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Sports Ministry, K League to inspect pitch quality after fielding player complaints

Published: 27 Mar. 2025, 12:54 Updated: 27 Mar. 2025, 12:58

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

The Seoul World Stadium pitch in western Seoul on March 5 [YONHAP]

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the K League will inspect 27 K League pitches starting in April in an effort to straighten out problems that have endangered players, the ministry announced Thursday.

The ministry and the league have already installed a K League department in charge of pitch management that will analyze problems and make suggestions to improve conditions.

The department will also make stricter guidelines on how a team should manage its pitch in the long term while considering factors such as the field's characteristics and climate.

The move comes in the wake of player complaints about the quality of K League surfaces multiple times, including national team regular picks.

Korean national team captain Son Heung-min pointed out the poor conditions at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi, after drawing 1-1 with Jordan on Tuesday, saying, “When conditions on our home soil get in the way, then I wonder where we should get our home field advantage.”

A pitch problem has also persisted at Seoul World Cup Stadium, home of FC Seoul, as captain Jesse Lingard nearly sustained an injury during a K League 1 match against Gimcheon Sangmu earlier this month after tripping over a part of the turf that had been peeled off.

The ministry will also run a project with local governments this year through which they can actively support pitch improvement and expand the number of stadiums subject to inspections in the future.

“The pitch condition not only has a direct impact on player performance, but it also directly affects whether players can avoid injury, how much fans enjoy games and the overall quality of the games,” a ministry official in charge of the inspection project was quoted as saying in a press release on Thursday. “We will come up with a plan to realistically improve stadiums’ pitch conditions through this inspection and form a continuous management system by reinforcing communication with the K League, clubs and those in charge of stadium operations.”

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]