I sincerely apologize Gwangju Posts Official Apology One Week After Controversy Over Solidarity Contributions...Final confirmation of payment on the 21st
May 21, 2025
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Gwangju is deeply responsible for the issue of 'Asani players' solidarity contribution not paid and FIFA disciplinary action not recognized' through the club's official SNS on the 21st, and sincerely apologizes to fans and officials. We humbly accept the rebuke from the fans and apologize for the delay in the official position while prioritizing the settlement of the situation.
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 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.
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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.
FIFA ordered the Gwangju club to pay about $3,100 (about 4.3 million won) in solidarity contributions to Asani's former team. Although Gwangju requested payment twice last year, it seems to have decided that it did not pay. FIFA eventually put Gwangju on the list of prohibited registration. FIFA provides information on clubs around the world that are currently banned from FIFA's registration of players. The list included clubs that were temporarily banned from registering players due to various violations, including financial disputes and violations of regulations. 'The FIFA registration ban list, which serves as an essential tool for member countries' associations, federations, clubs, players, and agents, helps ensure transparency and compliance within the sport, allowing stakeholders to identify which clubs are ineligible for new players during the ban period,' it reads.
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.
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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.'"
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
