Kim Seung-hee, executive director of the Korea Football Association, said he will actively communicate with FIFA and AFC regarding the issue of Gwangju FC's solidarity contribution.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) held a press conference with Executive Director Kim Seung-hee of the 55th governing body of the Korea Football Association at 10 a.m. on the 21st at the Football Center in Sinmunno, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

During the Q&A session, discussions arose about the recent disciplinary issue regarding Gwangju FC's unpaid solidarity contribution.

Gwangju received a player registration ban from FIFA for failing to pay the solidarity contribution of $3,000 during the recruitment of Asani last December. Although the transfer was made, it was returned due to an error, and the club failed to notice this while registering the player in 15 matches. This was due to inadequate administrative handover and the inexperience of the person in charge, and it was not intentional non-payment.

Gwangju's internal administrative management failure is clearly a subject of criticism. There are perspectives that the Korea Football Association also has significant management responsibility for not taking appropriate administrative measures for Gwangju after receiving FIFA's notice of penalty.

Earlier on the 16th, the Korea Football Association issued a statement saying, "This matter is judged to be an administrative error without intent, and it is important for the stability of the league and the protection of players to acknowledge the results so far rather than consider the players as ineligible and overturn the match results."

The association emphasized, "We will actively clarify that this matter was an unintended administrative error through communication with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). We will systematize work procedures with related agencies and prepare measures to prevent recurrence."

On that day, Executive Director Kim said, "I was aware of the risk of the issue. It was an administrative error, but since the players did not act intentionally, we prioritized the stability of the league and the players' efforts."

He added, "We sent an official letter to FIFA containing the facts and are currently awaiting a response and preparing a countermeasure. We are establishing a plan for institutional and systematic improvement to prevent this from happening again. We are in discussions with the Professional Football Federation."

When asked about efforts to prevent recurrence, Executive Director Kim explained, "The ‘clearing house’ system of FIFA has not been in place for long, and it is still in the process of settling. Listening to experiences from the field, it seems that not only our country but also others are in the process of settling. We will accurately understand the current situation and work with FIFA, AFC, and the Professional Football Federation to prepare measures to prevent recurrence."

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