WK League News

The Korea Pro Footballers’ Association (KPFA) released a statement on Tuesday (20th January) addressing media coverage of South Korea’s women’s national football team and clarifying the position of its members following a controversy sparked by a leaked memo in autumn last year.

In October 2025 it was widely reported that ten members of the South Korea squad had written to the Korea Football Association (KFA) requesting accommodations, including business class seats when travelling for international fixtures. It was said that the players had threatened to boycott A matches over the issue in a memo submitted to the KFA via the KPFA. The letter was intended for internal use only but was leaked to the press, sparking media coverage that largely focused on the reported demand for business class travel.

The news reports in turn led to backlash on social media from some football fans, with the comments section of several KFA posts quickly descending into misogyny. Some netizens called the players in question entitled and suggested the women’s team needs to achieve better results and attract more sponsorship to earn the training and playing conditions afforded to the men’s team. Others called for the KFA to defund the women’s national team entirely, and almost all conveniently ignored the fact that the women’s team had lifted two trophies in 2025, including the East Asian Cup, instead quoting selective examples of disappointing international results.

The timing of the controversy also unfortunately coincided with the U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, where South Korea’s youngsters had a disappointing campaign, failing to advance past the group stage. Despite the leaked memo having no relation to the youth players involved in the U-17 tournament, they too were subject to patronising and misogynistic comments, especially as results didn’t go their way. Since October, it has become common to see snide remarks referencing “business-class travel” under news articles and social media posts related to women’s football in Korea.

Now, with the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and 2026 FIFA World Series approaching, the KPFA has released a statement clarifying the requests made to the KFA by its members and addressing the media coverage surrounding the issue. The KPFA expressed regret for the way the story has been misinterpreted and “distorted”, and said that its members’ actual intentions and requests concerning the treatment of women’s national team players have been overshadowed by the undue focus on business-class flights.

The KPFA’s statement says that players never specifically demanded business-class travel, but did cite travel arrangements as one area where improvement is needed. It goes on to specify a particular case in which a national team player suffering from a knee injury requested an upgrade to business class at her own expense. The KFA allegedly denied the request, stating that association rules decree that the women’s team sit in economy class, and that it would be “unfair” to allow one player to purchase an upgrade. The KPFA emphasised that for their members, the issue of travel arrangements is not a question of comfort, but rather one of concern for players forced to sit in cramped conditions on long flights while suffering from serious injuries sustained while representing their country.

The original memo submitted to the KFA was not intended for public release, and it’s still unclear how it came to be leaked. However, in order to clarify their position and protect players, the KPFA has now released part of the letter, drawing attention to issues including the rate of pay for the women’s team (100,000 KRW per day, with no match fee) and costs incurred by players for medical treatment and rehabilitation.

It says that the team has also been expected to use training kits previously worn by Korea’s men’s youth teams, and in some cases, they have been asked to change clothes in airport bathrooms in order to return kits immediately upon return from overseas fixtures. Furthermore, while travelling to training and matches, the women’s team has often had to travel in an unmarked coach hired from a travel company, while the men’s team has a team bus with KFA branding. Players consider this to be indicative of a lack of respect for the women’s team.

On the basis of these incidents and experiences, players presented a list of five requests to the KFA, asking them to:
1. Make reasonable transport and accommodation arrangements for the women’s national football team
2. Provide dedicated training facilities for the women’s team and promise to make basic improvements to the environment surrounding national team call-ups and training
3. Provide sufficient kits, training kits, and basic equipment for matches and training, so that players do not bear a financial burden
4. Implement a system for the selection of dates and venues for women’s national team games based on player protection and fan accessibility
5. Urgently form a consultative body to improve the treatment of the women’s national team and provide a forum for substantial dialogue, with the involvement of the KPFA and representatives of the women’s national team.

The KFA responded to the original memo stating that they would strive to improve conditions for the women’s team while considering realistic financial constraints, and continue to communicate with coaches and players. However, it appears that the KFA is yet to take meaningful action on any of the KPFA’s requests.