The Korea Professional Football League (Commissioner Kwon Oh-gap, hereinafter referred to as 'the League') will select the second inductee into the 'K League Hall of Fame.'
The 'K League Hall of Fame' was established to honor the contributions of individuals who have brightened Korean professional football and to preserve their footprints in the history of the K League, marking the 40th anniversary of the K League launch in 2023. In the first induction ceremony of 2023, the late Park Tae-joon, former Honorary Chairman of POSCO, former coach Kim Jung-nam, Choi Soon-ho, Director General of Suwon FC, Hong Myung-bo, coach of the national team, Shin Tae-yong, Vice President of the Korea Football Association, and Lee Dong-gook, a former player of Jeonbuk Hyundai, were selected as inductees. The League has stated that starting from 2023, it will select inductees every two years going forward.
The 'K League Hall of Fame' consists of three institutional sectors: ▲ Players (STARS), ▲ Leaders (LEADERS), and ▲ Contributors (HONORS). The players' sector is for those who have achieved significant accomplishments as players, while the leaders' sector is for those who have made great achievements as coaches. Contributors are individuals from diverse fields such as administration, industry, and media who have contributed to the development of the K League, apart from players and coaches.
The selection process for inductees will be conducted by the 'K League Hall of Fame Selection Committee' (hereinafter referred to as 'the Selection Committee'). The Selection Committee will be chaired by the chairperson of the Korea Football Association's communication committee, and will include former Busan IPark CEO Ahn Gi-hun, former Gangwon FC Director of Performance Jo Young-jeung, former Secretary General of the Korea Professional Sports Association Park Jae-young, Hanyang University Professor of Sports Industry Lee Jong-sung, and Coupang Play football commentator Han Jun-hee.
Candidates for the players' sector will be selected from approximately 250 players who have recorded significant achievements such as ▲ appearing in over 300 matches in the K League's top division (K League before the transfer system and K League 1 after the transfer system), ▲ scoring over 100 goals, ▲ achieving over 100 clean sheets, ▲ receiving the top scorer or most assists award in a season, ▲ being named to the season's best eleven, and ▲ winning the season MVP award, among others. The Selection Committee will determine the final 20 candidates through internal review.
Subsequently, the Selection Committee will conduct internal voting, club representatives' voting, media voting, and fan voting on the selected players' candidates, and the results will be aggregated to select the final four inductees. Fan voting will be held online in June, and the specific voting method will be announced later. Inductees for the leaders' and contributors' sectors will each be selected through the Selection Committee's review.
The final selection and announcement of inductees will be completed in July. Following this, various programs will be implemented to widely publicize the achievements of the inductees, including the awarding of trophies and induction certificates, commemorative events, and inductions in the online hall of fame.
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