Korea, China, Japan to Form a Northeast Professional Soccer League

Korea, China, Japan professional teams to form a northeast professional soccer league.

The government officially requested the Korea Football Association (KFA) to consider forming such a professional league in order to fully utilize the 10 soccer stadiums build specifically for the FIFA World Cup as well as maximizing the economic benefits, according to the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and KFA on June 14.

A source at MOFE said, “KFA has been considering increasing professional football exchange among the three countries since 2000,” and added, “As soon as the World Cup is over, MOFE, KFA and MFA will come up with more concrete plan.”

The source said, “Direct and indirect economic benefits of the professional soccer league in the next ten years would be several trillion Won,” and added, “It should also contribute to finalizing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) among the three countries.

Two ways of forming the league is under consideration. One would be to completely integrate Korea’s K-League, Japan’s J-League and the Chinese professional league, and the other is to hold a league among several professional teams from each country in an international competition.

The government has decided propose holding matches in the three countries with matches primarily held in the World Cup stadiums in Korea and Japan.

MOFE is expects little additional investment in constructing stadiums, as Korea already has 10 stadiums including the Sangam Stadium, and Japan also has 10 stadiums, while China is in the process of constructing stadiums in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

MOFE has agreed to fully support tax incentives and transferring of earnings, while the MFA will handle international negotiations.

Joong-Hyun Park sanjuck@donga.com