Yang Myeongseok, Former President of Daegu City Football Association, Elected as New President of Korea Women's Football Federation
Wins Election with 37 out of 70 Votes
"I Will Focus on Discovering Young Female and Elementary Players"
"Federation Will Increase Small-Scale Tournaments"
Yang Myeong-seok, former president of the Daegu City Football Association, who was elected as the new president of the Korea Women's Football Federation, stated that he will focus on nurturing young female players to expand the base of women's football.
Yang Myung-seok, former president of the Daegu City Football Association, elected as president of the Korea Women's Football Federation. Photo by Yonhap News
Yang, who won 37 out of 70 total votes in the presidential election held on the 6th at the Koreana Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, diagnosed, "The biggest problem in Korean women's football right now is the difficulty in discovering young female players, especially in the elementary school division."
He added, "I want to provide opportunities for young girls to enjoy starting football. If the elementary division collapses, middle school, high school, university, and professional levels cannot develop," and said, "I will improve the reality where female football players have no choice but to change clothes in the restroom."
As the newly elected head of women's football administration, Yang's top priority is to revive the stagnant women's football scene. According to the registration status released by the Korea Football Association as of April last year, the number of female professional players fell to the 1,300s for the first time since statistics were made public in 2011. This is a 23% decrease compared to 2014, ten years ago, when there were 1,725 players. Among them, the player base under 12 years old (U-12) sharply declined to the 200s (291 players), about 40% lower than the 463 recorded ten years ago.
Yang emphasized, "Academy football is very difficult. Even in large cities, it takes two hours to get to school, so it is not easy for students to spend four hours commuting back and forth," and said, "I will try to find improvement measures in consultation with the Korea Football Association, the Korean Sports & Olympic Committee, and the Ministry of Education." While many boys' football teams have schools with dormitories, girls' football faces many practical constraints due to difficulties in boarding.
Yang expressed his determination to strengthen the player base to revive the WK League, the top-tier league with very low audience turnout and marketability. He said, "The WK League needs a thick player base from the bottom up to increase the number of teams," adding, "There should be more than 10 teams, but solving this within one or two years is not easy. Please wait a little."
Yang also emphasized targeting the recreational sports sector to expand the overall marketability of Korean women's football beyond the WK League. He said, "Nowadays, women's amateur football teams are formed at the district and county levels," and added, "The federation will organize small-scale futsal tournaments and regional competitions with the help of local governments to create momentum."
This election was held after the sudden passing of former president Oh Gyu-sang, who led the women's federation for 17 years. Oh ran unopposed in the presidential election last December and was elected, but passed away the same month due to worsening illness, prompting the women's federation to proceed with a re-election process.
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