During the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America, civic groups filed complaints against representatives of city and provincial K League clubs who flew business class on taxpayer money and visited the Mexican resort city of Cancun.
The Institute for Economic Justice and the Lawyers Monitoring Prosecutors held a news conference titled "Criminal complaint for breach of trust against nine local government soccer club CEOs over Cancun vacation and business class seats" at the National Assembly's press center at 10 a.m. on the 4th, hosted by Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker Kim Jae-won. They filed complaints with the Korean National Police Agency against each club's representative on charges including breach of trust in the course of duty, embezzlement in the course of duty, and violations of the Act on the Management of Local Government subsidies.
According to the civic groups, the Korea Professional Football League (KPFL) sent 25 people, including representatives of 21 clubs and league executives, to Mexico, where the World Cup was held, from June 18 to 26 under the banner of the "2026 K League Academy–CEO course." The total expense was 710.07 million won, split evenly between the league and the clubs.
The only confirmed program was attending the three group-stage matches of the Korea national team, but in reality a two-night, junket-style schedule in the world-renowned resort city of Cancun was included. This schedule was not listed in the official notice distributed to the clubs. Participants held seminars in Cancun in the morning and spent free time in the afternoon touring historic sites, among other activities.
In particular, some city and provincial club representatives chose business class despite guidance that "choosing economy class would save about 6 million won." Of the 21 participating clubs, 11 were city and provincial clubs run on citizens' taxes, and among them, representatives from nine clubs used business class tickets costing 15.924 million won per person. The expense was executed from each club's budget.
The city and provincial clubs that flew business class were Gangwon, Gyeongnam, Gimpo, Daegu, Bucheon, Seongnam, Ansan, Anyang, and Incheon. Only two city and provincial clubs, Suwon FC and Yongin FC, used economy class.
The Institute for Economic Justice and the Lawyers Monitoring Prosecutors judged that the execution of business-class seats and the junket by nine local government professional soccer clubs constituted acts that violated the duty to faithfully manage the funds of corporations run on citizens' taxes, thereby obtaining property benefits and causing damage to each corporation.
In their complaint, the two groups requested investigations including: securing the travel expense regulations and payment drafts of the nine clubs; identifying the funding sources for the travel expenses (contributions and subsidies); clarifying how the Cancun schedule was set through investigations of the league and the event's travel agency; and recovering improperly executed amounts. They are also considering, separately from the criminal complaint, filing a resident audit request against the relevant local governments.
At the previously held "Korea Football Association hearing" in the National Assembly, Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker Kim Jae-won, who pointed out the local government professional clubs' "Cancun vacation," said, "They say there isn't enough budget to spend on players and youth, but they spared no taxpayer money on club representatives' business-class seats and stays in Cancun."
Kim added, "This is not a simple lapse in ethics but a serious matter of privately wasting public assets," and said, "Investigators must thoroughly examine the nine clubs' travel expense regulations and approval processes, the sources of travel funds, and the decision-making process for the Cancun schedule to clearly determine whether the law was broken and who is responsible."