Reporter Park Dae-ro = The regulation for compulsory participation in professional football K-League games for players under the age of 22 was again embroiled in controversy. University soccer coaches took collective action to repeal the rule.
The Korean University Football Leaders Association (University Leaders Association) announced the ‘Statement on the System Improvement of the Korea Football Association’ ahead of the 59th Spring University Football Federation held in Tongyeong, Gyeongnam on the 10th.
In a statement, they said, “The U-22 compulsory participation regulations have made it difficult for 22-year-old and 23-year-old college football players to get a job.”
“It is more difficult for players who have graduated from college to advance to the pros because they do not belong to that age group (U-22),” he said. It’s not a good thing,” he criticized.
They argue that the K-League’s mandatory participation of under 22 years old is killing college football.
This regulation, which is unprecedented in the world, includes the mandatory selection of at least one player under the age of 22 as a starter in a K-League match. At least one player under the age of 22 must be on the starting list and at least one on the waiting list. If two or more players under the age of 22 start, or if one substitute is used as a substitute, the team will be given up to five substitutes per game.
If an under-22 player makes only one starter and there are no substitutes, he can only make up to three substitutions. If many under-22 players start, the number of substitutions per game will be reduced to two.
The origin of the 22-year-old player compulsory participation regulation was the 23-year-old player participation regulation that began in 2013. In 2012, when the current president of the Korea Football Association, Chung Mong-kyu, was the president of the Korea Professional Football Federation, he proposed a regulation for players under the age of 23 and implemented it in 2013. From 2019, the K-League has been subject to a mandatory participation rule for players under the age of 22.
There have been arguments for and against this rule.
The Professional Football Federation is proud to say that this regulation created a virtuous cycle structure that consistently produces young and talented players in line with youth development policies.
In addition, it is evaluated that this regulation has led to the international competition performance of the national team at each age level. There were achievements such as gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games and runner-up in the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup.
Min-jae Kim and In-bum Hwang, the main players of the current national team, have steadily gained opportunities to play in the K-League based on this system. Lee Dong-kyung, Oh Se-hoon, Cho Kyu-seong, Kim Dae-won, and Jeong Seung-won, who played an active part in the Tokyo Olympics soccer team Kim Hak-beom, are among the beneficiaries.
There is also an aspect of preventing the outflow of talent overseas by allowing promising players to get opportunities to participate in the K-League.
However, some criticism has been raised.
It has been evaluated that the level of the league has fallen as players who are not outstanding among players under the age of 22 are put into the game.
On the contrary, the ransom of players under the age of 22 with excellent skills has become abnormally expensive. It has occurred that clubs that are trying to improve their performance while complying with the rules for participation under the age of 22 pay abnormally large annual salaries to young players with excellent skills.
The college football world took a direct hit. As more players go to the K-League or overseas leagues after graduating from high school, the K-League made this rule, making it more difficult for university teams to find players. 메이저놀이터
College players who did not become pros by the age of 22 have to accept a drop in their ransom. There are also an increasing number of cases where players end their careers at the age of 22.
There are also tricks to abide by the rules. Some K-League teams are mobilizing expedient methods, such as starting two players under the age of 22 and replacing them within 10 minutes. Former national team coach Paulo Bento publicly criticized this early substitution before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The compulsory participation rule for players under the age of 22, whose evaluations are mixed, will be applied unchanged to the K-League this season.
With college coaches taking collective action, it is expected that attention from inside and outside the soccer world will be focused on whether or not the rule will be abolished.