Gwangju FC removed from the FIFA registration ban list for the first time in five months...KFA Disciplinary Proceedings Ends, Will Follow Up
May 22, 2025
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According to the KFA, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee confirmed in the official document that FIFA Clearing House received a joint contribution to be paid by Gwangju. Accordingly, an official letter was sent saying that the disciplinary process against Gwangju will be terminated immediately and the ban on player registration will be lifted. Gwangju has been banned from recruiting new players since December 17 last year due to unpaid solidarity contributions. On the FIFA registration ban page, it was confirmed that Gwangju was deleted as of the 21st.
The KFA further said, `The association is humbly accepting public criticism of the decision made after deliberation that the value of 'stabilization of the league and the tournament'stabilizes the league and the tournament' in connection with the statement issued last week.'
The KFA continues to recognize that the association cannot be free from responsibility for the incident and is awaiting an official response from FIFA. Apart from FIFA's answer, the association itself plans to re-establish the work promotion manual with internal and external officials and establish various monitoring methods in case of transfer and disciplinary action in conjunction with the FIFA system to prevent the recurrence of such a situation.
The KFA said 'We are sorry for causing concern to soccer fans due to this incident and plan to follow up procedures accordingly as soon as we receive FIFA's policy.'"
Gwangju was suspected of failing to pay Asani's solidarity contribution, which it recruited in 2023. Solidarity contributions are money paid when a professional player moves internationally to a team in another country before the contract expires and a transfer fee is incurred. Clubs that recruit players through transfers must pay a certain percentage of solidarity contributions to each team to which the player belongs from the age of 12 to 23. FIFA implemented the 'clearing house system' in November 2022 to simplify the complicated procedure. It is a form of calculating the distribution of solidarity contributions and training compensation from FIFA's 'Clearing House' and distributing them to the club.
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FIFA stated that disciplinary action will take effect from December 17, 2024. The disciplinary deadline is 'until payment is made. A fine of 50 million Swiss francs (about 8.4 million won) for joint contributions and non-payment will be removed from the list only when the payment is confirmed in full. As specified by FIFA, the list of players prohibited from registering is a database that allows stakeholders related to player recruitment to determine which club is ineligible for player recruitment. It is also accessible to the general public. This means that the possibility of FIFA's administrative error is small, as some have raised.
The problem is that the transfer market opened immediately after the disciplinary point. The K League held a regular registration period (winter transfer market) from January 1st to March 27th. During this period, Gwangju recruited 10 new players, including Hayes, Sejong Jin Si-woo, Min Sang-ki, Hwang Jae-hwan, Park In-hyuk, Park Jung-in, Kwon Sung-yoon, Yoo Je-ho, and Kwak Sung-hoon. If you were aware of the ban on recruiting, you should not have recruited them. In the process, the Korea Football Association, which oversees player registration through the Professional Football Federation, a higher-level organization, registered players. As a result, the association, the federation, and the Gwangju club violated FIFA's disciplinary action.
In response, the batting team insisted that Gwangju should be punished for forfeiting and losing, saying it violated fair competition. However, in a statement distributed to the media on the afternoon of the 16th, the KFA said 'In connection with FIFA's disciplinary action against FIFA's registration of players for failing to pay their joint contributions 'This is an accident caused by an intentional administrative mistake, and therefore it is too much to judge the players in Gwangju who have participated in the match as 'unqualified players'. Highlighting the fact that 'administrative mistakes', he effectively ruled out the possibility of forfeiture due to the participation of unqualified players.
Kim Seung-hee, executive director of the association, also said at a press conference on the 21st, `We are clearly aware that the association was inexperienced. I thought about the league's stability issues"But I don't think it's a part where the sweat and effort of the player are wasted due to administrative errors that are not intentional" he said.
However, the association drew the line, saying, "'This judgment is a separate matter from the possibility of disciplinary action against the association and Gwangju from FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC)." 'The association has already asked FIFA and AFC officials about related facts, emphasizing that it is an 'intentional administrative mistake' as much as possible, and will make active additional calling efforts.'"
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Gwangju made three payments on August 30, 2024, September 4, 2024, and May 13, 2025 to the account designated by FCH for Asani's solidarity contributions notified by the FIFA Clearing House (FCH), but they were not deposited. The specific cause is being identified with financial institutions. Since then, FCH has sent a disciplinary decision by emailing the team manager, and the Korea Football Association has sent a disciplinary decision, but the person in charge has been furloughed and has not been aware of it. 'Recently, upon recognition of this, the club communicated with FCH to make the joint contribution payment and received a final notification that the payment was completed on May 21.'
Gwangju said 'In connection with this incident, the club is strictly judging the part of the work gap, and we will check the internal system and reorganize the process in a responsible manner. Through a thorough investigation of the cause, we will reveal where we are responsible and prevent similar problems from happening again in the future. We will also do our best to resolve the situation in close cooperation with related organizations such as FIFA, Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Korea Football Association, and Korea Professional Football Federation.
Not all problems have been solved yet despite FIFA's measures to lift the ban on recruitment. In its decision on the Gwangju incident, FIFA should note that in connection with the prohibition of registration, the Member Association of the Respondent country is obligated to implement this decision and prove to FIFA that the prohibition of registration has been implemented at the national level. If this is not implemented, it could be subject to sanctions imposed by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee (which may be removed from the FIFA tournament). The key is how FIFA will interpret the players recruited during the registration ban.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
