Men's soccer team plays cards 'for money' at Asian Cup training quarters

The Korea Football Association has launched a fact-finding investigation into the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup, which ended last month, as some national team players and Korea Football Association employees were found to have played cards during off-season training.

According to the Korea Football Association's explanation on the 13th, multiple national team players and one of the association's team leader-level administrative staff played cards at their accommodation during the off-season training in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before the tournament. The Korea Football Association emphasized, "It was true that I played cards with money, but it was not for gambling, but for paying for drinks."

An official from the Korea Football Association said, "When participating in tournaments with a long call-up period such as the World Cup and the Asian Cup, we have set up and operated a resting room so that players can spend their free time inside their accommodation," adding, "The resting room of this tournament was equipped with cards, Go, board games, yutnori, playstation, and karaoke equipment."

"At the time of the national team's call-up for the Asian Cup, coach Jurgen Klinsmann gave all support staff internal guidelines saying, 'Minimize contact with the players if it is not necessary so that the players can concentrate on the competition,'" he said. "However, there was a question within that the employee had improperly performed his duties as a team leader, such as violating internal guidelines, and the results of the investigation confirmed this."

The Korea Football Association held a personnel committee meeting on April 20 and dismissed the employee from his position. The association said it will hold an additional personnel committee and decide whether to discipline the employee based on the results of its investigation into those involved and those around him. 안전놀이터 추천