Private Contract Worth 52.2 Million KRW Signed Without Official Documentation or Basic Verification
Cheonan City Official: "We Requested Information from the Football Association and Judged Suitability"
Civic Group: "Private Contract Based Only on Recommendation... Doubts About Service Quality"
In Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, criticism is mounting over the city’s decision to sign a private contract for the development of the Korea Football Comprehensive Center’s name and brand identity (BI) with a company whose actual status remains unclear.
Particularly, it has been pointed out that the contract, worth over 50 million KRW, was awarded based solely on a verbal recommendation from the Korea Football Association, without any official documentation, and that even the most basic verification procedures were not followed. This is seen as a violation of standard contracting processes.
Previously, on October 23 of last year, the city of Cheonan signed a private contract worth 52.2 million KRW with Company A, located in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
The private contract was carried out after the Korea Football Association’s Football Center (NFC) task force verbally recommended two companies during a regular working-level meeting. There were no official recommendation letters or written responses.
A city official explained the background of the selection, stating, “Local companies have strengths in BI production, but often rely on outsourced writers for naming, so we needed a company capable of handling both tasks directly.”
The official added, “We requested information on Seoul-based companies from the Korea Football Association, and after reviewing the representative’s marketing experience at Company B Electronics and brand strategy background, we determined the company was suitable.”
However, according to a corporate credit check report by NICE Information Service dated April 25, 2025, Company A has shown no verifiable sales, assets, or external financial transactions since its establishment in 2022, and no credit rating has been assigned.
Additionally, no other public contract records for this company could be found in the public procurement system’s disclosure of private contracts.
When this newspaper directly checked the address listed in the contract and the company registry, it found that the company was not present at the site, nor was there any signboard or nameplate. The entire building was occupied by entertainment businesses such as massage parlors and karaoke bars, and there was no indication of the company’s presence or any office space related to it.
The city official stated, “We determined suitability based on the representative’s career,” but no documents proving performance or records of review meetings, which are typically required during the contract process, were found.
Ordinarily, when a local government pursues a private contract for services exceeding 50 million KRW, it is required under the Local Contracts Act to verify the contractor’s capability, track record, technical skills, and creditworthiness, and to conduct an internal review or comparative assessment.
It is also standard practice to receive proposals, performance certificates, and quotations from the company and review their appropriateness. However, in this case, aside from the Korea Football Association’s verbal recommendation and the review of the representative’s background, no related documents or meeting procedures have been confirmed, raising concerns that the contract was concluded without even basic verification.
A Korea Football Association official stated, “The company is operated by people who previously worked with the association’s marketing team,” and added, “The recommendation was made at the working-level team.” However, the official also admitted, “We did not check the office location,” raising further doubts about the credibility of the recommendation.
A representative of a Cheonan civic group commented, “If a private contract was signed with a company that is not even located at its registered address and based only on a recommendation without any official documents, it is questionable whether the quality of the service can be ensured,” and added, “There appears to be a procedural problem.”
Meanwhile, the Korea Football Comprehensive Center is being constructed on a 451,693-square-meter site in Gasanni, Ipjang-myeon, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan, at a total cost of 309.4 billion KRW. Of this, Cheonan City is covering 189.4 billion KRW and the Korea Football Association is contributing 120 billion KRW. Major facilities are scheduled to be completed sequentially from the second half of this year through next year.
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