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K League's Football Industry Academy, other programs educate first-time employees, executives alike

Published: 04 May. 2026, 20:00

Students at the Football Industry Academy meet with the graduates from the academy during a conference in 2025. [K LEAGUE]

The most popular school for launching a career in Korea’s sports industry is not Seoul National University, Yonsei University or Korea University. Instead, it is the K League’s own Football Industry Academy, launched by the league in 2013 to train future talent.

The academy targets junior and senior university students hoping to work in the sports industry. Though it is a short-term training program, comprising 5-hour sessions over 15 weekends for a total of 75 hours, its results have been striking.

“Around 100 academy graduates work in front offices across the 29 clubs in both the K League 1 and K League 2,” said Park Woo-in, a team manager at the K League. The K League 1 has 12 clubs, while the K League 2 has 17.

“That means each club has around three or four [graduates]. The academy has produced about 800 graduates so far, and 30 to 40 percent of them now work for a wide range of sports-related organizations, including the K League; the Korea Football Association and professional baseball, basketball, volleyball and esports associations; advertising agencies; sports media channels; and sportswear brands. More recently, one graduate even joined the International Olympic Committee.”

For example, Lee Sang-ki, a former goalkeeper for Suwon FC who belongs to the academy’s 10th graduating class, now runs a startup that operates an app which football players can use to assess the severity of their injuries.

“A club owner asked me to recommend a good person to serve as [the K League’s] secretary general back in 2012, but no one suitable came to mind,” Han Woong-soo, the vice president of the K League, said regarding the academy’s origins.

“Nothing works well unless talented people gather in the field. That made us think the league itself had to step up and cultivate talent.”

Han’s vision became a reality about 14 years later, when Kim Chan-gyu, a graduate of the academy’s first class, was hired through open recruitment last month as secretary general of Hwaseong FC in K League 2. While most alumni are still junior-level staff members in their workplace, Kim has now moved into a role often regarded as the pinnacle of club administration.

“Our goal is education that can be applied immediately in the field,” manager Park said.

Students at the Football Industry Academy [K LEAGUE]

This is also the academy’s secret to success.

“I was able to gain firsthand experience from people working in the field,” said Lee Seong-jong, who completed the course in 2022 and began working for the Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2023.

“There’s also a lot to learn from peers as we discuss real issues [within the industry]. The best part was carrying out actual projects in connection with clubs.”

Through academy-club partnership projects, FC Anyang produced a perfume reflecting the club’s identity, Seongnam created an online matchday magazine and Jeonbuk FC developed a model for ticket prices last year.

The academy has also resulted in a well-established network.

“These days, when club staff meet for the first time, I often see them greet each other by asking which class of the academy they were in,” one football representative said. “The league also holds an annual event that invites academy graduates to reconnect.”

Even when an investor offered to buy the Football Industry Academy brand name several years ago, Park declined the gesture immediately.

“Profit is not the goal, so we turned it down,” he said, adding that the courses used to be free.

“When we ran it for free, there was a side effect — weaker motivation to participate — so now we charge only the minimum actual cost.” The tuition, according to Park, is currently 300,000 won ($200).

K-League team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors plays against Bucheon FC 1995 on March 1, the opening day of the 2026 season. [YONHAP]

The K League runs a total of 18 programs per year, from courses for first-time employees within the industry to those that aim to broaden the vision of club executives. Annual enrollment reaches around 1,500 people.

“The marketing and public relations programs for club staff are drawing particularly strong interest,” Park said. “In the marketing program, we invited working-level staff from companies and institutions such as Starbucks, the National Museum of Korea, Patagonia and The Pinkfong Company to share their knowledge, and the response [from participants] was very positive.”

He added, “For club chief executives and general managers, we invited a representative from the J.League club Urawa Red Diamonds, who generated 100 billion won in revenue, to give a lecture. As data has become increasingly important in football, we also invited a data scientist from the J.League last year to share methods of data operations with the K League.”

The K League, which had 16 clubs in 2012, has rapidly expanded in quantitative terms to 29 clubs. According to Park, the ultimate purpose of its academy and other educational programs is to raise the level of the K League, not that of individual clubs.

“During training, we stress to club representatives that apart from the 90 minutes when we meet on the field, we are colleagues working toward the same goal,” Park said. “The final aim of the education is for clubs to share what they do well and help the K League develop overall.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE HAY-JUNE [[email protected]]