The Korea Football Association (KFA) formally apologised on August 8, 2026, following revelations that it provided sexual entertainment to foreign referees during seven international matches held in South Korea between March 2011 and March 2012 [1, 2, 3].
Around 10 to 20 overseas referees and match officials were involved in the scandal, which included World Cup qualifiers and 2012 London Olympics qualifying matches against Oman and Qatar [1, 3, 4, 5]. The KFA documented that inappropriate expenses for sexual services and massages were paid using corporate credit cards at parlours in Seoul, Ulsan, Changwon, and other cities[s1-s3,s9,s10].
The controversy erupted after South Korean broadcasters MBC and JTBC exposed a leaked 2016 audit report by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The report found that corporate cards were misused by the KFA for sexual entertainment, but the findings were not made public until 2026[s1-s3,s8,s10,s11,s12].
KFA acknowledged the misconduct stemmed from incidents more than a decade ago that many current staff were not aware of. The Association said, "We deeply apologise for causing concern over a series of issues involving the association, from a National Assembly hearing and the unprecedented police search and seizure to reports about events from more than a decade ago that even many of our staff members were unaware of" [2].
The sexual entertainment reportedly arose from foreign referees’ requests upon arrival at airports or hotels, with a KFA official saying, "Massage fees indeed included costs for sexual services but foreign referees requested this, and we simply accommodated them" [4]. The official added foreign referees sought such services to address physical discomfort and emotional well-being after long flights [4].
The KFA stressed that such inappropriate conduct and the use of corporate cards for these purposes no longer occur, noting it reinstituted stricter controls on credit card use [3, 6].
The scandal compounds ongoing criticism of the KFA following South Korea's early exit at the 2026 World Cup, amid scrutiny over coaching appointments and alleged interference by former KFA president Chung Mong-gyu [1, 2, 7]. Police raided the KFA offices on August 6 while investigating allegations related to the World Cup controversies [1, 3, 8].
On August 9, 2026, the Japan Football Association launched an investigation into four Japanese referees alleged to have received sexual services paid for by the KFA during the same 2011-2012 matches. One of the referees is a senior member of Japan's referees committee [9, 7, 10].
