How does the Korea Football Association make money?

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• on Dec 16, 2022

The remarks made by President Seok-yeol Yoon are half correct and half wrong. The correct ‘half’ is that the players struggled, and the wrong ‘half’ is that the Football Association takes more dividends.

The International Football Federation (FIFA) pays dividends to participating country football associations when international competitions such as the World Cup are held. In the case of this Qatar World Cup, FIFA has already paid 1.5 million dollars (approximately 1.9 billion won) to each of the 32 participating countries as reserves.

In addition, dividends are paid according to the game performance. The winner receives 42 million dollars (approximately 54.4 billion won), the runner-up receives 30 million dollars (approximately 38.9 billion won), 3rd place receives 27 million dollars (approximately 35 billion won), and 4th place receives 25 million dollars (approximately 32.4 billion won).

Among the teams advancing to the quarterfinals, 4 teams that did not advance to the quarterfinals will receive 17 million dollars 스포츠토토 (approximately 22 billion won), and 8 teams that advanced to the quarterfinals but did not advance to the quarterfinals will receive 13 million dollars (approximately 16.9 billion won). Korea, which reached the round of 16, will also receive 13 million dollars.

From the outset, the association planned to pay out at least 50% of total dividends as player bounty. However, 7.9 billion won had already been spent on running the national team for the World Cup Asian qualifiers (4.6 billion won) and the finals (3.3 billion won). In addition, due to the outbreak of Corona 19, an additional 1.6 billion won in repayment of loans supported by FIFA was added.

After subtracting the cost of 9.5 billion won, the plan to pay more than 50% of the dividend was almost canceled. However, with the donation of 2 billion won by Chung Mong-gyu, president of the Korea Football Association, the 50% principle was met. Chairman Chung Mong-gyu once offered 4 billion won to raise salaries for coaching staff when Paulo Bento was appointed coach in 2018.

The prize money that national team players who advance to the World Cup round of 16 will receive will range from a minimum of 280 million won to a maximum of 340 million won per individual. The association received about 70 million won more than the reward plan set by the board of directors last May. This is a high amount compared to other round of 16 countries. In the case of Japan, which also reached the round of 16, it is known that players are paid an average of about 96 million won.

For reference, the Korea Football Association’s budget for next year is 158.1 billion won. This is an increase of 44 billion won from this year’s budget of 114.1 billion won. This is the largest budget ever. The highest amount before that was 123.4 billion won in 2013.

The reason why the budget for next year has increased significantly is because a lot of money goes into the cost of building a soccer comprehensive center in Cheonan in 2024. It takes 51.1 billion won to build a comprehensive soccer center, and the cost of operating national teams (32.5 billion won) and domestic competitions (26.9 billion won) is also high.

Football is a sport with high national interest. As a result, the Korea Football Association earns a high percentage of its own income. In Case of 2021, the money earned by the Korea Football Association is about 816 billion won. Among them, the amount earned from official sponsors was the largest at approximately KRW 31.6 billion. Sports Toto revenues followed with about 19.5 billion won.

Government subsidies such as the National Sports Promotion Fund amounted to approximately KRW 15.6 billion. It is about 20% of the total revenue of the Korea Football Association. In addition, revenue from broadcasting rights and admission to A matches is included.