[Exclusive] Major Corruption Scandal in Soccer Player Selection... Prosecution Raids Professional Team Coach

A famous football agency, which manages national team-level players, has been confirmed to be under prosecution investigation for allegations of player selection corruption. The football community is closely monitoring the prosecution's investigation, fearing it could escalate into a 'major corruption scandal.'

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According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Criminal Division 9 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Hyun-ah) conducted a search and seizure at the office of Lim Jong-heon, the manager of Ansan Greeners FC, a professional football second division team, on the 20th.

Manager Lim is suspected of receiving tens of millions of won from football agent A, who worked as a manager at Thailand's Navy FC during 2018-2019, in exchange for selecting two Korean players. The prosecution reportedly obtained other criminal cases involving the agency to which Agent A belongs from the police and, during the investigation, identified through account tracking and other means the circumstances of Agent A delivering money to Manager Lim, leading to the search and seizure.

The prosecution is expanding the investigation, believing that several professional clubs and university teams, in addition to Manager Lim, received money and requests from Agent A and his agency and selected players accordingly. On the 16th, a former manager B, who led a famous university football team in Seoul, was summoned for questioning regarding the matter. In the football community, there are talks that two to three clubs that procured players through Agent A and the agency are under the prosecution's investigation.

Im Jong-heon, Ansan Greeners FC Head Coach
[Photo by Korea Professional Football League]

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The prosecution reportedly began investigating after detecting signs of scouting corruption in university football teams two to three years ago and, judging that the cases recently handed over by the police are largely related, proceeded with the investigation. The agency under investigation has scouted many university players and placed them in domestic football teams, producing several World Cup representatives, and is known to have wielded significant influence in the football world.

Meanwhile, the Ansan Greeners club notified Manager Lim of his dismissal immediately after the prosecution's search and seizure. However, Manager Lim is reportedly refusing the dismissal, citing the ongoing prosecution investigation.

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