Unconditional control of the Korea Professional Football Association is the answer... Proposed Introduction of Korean SCR in K League

Unconditional control of the Korea Professional Football Association is the answer... Proposed Introduction of Korean SCR in K League
Courtesy of the Korea Professional Football Association



The Korea Professional Footballers Association (hereinafter referred to as the Players Association) recently welcomed the new financial regulations reform decided by the English Premier League (EPL) secretariat through a meeting of team representatives. In addition, the K League also insisted that a reasonable fiscal soundness system suitable for global standards should be prepared.

Kim Hoon-ki, Secretary-General of the Korea Federation of Players Association, said "It is not the answer to artificially prevent the value of players when they attend the International Football Association (FIFPRO) World General Assembly and hear various stories. This is the conclusion of the EPL, the world's best soccer league. Korea should not set an artificial upper limit, but should also solve it freely. However, a reasonable fiscal soundness system is needed by limiting spending relative to income."

On the 21st, the EPL passed the 'Expending Restriction on Income (SCR)' rule, which allows only 85% of the team's total income to be used for team expenses from the 2026-2027 season. In addition, the SSR, which evaluates the club's short-term, medium-term, and long-term financial health, was unanimously passed. On the other hand, the strong spending cap 'Anchoring', which tried to tie all clubs' spending at five times the league's bottom team's income, was rejected.




Unconditional control of the Korea Professional Football Association is the answer... Proposed Introduction of Korean SCR in K League
Courtesy of the Korea Professional Football Association
The Korea Federation of Players analyzed that the EPL's decision has great implications. The rejection of 'anchoring' means that the 'hard salary cap' method, which ignores market economic logic and artificially restricts players' freedom of career choice and ability to generate revenue, is no longer suitable for modern football.

In fact, Maheta Molango, the head of the English Professional Footballers Association (PFA), said, `It is not legally acceptable to artificially prevent someone's ability to make money` EPL clubs also voted in favor of the claim.

Instead, the introduced SCR is a 'use as many times as '. When the club increases its income through marketing and performance, the amount of money it can invest in the team naturally also increases. This creates a virtuous cycle structure that induces the growth of the club and raises the overall pie of the league.




The players' association pointed out the current address of the K-League and the WK-League. Currently, some of the K-League are discussing policies that focus only on cost reduction, such as a move to uniformly limit the size of the team's annual salary due to the consolidation of the club's finances and a change in the foreign player system. In addition, in the case of the WK League, the annual salary of players is limited through the annual salary cap.

Unconditional control of the Korea Professional Football Association is the answer... Proposed Introduction of Korean SCR in K League
Courtesy of the Korea Professional Football Association
In response, Secretary-General Kim Hoon-ki responded, `As seen in the EPL case, advanced leagues are choosing a way in which clubs increase their income through effort and expand their investment in proportion. On the other hand, rather than the club's efforts to generate profits, the K-League tends to choose an easy way to adjust the finances by reducing the players' labor costs.

Secretary-General Kim Hoon-ki stressed that `What the K-League needs is not an artificial upper limit that hinders growth, but rather a `Korean-style SCR' system that encourages clubs to invest more when they are self-sustaining and increase their income.'




Finally, the Korea Federation of Players urged the K-League Federation and the club to talk. Just as the English Professional Footballers Association (PFA) made a strong voice in the discussion of EPL's financial regulations and this affected the actual voting results, the players' voices must be reflected in the K-League's system change.

"It cannot be possible to exclude players who are involved in discussing financial regulations directly related to the rights and interests of the players," said Kim Hoon-ki, secretary-general of the Korea Professional Players Association. "The Korea Professional Players Association is ready to participate in discussions at any time to create reasonable financial guidelines for the sustainable development of the K-League." The federation strongly demanded that the system be established through dialogue with the players' association, not through unilateral notification.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.