II is a possibility. But we will have to wait and see. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Following recent revelations that Chinese gamblers and match-fixers had been active in South Korea's third division, I talked to Declan Hill. Hill is a journalist who specialises in match-fixing in football and has written a book on the subject called The Fix If you want to fix a match, what should you do? You have to think about the hierarchy of the team. A match-fixer is like a spider in the middle of the web. On one side, he has to get the players and referee. It is not easy as he may not know the players. Even if you do, it is not so simple to call them and ask. So they hire the access. They will him someone who they call ‘a runner’. He will talk to a senior member of the team. Ideally this is a player who had very high status in the team but recently left – perhaps he is also having some financial problems. He perhaps asks his former team-mates to come to a hotel and meet some friends. The other side of the spider's web is the gambling market. Many of the bookmakers, know both the big punters and the big fixers, so they have to hide their identity. They do this by hiring people they call ‘beards’. Literally, people who disguise who is placing the bets, but with the internet, this is much easier. How does it work? The best way is to get a star player and maybe two or three others in a weaker team. Most people think that match-fixing is all about getting a strong team to lose to a weak team but that is not the case. Match-fixers don't care about that – they just want certainty and it is easier to get that by focusing on the weaker team. For example, if Chelsea were to play Lincoln – I am not suggesting that these two clubs or their players have ever fixed a game either together or separately. - the fixers will focus on Lincoln. They will try to fix it so Lincoln lose in a big way. The fixers say 'look, you are playing Chelsea. You are going to lose anyway. All we want you to do is to lose by many goals.' The senior player tells the team, 'we are going to lose, why not make some money from this?' So they guarantee a defeat by four or five goals. Not only is it cheaper to target the weaker team but if you bet $1 million or $2 million on Chelsea winning by four or five goals on the Asian market, nobody would notice as Chelsea are expected to win. When you have certainty, you can make a lot of money. How big is this market? It is huge. The illegal Chinese gambling market accounts for around 60-70% of the world's gambling market. This includes places like Las Vegas and the big British gambling companies. Many Asian leagues have seriously declined in recent years, one reason is the live broadcasts of European football but match-fixing and corruption has really hurt leagues such as China and Malaysia. The initial reaction in Korea at first was 'why would anyone want to bet on the K3 League'? I understand that. People in Belgium thought exactly the same when it was revealed that Chinese gamblers were betting on Belgium's lower leagues. It was the same in Finland. These people will bet on anything – U-19, Women's football, leagues in Iceland, anything! What should Korean football authorities do now? They should not follow FIFA’s example. They really have had a shameful lack of action. Every pro-league in the USA –basketball, baseball etc – has a security department staffed by former FBI officials and senior cops and it is their job to watch out for this kind of thing. I don't want to comment specifically on Korea as I have never been there but they can look at the example of Denmark. In Denmark (where some players were recently found guilty of match-fixing), they set up a hotline to the security forces. Players knew that if they were contacted by match-fixers they could call a number immediately and do it anonymously and talk directly to the security. They didn't have to call the FA and worry that some people may suspect them of match-fixing. My message to Korea is don't underestimate them. They are criminals with money and resources and experience. It is unusual to have a case of match-fixing in the lower leagues and not in the top leagues. Korea should have senior police monitoring illegal betting markets. In Europe, most football associations are starting to check the markets to see if any strange bets have been placed but they only check the European markets but that is a waste of time – it is Asia where it happens and they don't check those markets. It should be easier in Korea as the amounts bet on the lower leagues are quite small so it should be easy to see signs of strange bets and match-fixing. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting