Gyeonggi-do Provides 2.5 Billion Won Support to Citizen Pro Soccer Team... First by a Metropolitan Government

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will provide a total of 2.5 billion KRW to improve the poor football environment of citizen professional football clubs in the province and enhance the players' performance. This is the first time in the history of professional football that a metropolitan local government directly supports citizen clubs within its region.

On the 1st, Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung held the 'Business Agreement Ceremony for Supporting the Dreams, Opportunities, and Hopes of Footballers Together with Gyeonggi Province and Citizen Professional Football Clubs' at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office with the heads of five citizen professional football clubs in the province.

At the ceremony, Kim Ho-gon, head of Suwon FC; Kim Seong-nam, head of Bucheon FC1995; Kim Bok-sik, head of Ansan Greeners FC; Jang Cheol-hyeok, head of FC Anyang; Park Jae-il, acting representative of Seongnam FC; Han Woong-su, vice president of the Korea Professional Football Federation; Park Moon-sung, K League commentator; and Choi Man-sik, chairman of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council attended.

Governor Lee and the five club heads signed the 'Business Agreement for the Development of Citizen Professional Football Clubs and the Revitalization of Football' and exchanged opinions on ways to develop the K League through the activation of citizen clubs.

Governor Lee said, "While serving as mayor of Seongnam, I acted as the owner of Seongnam FC for several years and came to believe that professional football and professional clubs have great growth potential as future industries. The problem is that interest in professional football is strong only for strong teams and insufficient for local hometown teams. Especially, citizen football clubs always have to compete with corporate clubs, which makes it difficult."

He added, "Citizen clubs are indeed very helpful in enhancing the unity, cohesion, and pride of local residents. I arranged this meeting with the thought that it would be good if professional football clubs could grow among citizens at the provincial level and contribute to the development of professional football in Korea. I promise to actively support citizen football clubs so that they can become beloved entities among citizens."

Park Jae-il, acting representative of Seongnam FC, said, "Despite the difficult economic situation caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we are grateful for your interest and financial support for citizen football clubs. Taking this agreement as an opportunity, we will strive to contribute to the development of Korean professional football and the revitalization of football culture in Gyeonggi Province through fair and transparent management."

According to the agreement, Gyeonggi Province and citizen professional football clubs will actively work to improve the football environment and expand opportunities for youth football dreamers and promising players to participate in tryouts.

Furthermore, Gyeonggi Province and citizen clubs agreed to actively cooperate to create a rational and fair football ecosystem that can provide 'dreams to youth,' 'opportunities to young adults,' and 'hope to all.'

The province will especially support financially and facility-wise disadvantaged citizen professional football clubs by providing 500 million KRW per club, totaling 2.5 billion KRW in local government operating subsidies this year. These funds will be used for training camps, tournament participation, and youth player training support.

Meanwhile, since 2019, Gyeonggi Province has been steadily supporting the activation of citizen clubs and the discovery of outstanding players by providing youth club players and coaches from the five citizen clubs in the province with opportunities for training and friendly matches with Bayer Leverkusen of the German Bundesliga.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.