By Andrew Warshaw
February 1 – Football’s Chung dynasty is pitching to return to the top table of FIFA with the news that South Korean FA chief Chung Mong-gyu is running for a seat on the ruling Council.
Nominations for three available Asian places on the FIFA Council closed earlier this week and the AFC is expected to reveal the names tomorrow once they have been ratified in what promises to be a hotly disputed contest.
But the Korean FA has jumped the gun by announcing that its president, younger cousin of banned former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon – who at one point hoped to succeed Sepp Blatter – has thrown his hat into the ring.
The FIFA Council, which replaced the Executive Committee last year, has 37 members, with 12 newly created seats allocated to six confederations. The AFC, which was given three additional seats, originally planned to hold the election last September but postponed it to May this year just before the FIFA Congress in Bahrain.
Chung originally submitted his candidacy for the September election but withdrew in July after he was named chef de mission for South Korea at the Rio Olympics.
The KFA quoted him as saying he has now decided to have a second crack at winning a seat.
“Because of the election postponement, I’ve got an opportunity to run for the seat again,” Chung said through his federation. “I will meet with various football officials in Asia and explain my vision and sincerity for the development of football.”
Chung has been at the helm of the KFA since 2013 and, if elected, will return his family to both Asia’s and FIFA’s inner circle. Chung Mong-joon, who was one of the most influential figures in world football administration, served on the old FIFA exco from 1994 to 2010 and fronted his country’s failed bid for the 2022 World Cup.
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