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Organizational Culture, Image & Identity in Professional South Korean Club

Football - A Case Study on K-League and K-League Clubs with Different
Ownership Models

Thesis · May 2020

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31990.22082

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 Master’s Thesis

Organizational Culture, Image & Identity in Professional

South Korean Club Football – A Case Study on K-League and
K-League Clubs with Different Ownership Models

Nikolas Sonneborn

Field of Study: Modern East Asian Studies (Master of Arts)

Email: nsonneborn@mailbox.org
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nikolas-sonneborn/

Frankfurt am Main, May 27th, 2020

Abstract
Like many sports in South Korea, football has grown through international
competitions and nationalism. The local football franchise, the K-League, however,
has its difficulties becoming rooted in Korean popular culture and so it has been
mostly disregarded in scholarship - despite unique characteristics. As it is argued that
particularly the interrelationships of football organizations, football fans, and their
processes of shaping K-League football are worth to be studied, this research aims to
examine the history & culture of football in Korea, ownership, management &
structure in K-League football, as well as images and experiences of individuals.
Hereof, a modified version of Hatch & Schultz’s Organizational Identity Dynamics
Model (2002) allows researching organizational processes linked with individual fan
images and eventually to illustrate culture, image, and identity in K-League football.
To refer to organizational and fan perspectives, data was collected through a survey
and qualitative interviews with authorities of South Korean football organizations, an
ethnographic field study at football games in South Korea, as well as through
studying narratives of Korean football fans. In this regard, the K-League clubs
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC, Bucheon FC 1995, and Daejeon Hana Citizen FC were
selected for more detailed case studies. The results imply that the organizational
culture in K-League football is mainly either centered on the commercial interests of
parent companies or political interests of local governments, given that relevant
organizations respond to images of Korean football fans only to a limited extent. To
grow more popular, this study suggests to relevant organizations to facilitate a more
appropriate cultural framework for local franchise football in Korea. The
organizations may consider to retreat some of their power and allow Korean football
fans to set directions in developing a ‘Korean’ interpretation of local franchise
football.

I
Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Sport in South Korea & the State of Research 1

2. Research Design 5

2.1 Theoretical Framework 5

2.2 Research Objective & Questions 8

2.3 Hypothesis 9

2.4 Data Collection & Analysis 9

2.4.1 Ethnographic Fieldwork 10

2.4.2 Survey, Interviews & Other Narratives 11

2.5 Content & Structure of this Research 12

3. Historical & Cultural Background of K-League Football 13

3.1 Brief Overview of South Korea’s Sports Development

in the 20th Century 13

3.2 Historical Development of the K-League 15

4. Organizational Culture in K-League Football: Ownership,

Management & Structure 19

4.1 K-League Management & Structure 20

4.2 KFA’s role in K-League Football 22

4.3 General Overview: Ownership Models & Club

Management 23

4.3.1 Company-owned Clubs 23

4.3.2 Citizen-owned Clubs 24

4.3.3 Sangju Sangmu as an Exceptional Case 26

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 4.4 In-depth View on a Company-owned Club: Jeonbuk
Hyundai Motors FC 26

4.5 Identity Claims Throughout the Years: Club Emblem

Changes of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC 30

4.6 In-depth View on a Citizen-owned Club: Bucheon FC

1995 33

4.7 Summary & Conclusion – Organizational Culture,

Expressing & Reflecting 35

5. Organizational Image in K-League Football: the Perspective

of South Korean Football Fans 39

5.1 Rather Negative Images in K-League Football 39

5.2 Rather Positive Images in K-League Football & the

Researcher’s Personal Images: The Football Event 41

5.2.1 K-League Football as a Relaxing Event 41

5.2.2 Guided Actions and Emotions 43

5.2.3 Supporter Groups and Their Behavior 45

5.2.4 Other Factors for Attending a K-League Game 47

5.3 Images on History, Tradition, and Ownership – Case Study

on Daejeon Hana Citizen FC’s Change of Ownership 49

5.4 Summary & Conclusion: Organizational Image, Impressing

& Mirroring 52

6. Conclusion & Practical Implications 55

Bibliography 63

Appendix – Survey & Interview Questions 66

III
List of Symbols

CEO – Chief Executive Officer

CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility

EFL – English Football League

EPL – English Premier League

FA – Football Association

FC – Football Club

FIFA – Fédération Internationale de Football Association

GmbH – Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (company with limited liability)

IOC – International Olympic Committee

J.League – Japanese professional football league

KAF – Korean Armed Forces

KBO – Korea Baseball Organization

KFA – Korea Football Association

K-League – Korean professional football League

RB Leipzig – RasenBallsport Leipzig

SNS – Social Networking Service

WK-League – Korean women’s football league

List of Figures

Figure 1: Organizational Identity Dynamics Model (p. 6)

Figure 2: Modified Version of Hatch & Schultz’s Organizational Identity

Dynamics Model (p. 8)

Figure 3: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC's Emblem Changes (p. 30)

List of Tables

Table 1: Historical Changes in K-League Structure (1983-2011) (p. 18)

IV
1. Introduction: Sport in South Korea & the State of Research
Scholars devoting to socio-cultural aspects of South Korean sport have mostly
researched the country’s sports history & culture from a national perspective. A look
at the development of sport in Korea in the 20th century shows that this is not without
reason as sport has become connected to nationalism and the striving for
independence. In international sports competition, Korea’s historical conflicts of the
past and present play an important role. Victories against China ‘represent freedom
from the past threat of bondage by the gigantic and powerful China [...]’ (Mangan et
al., 2013, p. 1139), and Japan's colonial rule over Korea ranks Japan as an
'archenemy' in international competition. (Tosa, 2015) Furthermore is the wide range
of international sports events held in Korea based on the country’s desire to present
itself to the world society as a strong and healthy nation. (e.g. Hong 2011; Mangan et
al., 2013) International sports spectacles such as The Asian Games (Seoul 1986,
Busan 2002, Incheon 2014), the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, the 2018 Winter
Olympics in Pyeongchang, the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, the
2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup, just to name the most prestigious events hosted
by Korea, support this assertion. If a South Korean male athlete wins a medal at such
a prestigious international sports event he may be exempted from the military service
that men otherwise must fulfill. During the 20th century traits such as physical
strength were seen as necessary to grow as a successful nation and enhance national
prestige in sports competition; thus they were promoted by the government. (e.g.
Hong 2010 & 2011; Ok & Park, 2014; Tosa, 2015) Eventually, the ‘nation’ became
the cultural fundament of how sport is conceived among Korean society. Korea’s
participation in international sports events is marked by nationalism, antagonism
especially against Japan, the desire for international recognition, and politicization.

Like most sport in Korea, football has also grown through international competitions,
nationalism, but also the Japanese colonial oppression: ‘Thus, since the Japanese
colonial period, Koreans have become popularized as ‘Soccer = National Anthem’
and ‘Our Team = National Team’’ (Ok & Park, 2017, p. 1974). Local professional
football therefore has it’s difficulties to become rooted in Korean popular culture and

1
so it has been mostly disregarded in recent scholarship. Only a minority of scholars
such as Ok & Park (2017), Jang & Lee (2015) as well as Kim & Kwak (2015)
focused on cultural characteristics of the professional football league in South Korea,
namely the K-League (in Hangul: K리그). Individual experiences have also come too
short in Korean sports scholarship: Often, Koreans have been researched in the form
of a collective and the nation while mostly disregarding what the sports event could
mean to the individual, and so has the Korean nation become the main narrative in
recent scholarship. There have been few scholars who approached South Korea’s
sport and football culture from an ethnographic perspective which considered
personal experiences of the researcher and other individuals though. In this regard,
Cho Han (2004), Joo (2006), and Whang (2006) are among scholars, whose studies
were part of a wave of articles concerning the transformation of public culture during
the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup. However, first of all, such research
approaches have remained a minority, and second of all, they only took a prestigious
international sports spectacle into consideration. A study with a comparable approach
in the field of South Korea’s local franchise football does not exist in English-
speaking scholarship. However, this particular research is based on the idea that
Korean sports culture is not just limited to prestigious international competitions,
politicization, and nationalist ideologies. So far domestic competitions, public
culture, and individual experiences have not been of particular research interest in
terms of professional sport in South Korea. Therefore it can be argued that not much
is known about what sports organizations (e.g. football clubs) and relevant fan
communities contribute to the processes of shaping the country’s sports culture.

Sports studies have been mostly focused on Europe and America, while rather
disregarding Asian sports cultures in general. Thus there is a gap between sports
communication, Asian studies in general, and Korean studies in particular, that is
worth to be explored ‘in a way that reflects the historicity and multiplicity of sport in
Asian societies as well as cultures’ (Cho & Leary, 2012, p. 1324). Cho & Ahn (2018)
argue that ‘current studies in the emerging field of Korean sports communication
seem to leave many topics untouched. […] Korean sports communication is showing

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uneven development depending on its areas of research. For instance, the theme of
sport, globalization, and nationalism is arguably the most vibrant topic within Korean
sports communication […]’ (p. 384). They claim that interdisciplinary approaches
will enrich the scope of sports communication - particular in conjunction with Korean
studies. (Ibid., 399 f.) In this regards, especially South Korea’s local football
franchise, namely the K-League, deserves to be deeply explored, as it ‘possesses
some unique characteristics that other team sport leagues in North America and
Europe do not. Thus, the K-League can serve as a laboratory for examination of
intriguing issues that have not been previously studied’ (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 75).
The public support for the Korean national football team has been growing ever
since, but the local franchise football faces another reality. In the 2019 season by
average 7.999 people visited a football game of the K-League 1, the highest division
in South Korean professional football, and in 2018 the numbers were at a record low
of 5.412 visitors per game by average. (transfermarkt.de, A) In contrast to such
numbers are stories of enthusiastic and highly emotional experiences during the 2002
Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup in Korea when millions of people celebrated the
success of the South Korean national football team on the streets while feeling free
from socio-cultural limitations. This raised questions about the ubiquitous perception
of nation, society, and public culture in the aftermath of the World Cup, and now the
2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup is an integral part of Korea’s history. (Cho Han,
2004; Joo, 2006; Whang, 2006) Football is capable of unfolding its power to move
the masses in Korea, so the national franchise football should not be ignored in
scholarship as there is potential for it to affect the public culture of a massive
population as well as economic developments. (Cho, 2013, p. 581)

Where does the apparent contradiction between the national team and the K-League
originate from? Ok & Park (2017, p. 1966) argue that the research on the disparity in
popularity should go beyond a mere study of management strategies or marketing
methods and first explore the cultural conditions of football in South Korea. To
highlight the importance of Korea’s cultural conditions, the characteristics of the
globalized sport football must be simultaneously researched from the perspective of

3
the global and the local ‘to focus on the transformations of local societies and the
people who stay firmly rooted in their local place while also undergoing structural
and cultural globalization’ (Cho, Leary & Jackson, 2012, p. 423). Among the cultural
conditions induced by local and global processes that have shaped the K-League and
make it quite uncommon compared to European leagues are strongly political origins
of K-League football, frequent relocations of a club’s hometown in the past, a ‘tour
system’ in the early stages of the K-League when clubs did not have a host city with
home games being held in different cities throughout their home region, and club-
ownership models that mainly classify the clubs either as subsidiaries of large
corporations or as publicly owned companies (Kang, Yoshida & Liu, 2019, p. 185).
The ownership models in Asian football leagues and particular in the K-League are
an interesting feature that other professional football leagues around the world have
not adopted in this form, but the efficiency of such ownership models in terms of a
healthy football environment remains to be seen. (Humphreys & Watanabe, 2015, p.
23) Hence, ‘[through an] examination of ownership structures, some areas of future
research have emerged such as the analysis of the league vs. team combined with
governance vs. management’ (Kang, Yoshida & Liu, 2019, p. 185). Given the unique
characteristics of South Korea’s local franchise football, researching its culture,
image, and identity offers exciting insights into the world of football that have not
been studied before. By focusing on the correlation of history and culture of football
in Korea, team- & league-management in professional club football, different club-
ownership models, while at the same time stressing the importance of individual fan
experiences and images which have been missing in most studies so far, this research
will shed more light on the socio-culture of Korean sport and particularly K-League
football, and eventually reveal new opportunities for researching the correlation of
sport, culture, and organizations in general. To do so, this research refers to
organizational processes in the K-League office as well as K-League clubs, draws on
individual experiences and narratives, and offers an analysis which does not approach
K-League football isolated from other parts of South Korea’s sport & football culture,
but as part of a comprehensive and profound cultural concept. By doing so, K-
League’s unique characteristics such as the club’s ownership models are going to be

4
deeply explored from a perspective that considers the interaction of local culture and
processes of globalization. Eventually this research offers practical implications on
how the K-League could make use of the results and further promote a healthy
football environment as well as a growing league business.

2. Research Design
2.1 Theoretical Framework
To connect organizational processes with individual experiences this research
requires an adequate framework. Wolfe et al. (2005) argue that the context of sport
‘provides a vehicle for understanding the affiliation of individuals with an
organization’ (p. 202) and that using the concept of organizational identity processes
is a feasible option for ‘[enhancing] our understanding of fan behavior in a sports
context’ (Ibid., p. 203). Following this, a modified version of Hatch & Schultz’s
‘Organizational Identity Dynamics Model’ (2002) serves as an overall theoretical
framework for researching professional South Korean football from different
perspectives: To explain their model, Hatch & Schultz themselves refer to Jenkins
(1996) who defines identity as ‘an ongoing and, in practice simultaneous, synthesis of
(internal) self-definition and the (external) definitions of oneself offered by others.’
(Jenkins, 1996, as cited in Hatch & Schultz, 2002, p. 993) Moreover they claim that
not just individuals but also organizations have an identity. Applying Jenkins’ notion
in the context of organizations, Hatch & Schultz argue that ‘at any moment identity is
the immediate result of conversation between organizational (cultural) self-
expressions and mirrored stakeholder images.’ (Ibid., p. 1004) According to the
model, identity, culture, and image are linked with each other through the processes
mirroring, reflecting, expressing, and impressing (see Figure 1). They define
organizational culture as ‘the tacit organizational understandings (e.g. assumptions,
beliefs and values) that contextualize efforts to make meaning, including internal self-
definition’. (Ibid., p. 996) Organizational image is defined as ‘the set of views on the
organization held by those who act as the organization’s ‘others’’ (Ibid., p. 995).
Mirroring can be identified as the process by which the others’ images influence the
organizational identity, reflecting as the process by which an organization embeds an

5
identity in its cultural understandings, expressing as the process by which
organizational culture is expressed through identity claims, and impressing as the
process by which expressions of identity leave impressions on others (Ibid., p. 991).
Hatch & Schultz moreover explain that ‘a healthy organizational identity results from
processes that integrate the interests and activities of all relevant stakeholder groups’
while ‘organizational identity dynamics are balanced between the influences of
culture and image’ (Ibid., p. 1005). Nissen (2015) applied Hatch & Schultz’s model in
the context of a Danish football club’s identity construction, and demonstrated the
practicability and effectiveness of the model in a sports context.

Figure 1: Organizational Identity Dynamics Model

(Hatch & Schultz, 2002, p. 991)

However, this study will not just cover one but several organizations to research the
organizational culture, image, and identity in K-League football. Therefore, applying
a modified version of this model seems to be very suitable in terms of depicting a
relevant piece of South Korea’s football franchise: The Korea Football Association
(KFA) is the governing body of football in South Korea. As of December 2019, the
number of players officially registered with the KFA was 163.338 and the total
number of registered teams was 5.054. (KFA, 2020) The KFA is responsible for the
women’s and men’s A- as well as youth national football teams and the development
of young football talents (e.g. KFA, 2019; Kim, 2015). The K-League is a subsidiary
of the KFA and the governing body of the local football franchise with 12 teams in
the K-League 1 and 10 teams in the K-League 2. The 22 professional football clubs,

6
the K-League, and the KFA are thus responsible for what makes the organizational
culture in professional football in South Korea. Given their impact on the landscape
of professional club football in South Korea one can assume that the K-Leauge, the
clubs, the KFA, and their organizational identity construction play a crucial role in
shaping the identity of K-League football itself. In this research their
interrelationships are thus defined as the organizational culture in K-League football.
Besides, there is South Korea’s football community, which acts as the organizations’
‘others’ (Hatch & Schultz, 2002, p. 995). Fans are often credited for making the
sports industry wealthy as they invest money and energy into clubs and other sports
organizations, which indicates their position as a stakeholder that managers of sports
organizations need to pay attention to. (Biscaia et al., 2018, p. 462) They buy tickets
and merchandise, offer support from the stands, express their opinion on a team’s
success or failure, and perhaps demand the management to take action. Organizations
such as the K-League and the football clubs are hence closely interwoven with their
community (Wolfe et al., 2002; Biscaia et al., 2018; Nissen, 2015), and they both do
negotiate an organizational identity according to Hatch & Schultz’s model.

For researching the organizational culture, image, and identity in K-League football,
the relevant football organizations are defined as the K-League office, K-League
clubs including their owners, and to a smaller extent the KFA. Traits such as league
structure (e.g. competitive balance), team and league management (e.g. leadership,
strategy, operation, marketing, community relations), and team ownership (e.g.
company-owned or citizen-owned) (Kang, Yoshida & Liu, 2019, p. 195) and their
interrelationships are defined as the organizational culture in K-League football. As
the organizations selected for analysis are the drivers of K-League football it is
argued that the results are representative for K-League football in general. Korean
football fans are defined as the organizations’ ‘others’ that hold images on the
organizations. As a result, studying a selection of identity construction processes in
K-League football reveals the interrelationships of organizations and the football
community in South Korea and their processes of shaping the football franchise in
South Korea (see Figure 2).

7
Figure 2: Modified Version of Hatch & Schultz’s Organizational
Identity Dynamics Model

2.2 Research Objective & Questions

In general, this research aims for depicting a heterogeneous piece of reality of South
Korea’s sport, and particularly football, culture. This research claims that the
interrelationships of football organizations and the football community and their
processes of shaping K-League football are such heterogeneous piece of reality which
deserves to be deeply explored. The particular research questions are:
• What is the relationship between team ownership, team management, and
league structure & management in K-League football? - This question asks
for the organizational culture in K-League football, including the internal
identity construction processes expressing and reflecting.
• What images do Korean football fans hold on K-League football? - This
question asks for organizational images in K-League football, including the
external identity processes impressing and mirroring.
• Which practical indications can be derived from the analysis for the K-League
office, club managers, and club owners?

8
2.3 Hypothesis
This research’s initial hypothesis is that the ownership models of professional football
clubs in South Korea (mainly company-owned and citizen-owned) considerably
affect the identity construction processes in K-League football as their respective
organizational culture and organizational image might be different. Company-owned
clubs might not be that interested in the football experience itself, but in somehow
gaining profit, and citizen-owned clubs might be more interested in giving the local
community an enjoyable football experience. One could assume that the South
Korean football community does not favor a company-owned club’s investment since
the overall football experience lacks quality due to the economic focus of the club
management. Therefore they could prefer fan-oriented club management. It is
assumed that the K-League aims to be a mediator between the clubs of different
ownership models and South Korea’s football community, as they might want to find
a balance of interests between the different parties, and create a football environment
that is beneficial for all sides. The interrelationships between club ownership &
management and the league structure & management would thus be a compromise
that might not be appreciated by South Korean football fans. The identity of K-
League football could then be illustrated by claiming that K-League football does not
reach it’s potential due to a discrepancy of organizational cultures, which results in
rather negative images and a lower interest in K-League football.

2.4 Data Collection & Analysis

From September 23rd 2019 to January 31st 2020 I spent a little more than four
months in South Korea to conduct a field study for my Master’s thesis. During this
period, the organizational identity construction processes of K-League football were
researched by conducting a survey and interviews with authorities of South Korean
football organizations, and through an ethnographic field study in football stadiums
when games were held. Besides, narratives of football fans were collected to refer to
comprehensive data from different perspectives. Eventually, the data served as the
base to analyze the interrelationships of the K-League office, professional football
clubs including their owners, the KFA, South Korean football fans, and their

9
processes of shaping South Korean football according to this research’s modified
version of Hatch & Schultz’s analytical model. Selecting particular parts of
organizational processes for analysis was a feasible option as organizational identity
construction processes cannot be found in their entirety. (Nissen, 2015, p. 5; Fachin &
Langley, 2017, p. 315) Based on the records and results, the interrelationships are
illustrated through exposing the processes mirroring, reflecting, expressing, and
impressing in constructing culture, image, and identity in K-League football. By
doing so, this research goes beyond a merely descriptive study of ‘what’, ‘how’, and
‘who’, and also offers an answer to the ‘why’ (Van der Waal, 2009, p. 26).

2.4.1 Ethnographic Fieldwork

A place where the interrelationships of the K-League, professional football clubs, and
South Korean football fans reveal is the stadium. In the first part of this research I
conducted an ethnographic field study as a visitor of in total six different professional
football games in Seoul, Suwon, and Ulsan, comprising nine different football clubs.
Ethnographic fieldwork can be defined as the ‘firsthand experience and exploration
of a particular social or cultural setting based on (though not exclusively by)
participant observation’ (Atkinson et al., 2007, p. 4 as cited in Van der Waal, 2009, p.
23). An auto-ethnographic approach recognizes that the researcher can interpret what
he or she considers as being related to organizational identity construction processes
at a particular point in time and that the researcher’s interpretation is connected to his
or her own identity in time and space. (Fachin & Langley, 2017, p. 321). Observation,
participation as a self-identified football fan, and lived experiences during football
games thus played an important role in the reflection process, and a dual position as a
researcher and a fan deepened the data analysis process. (Hoeber & Kerwin, 2013, p.
331) Simply spoken, my own identity as a researcher could be described as a
passionate football fan who occasionally attends football games in Germany and
appreciates the atmosphere in a football stadium. Therefore, I cannot but compare my
experiences during Korean football games with the images I hold about European and
particularly German professional football since this is the way I make sense of
football in general. What I saw, heard, and thought during visits to football games

10
was recorded on paper, audio, or camera. In the ethnographic fieldwork the focus was
on observations and personal experiences in terms of certain events that ascribed
meaning to K-League football. The question here was: Which particular events are
part of shaping the actual football event? For instance, attention was paid to the
behavior and emotions of attendees (including myself), and the way the event was
organized. Diverse settings, such as a sold-out stadium vs. a barely filled stadium, led
to different observations and allowed new perspectives. Rather than accepting my
experiences as normal or natural, they were reflected critically. Observations and
experiences that were interpreted as being relevant were picked for further analysis in
a way that they displayed a comprehensive picture of what was observed and
experienced. Eventually, the ethnographic field study helped to build my personal
image on K-League football as a foreign spectator according to the theoretical
framework. Furthermore, it served as a basis for creating a survey aimed at South
Korean football authorities, and for selecting conversation topics during the
qualitative interviews with some of the survey participants.

2.4.2 Survey, Interviews & Other Narratives

In the second part of this research, a survey, interviews, and the analysis of other
narratives were in the center. Narratives in any form reveal how people make sense of
certain events and how people reconstruct experiences from a particular standpoint.
(Fachin & Langley, 2017, p. 314) In particular, narratives ‘which serve as sources for
understanding the discursive projections of organizations’ (Ibid., p. 315) were
relevant to this research. To catch up on the experiences gained through the
ethnographic fieldwork, a survey aimed at authorities and staff of football
organizations in South Korea such as the K-League, K-League clubs, and the KFA
(see appendix for survey questions in English and Korean) was developed. Survey
participants were identified through personal contacts and the online networking
platform LinkedIn. In total 13 people, all of them working in positions related to
professional football in South Korea, participated in the survey. As a quantitative
evaluation of the survey turned out to be insufficient, survey participants were asked
to further participate in qualitative interviews based on their respective answers in the

11
survey. By doing so overall six interviews with staff or board members, respectively,
of the K-League office, the KFA, the company-owned football club and current K-
League 1 champion Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC, as well as the citizen-owned K-
League 2 club Bucheon FC 1995, were held. In the case of Jeonbuk, two book
publications on the organizational culture made by the club management were
additionally accessible. Through this approach, diving deep into the organizational
culture of K-League football became possible, and processes of how K-League
football is shaped as well as interrelationships between the organizations became
visible. As the interviewees have not just been working in a position strongly related
to professional football in South Korea, but they also have been passionate football
fans themselves, most of the interviews were given from a perspective that also
considered images of football fans. Therefore, the interviews additionally offered
implications for images and the identity construction processes in K-League football.
To complement this part of the research, fan-narratives on the current K-League 2
club Daejeon Hana Citizen FC found at the club’s online forum, where fans can
freely express the images they hold on the club and K-League football, were collected
and analyzed. The club was selected due to its recent change of ownership from a
citizen-owned club to a company-owned club, given that the transformation process
revealed a diverse spectrum of images on the ownership models that otherwise would
have maybe stayed hidden. The narratives were thus analyzed in terms of posts that
were concerning the club management and the change of ownership.

2.5 Content & Structure of this Research

The historical & cultural background of professional sport in South Korea was
already briefly covered in the introduction. In the following section 3, this research
will dive deeper into that with a particular focus on K-League football. This allows us
to first explore the cultural conditions of football in South Korea from global and
local perspectives. Eventually, the implications of this section will help to understand
organizational culture, image, and identity in K-League football as part of a
comprehensive, profound cultural concept instead of something isolated. Section 4
deals with the organizational culture in K-League football – for the most part based

12
on the interviews conducted with authorities and staff of professional football
organizations in South Korea. In particular, organizational cultures of the K-League
office, clubs with different ownership models, partially the KFA, and their
interrelationships were illustrated and analyzed in a way that they indicate the
organizational culture in K-League football, including the internal identity
construction processes expressing and reflecting. The clubs Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
FC and Bucheon FC 1995 served as research objects for a deeper case study on the
organizational culture of company-owned and citizen-owned K-League clubs,
respectively. The organizational images in K-League football were elaborated in
section 5. Images of Korean football fans on K-League football as well as my
personal images that I developed during visits of K-League games were illustrated
and complemented by results from the interviews. By exemplifying the external
identity construction processes impressing and mirroring, relevant implications were
analyzed in the sense that they reveal a diverse spectrum of images that Korean
football fans hold on K-League football. Finally, in section 6 this research will give
practical implications based on the results of the analysis on how the relevant
organizations can establish a cultural framework for local franchise football in South
Korea so that K-League football can thrive in a way that its popularity may reach the
extents of the South Korean national team on the long term.

3. Historical & Cultural Background of K-League Football

3.1 Brief Overview of South Korea’s Sports Development in the 20th Century
After the end of the Japanese colonial repression in 1945 and after the Korean War in
1953, Korea had not begun a process of nation-building. To emerge stronger from the
chaotic circumstances of the past, the promotion of sport in Korea was seen as a
suitable instrument. The idea behind was that in a highly competitive world only the
strongest could survive - an idea that was heavily influenced by colonial experiences.
(Hong., 2011 p. 985) The Park Chung-hee regime (1961-1979) actively promoted
physical strength, also as an attempt to compete with North Korea and the Cold War
ideology. (Ok & Park, 2014 p. 372) The succeeding Chun Doo-Hwan government
(1980-1988) continued on that particular stance and promoted popular sport with

13
slogans such as 'Establishing a sports nation' (Tosa., 2015, p. 6) and ‘enhance national
prestige through sport’ (Hong, 2011, p. 982). For the realization of national sports
championships, Chun Doo-hwan put pressure on big South Korean companies to
finance and run professional sports leagues. By doing so, baseball (1982) and football
(1983) became the first two professionalized sport in Korea. (Ibid., p. 984). Chun
aimed for diverting attention from his politics and preventing criticism which led to
his so called 3S Poliy when people where supposed to refer to sport, sex, and screens
instead of political issues. Moreover, in order to successfully host the Seoul Olympic
Games, Korea needed to send out a picture to the world that was far away from the
pictures of a devastated country after the Korean War. So sport needed to become
professional and people should enjoy sport as a leisure activity. (Ok & Park, 2017, p.
1967) Because of political instrumentalization, sport thus became popular in Korea
only after there had been a professional framework. (Hong, 2010, p. 58) The
International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to hold the 1988 Olympics in
Korea instead of Japan boosted Korea’s national pride and helped to distance the
country from its colonial past of Japan’s oppression. (Mangan et al., p. 1134, 2013)
As for the 1988 Summer Olympics, the factor of entering the international stage of
strong nations also played an important role in the legitimacy of the later hosting of
the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup. Therefore, both the 1988 Olympics and the
2002 World Cup can be, to some degree, interpreted as a means to strengthening
national consciousness. (Hong, 2011, p. 985) Besides, Korea’s historical conflicts of
the past especially with Japan and China are still present in international sports
competitions, and victories over these nations in international sports competitions
became a source of national pride. (Mangan et al., 2013; Tosa, 2015) Some sport
developed especially under the influence of Japan’s colonial rule which resulted in a
strong connection between Korean sport and nationalism that lasts until today: ‘Wrath
and the feeling of being victimized, which originated in Korea versus Japan games
during the Japanese colonial rule, were sublimated and strengthened performances on
football fields.’ (Ok & Park, 2014, p. 368) Sport in general became connected to
nationalism and the striving for independence. As nationalism spread in 20th century
Korea, so did popular sport. (Ibid., p. 369)

14
3.2 Historical Development of the K-League
Football came to Korea through a British navy vessel in 1882, but it was especially
the Japanese colonial era that has crucially influenced how football is understood in
current Korea. (Ok & Park, 2017, p. 1964 f.) In Asia in general, imperial subjects
used football as a tool for instructing rules and the systems to the colonial subjects.
However, people also actively engaged in playing football themselves as it
‘symbolized exercising modern skills and furthermore, participating in modern ways
of life’ (Cho, 2013, p. 580). Throughout the decades the sport has developed with a
strong focus on the national football team and with an essential correlation to
nationalism. During the colonial era, ‘[soccer] became one of the major subjects of
physical education both in schools and in communities’ because it was supposed to
strengthen the national will and capabilities to encounter Japanese imperialism as
well as ‘to express robust characteristics of Koreans’ (Ok & Park, 2017, p. 1965).
However, while European countries were competing in football on a national stage,
trying to build a competitive league structure and establish a lively football culture in
the mid 20th century, Korea was in a process of nation-building fighting poverty and
hunger after the devastating Korean War (1950-1953). This historical and cultural
background may to some extent explain why football could not become rooted in
Korean popular culture as opposed to other European countries. (Ibid., p. 1966) Until
the early 1980s Korean football was played on an amateur level.

Even though football was not rooted in Korean popular culture, president Chun Doo-
hwan decided to establish the Korean professional football league in 1983. The
Hallelujah Football Club, founded in 1980 with a missionary background, became the
first professional football club in Korea when professionalized in 1983. For the
establishment of a local franchise and further professional football clubs, president
Chun put pressure on chaebols (big Korean business conglomerates) to finance and
run professional sports leagues and teams. (Hong, 2011, p. 984) The first Korean
football league, the Super League, was launched on May 8th 1983 with five different
teams (Ok & Park, 2017, p. 1968 f.) Soon after, more professional clubs were
established or converted from an amateur to a professional football club. A national

15
semi-professional football league collapsed as a consequence as the teams scouted
and transferred talented players to play on a professional level. (Ibid., p. 1970)
However, due to its superficial growth, Korean professional football lacked a cultural
foundation, and clubs were thus barely able to keep professional club football alive.
As Ok & Park put it: ‘In the early 1980s, when Hallelujah was founded, there was no
conception of sports marketing in Korea, and admission fees were almost the only
profit the club could expect for running the team. Unfortunately, Koreans in those
days were not mature enough economically or culturally to invest in sports events for
leisure.’ (Ibid., p. 1969). Due to financial problems, Hallelujah FC decided to disband
as a professional team with the start of the third season in 1985. (Ibid., p. 1971)

The very first season was completed in 40 games with a total number of
approximately 418.000 paying spectators which makes an average of 20.000
spectators per game. (Ibid., p. 1970) However, the fan demand fell in the seasons
after and the average number of spectators per game dropped to 3.000 to 8.000 from
1984 to 1990. (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 62) Until 1987 the games were played in a so-
called tour-system when ‘all games in a round were played in a designated stadium
during a certain period, and the next round was held in a different city’ (Ibid., p. 62).
Following this system not every football club had a host city and thus lacked a local
fan base as well as fan loyalty. (Ibid., p. 62) As Jang & Lee (2015) summarize K-
League’s step to play a tour system: ‘the K-League designed its structure to broaden
the football market across the nation when the league was still in its infancy’ (p. 64).
One reason for the tour-system was to minimize regionalism in Korea (e.g. East vs.
West). (Kim & Kwak, 2015, p. 370) In reaction to the low attendance and interest in
Korean professional league football, a franchise system was introduced in 1987
which allowed only professional teams to participate in the league. Before, semi-
professional teams were still allowed and existent in the Super League. The tour-
system was abolished and Korean clubs were designated to specific provinces or
regions. The idea behind was that clubs should broaden the home fan base but not
restrict it to just one city, ‘so home games were held in different cities throughout
their home regions’ (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 63). However, in 1990 this initial home-

16
region system was abolished again and a home-and-away match system with specific
club host cities was introduced. But this change was gradual and not fully adopted
until 1996 when it became mandatory to play at a specific host city and not in several
cities in a region. In line with the change, all teams were named after the respective
host city. The league office furthermore aimed for the decentralization of professional
football clubs which forced some clubs to move the region and their respective host
city as only one club per city was allowed. As a consequence, all three clubs located
in Seoul left the city so that Korea’s largest city did not host any club anymore. (Ibid.,
p. 63 f.) FC Seoul for instance started as the Lucky-Goldstar Bulls in 1984 in the
Chungcheong province before the club moved to Seoul in 1990 and changed the
name to LG Cheetahs in 1991. In 1996 the club relocated again to Anyang in the
Gyeonggi province and changed the name to Anyang LG Cheetahs. After playing in
Anyang for eight consecutive years, the club decided to move to Seoul again in 2004
and naming the club FC Seoul which has remained until today. Several other
professional football clubs have a history of relocation such as the current teams
Pohang Steelers (Daegu/Gyeonbuk province → Pohang) and Ulsan Hyundai
(Incheon/Gyeonggi province → Gangwon province → Ulsan) as well as a history of
renaming and ownership changes. (Ibid., p. 78 f.)

The Korean professional football league ‘has seen repeated quantitative growth with
the continuous establishment of new professional clubs, mainly supported by
conglomerates’ (Ok & Park, 2017, p. 1972). From 1987 to 1988 only five teams were
playing in the Super League. (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 78) The number of professional
football teams increased to six when Ilhwa Chunma was founded in 1989. The
Jeonnam Dragons Football Club and Jeonbuk Hyundai Dinos (currently Jeonbuk
Hyundai Motors FC) were founded in 1995, followed by the Suwon Samsung
Bluewings in 1996. Daejeon Citizen FC was launched in 1997, followed by Daegu
FC which became the first real citizen-owned club in 2003 in professional Korean
football. Further teams that were founded after were for instance Incheon United
(2004), Gyeongnam FC (2006), Gangwon FC (2009), and Gwangju FC (2011). (Kim
& Kwak, 2015, p. 372) For an overview of historical changes refer to Table 1.

17
 Table 1: Historical Changes in K-League Structure (1983-
2011) (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 63)

A relegation & promotion system between the leagues exists since 2013 when the K-
League 2 was started. Before none of the teams had to be afraid of being relegated at
the end of the season if they did not play successful football. The two-division system
also led to an increasing number of professional football clubs. As of 2020, in total 22
professional football clubs play in the first and second division of what’s currently
called K-League 1 and K-League 2. At the moment, in K-League 1 six clubs can be
classified as subsidiary companies of a parent corporation (company-owned), and the
remaining six can be categorized as publicly owned companies (public/citizen-
owned). In K-League 2 in total four clubs are company-owned and the remaining six
are citizen-owned. As Ok & Park (2017) sum it up, ‘the Korean professional soccer
clubs exhibit significantly different cultural characteristics from their European
counterparts, with their long histories of being formed by local residents. The Korean
pro soccer clubs were established for political reasons by those in power, and the
clubs were intentionally assigned to their hometowns under the consideration of
regional balance, a balance that was judged by companies, local governments, and the
Korea Football Association on a political basis.‘ (p. 1972) K-League football could
thus not fully settle in the regions, and a cultural foundation for a football franchise in

18
Korea has not been established. K-League’s political origins, frequent relocations of
football clubs and the tour system indicate that in the past the K-League did not have
a solid long-term vision about in which direction professional Korean football shall
develop, and Koreans’ interest in international football did not automatically lead to
an adequate cultural framework for the K-League. The Korean professional baseball
franchise, the KBO League, is much more popular than the K-League because it was
successful at establishing regional affiliation in the early years after the beginning of
operations in 1982. In contrast to football, baseball was the sport that has developed
through the competition in national arenas and high school competitions. (Ibid., p.
1973 f.) In 2017 the KBO League had a total season attendance of 8.4 million (Kang,
Yohsida & Dongfeng, 2019, p. 185), which is almost eight times higher than the K-
League’s total attendance in the 2018 season. (transfermarkt.de A) It is thus safe to
say that K-League’s historical and cultural roots have hindered the football franchise
to grow as a significant part of Korea’s current popular culture. In the coming
sections, investigating the current organizational culture, image, and identity in K-
League football will reveal more particularly what K-League’s historical roots have
contributed to the present state of local franchise football in South Korea.

4. Organizational Culture in K-League Football: Ownership, Management &

Structure
This particular section covers the organizational cultures of the K-League office,
clubs with different ownership models, partially the KFA, as well as their
interrelationships. The clubs Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC and Bucheon FC 1995
served as research objects for a deeper case study on the organizational culture of
company-owned and citizen-owned K-League clubs, respectively. Beliefs that
members of the respective organization have shared, that have shaped working
processes including structures and that have thus affected the organizational culture in
K-League football were analyzed, mostly based on a survey and personal interviews
conducted with authorities and staff of professional football organizations in South
Korea, but also on secondary literature. In the case of Jeonbuk, primary literature in
the form of two books on the organizational culture published by the club

19
management was additionally accessible (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC, 2015 &
2016). A close look at Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC’s emblem changes since the
club’s establishment adds a temporal aspect to the study as it reveals changes in the
organizational culture throughout the years. The collected data were illustrated and
analyzed in a way that indicates the organizational culture in K-League football,
including the internal identity construction processes expressing and reflecting.

4.1 K-League Management & Structure

The K-League is a subsidiary of the KFA but operates as an independent
organization. In their working processes the K-League office aims for operating,
developing, and advertising South Korea’s local franchise football. The organization’s
ultimate goal is to make profit and hence are spectators K-League’s most important
stakeholders as they are seen as the basis for financial profit. Fans spend money on
tickets which is why sponsors place advertisement in the stadium, and fans watch
football on TV which is why broadcasters pay the K-League for obtaining
broadcasting rights. Without spectators there would not be any money and the K-
League could not exist. However, despite the proclaimed role of spectators and fans
as important stakeholders a persistent dialogue between the K-League office and the
football community does not exist at present. The K-League office advertises its
football currently with the slogan ‘the fan’s game’, but the current relationship is to a
large extend limited to SNS channels where the K-League provides information
without any official channel to receive feedback from fans and spectators. Sponsors
invest into the K-League, but as their decisions are always based on the spectators, K-
League’s operations are rather based on creating a good fan experience and filling the
stadiums as well as pleasing the club owners in order to maintain league operations.
Spectators therefore also serve as a tool for the K-League to obtain sponsorship
money or to sell broadcasting rights. Strict hierarchies in the office may lead to
deviation from proclaimed aims though: If a decision is not in favor of a superior or
an important person in the football business outside the office, it might get dropped.
One example is a match-fixing scandal which happened in the K-League in 2011: The
K-League permanently expelled the players involved which was a decision in favor

20
of football fans. However, a few years later a high authority in the Korean football
business decided to overturn the decision and allow those players to play again.
Apparently, K-League’s most important stakeholders, the fans, were disappointed.
Strict hierarchies may therefore complicate a decision-making process that is
beneficial for a healthy football environment.

The local community is currently not that important to the K-League office as they
are rather viewed as spectators or potential spectators, respectively. As it is argued
that not many people have a strong relation to the city they live in, especially in the
wider Seoul area, the K-League and many K-League clubs do also not play a big role
in their respective local communities. Both interviewees working for the K-League
did not recognize a concept of the local community in Korea which could be relevant
to current K-League operations. Instead are club owners, mostly either local
governments or big companies, very important stakeholders to the K-League office
because often they are the main reason why a particular football club exists. Since a
larger part of financial spending in K-League goes into players’ salaries, the clubs
need rather wealthy owners, cause a football club itself cannot pay the players’
salaries through the club’s revenue. The clubs are thus highly dependent on their
owners, and so is the K-League office: If club owners decide to abandon their clubs
the K-League will need to discontinue. Particularly big companies are considered as
drivers of the K-League as they bring money into the K-League and the clubs. The K-
League office appreciates companies such as Samsung & Hyundai because they make
the clubs financially sustainable. However, a lack of long-term strategies since the
establishment of the K-League has led to many changes in the organizational culture
and decisions which were not always in the best sense of the league development. As
Kang, Yoshida & Liu (2019) put it, ‘the league’s management and operation have
been centered on the individual teams’ interest rather than the best interest of the
whole league. Given the team ownership, it would be a big challenge for the leagues
to push forward with long-term development efforts’ (p. 187). They add that ‘[the K-
League] tends to be operated and managed in the best interests of parent companies
or local governments’ (Ibid., p. 191) which also becomes evident in K-League’s

21
board of directors which includes four CEOs or general managers of K-League 1
clubs and two of K-League 2 clubs. (Ibid., p. 185) As the K-League needs to pay
attention to the wishes and demands of club owners and thus gives them voices and
the power to shape the K-League, companies and local governments are granted an
influential role in league operations. However, the K-League office claims to have
realized that basic structures are crucial for building a healthy football environment
and that a more targeted operation will lead to the sustained growth of the K-League.

4.2 KFA’s role in K-League Football

KFA’s revenue is mainly based on the national side, and most national players are
playing in the K-League. Thus the K-League is an important stakeholder for the KFA,
but both organizations follow different purposes which may lead to contradictions. In
their daily business, the KFA focuses for instance on technical issues such as the
competitiveness of Korean football players, international activities, and hence they
are interconnected with local governments, the 17 provincial football associations,
and with club managers as they offer a network of people who are in charge of
something that could concern Korean football. Due to its relationship to organizations
and stakeholders that are also considered as K-League’s stakeholders the KFA does at
least have a passive impact on K-League operations. Being the overall governing
body of Korean football, the KFA furthermore exerts a crucial influence on the
general football environment for the K-League. However, the KFA can trust its
historically formed support and enthusiasm for the national team, and thus there is no
need to promote a cultural foundation for football which could foster K-League’s
growth. One reason here could be that, unlike the K-League office, the KFA does not
view the fans and spectators as important stakeholders. The general football
environment in Korea heavily relies on the KFA, and thus they do have an impact on
culture, image, and identity in K-League football. Stronger cooperation of both
organizations despite different aims may be helpful for K-League’s growth, which the
KFA can also benefit from as this might make Korean football more competitive. So
far however, the KFA rather acts as a passive stakeholder for the K-League.

22
4.3 General Overview: Ownership Models & Club Management
As already briefly covered in the previous chapter, the ownership models of K-
League clubs can be primarily classified either as subsidiary companies of a parent
corporation (company-owned), or as publicly owned companies (public/citizen-
owned) with no team standing financially alone or independent.

4.3.1 Company-Owned Clubs

Company-owned clubs ‘are a vehicle for cause marketing or social responsibility
activities on behalf of the parent corporations, which perceive them as cost centers
from the financial perspective rather than sport business units’ (Kang, Yoshida, Liu,
2019, p. 185). Thus, they were not formed based on a community’s passion for
playing football. In the club’s decision making processes not the football club itself
but the aims of the parent company have the highest priority. The respective parent
company appoints executives and club CEOs and operates the club with the
company’s marketing budget. (Ibid., p. 185) The parent company is willing to cover a
club’s financial costs up to 5% of its annual gross revenue as long as the club serves
as a successful marketing tool for the parent company and enhances its reputation. As
K-League football was meant to be state-ordered for political reasons in the early
days being economical has never been the main purpose for company-owned clubs.
Owners of corporate clubs do thus not expect the club to be economical which is an
important difference from European clubs (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 64). Nevertheless,
the clubs are constantly questioned from a business perspective if their existence is
legitimate; if the parent company thinks that the football club has lost its marketing
value, they might decide to drop the club. How well a company-owned club does,
therefore, depends on how convinced relevant authorities of the parent company are
by the existence and operation of the football club.

The club’s aim to act in the best interest of the parent company also means stability in
the organizational culture: Even if the position of a high authority in the club changes,
the working processes often stay similar. With good financial backing, company-
owned clubs also have financial capabilities to buy good players and keep them in the

23
team. That is one important reason why company-owned clubs are usually higher in
the standing at the end of the season than citizen-owned clubs, and this helps to
attract spectators. However, as of now, even company-owned clubs have been
reluctant to invest millions of dollars into new transfers as it has been the case in the
big European leagues, and recently also in China and Japan. Furthermore, due to an
economic recession in Korea many companies have reduced the club’s budget. Some
parent companies are global players and already the leaders in their respective
business area in Korea, and thus they rather aim for international marketing
opportunities through e.g. the Asian Champions League than through the K-League
itself: ‘Corporate-owned K-League teams have been generally reluctant to adopt a
localization model that focuses on marketing to home-city fans because the parent
companies are typically national or international’ (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 61).
However, as the parent company is branded with the football club they also care
about what fans in Korea think about the club, and thus they try to please and
entertain them. A parent company is hence also not interested in forming a rivalry
with other K-League clubs because doing so may arise anti-fans and negative images.
(Ibid., p. 74) The club operations in the K-League are often seen as ‘philanthropic
efforts, given that they are not making profit financially out of operating professional
sports teams in most cases’ (Lee & Fleischmann, 2017, p. 212). Company-owned
clubs hence often have a reduced incentive to engage in volunteer or charity activities
within the local community, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is rather seen
as something that enhances publicity and brand value. (Ibid., p. 218)

4.3.2 Citizen-Owned Clubs

The ownership model of citizen-owned clubs only exists in the K-League in Korea.
The largest shareholders of such clubs are local governments and their sports
councils. For instance the Gangwon-do sports council owns 47.62% of Gangwon FC
shares, Gyeongsangnam-do sports council has 58,92% of Gyeongnam FC shares, and
the Gwangju sports council possesses 65.02% of Gwangju FC shares. The remaining
shareholders are often individuals and/or local companies. (Kang, Yoshida & Liu, p.
186) But similar to company-owned clubs, citizen-clubs were also not formed based

24
on local residents’ enthusiasm for football; instead they were ‘hurriedly established
based on the political intentions of the local governments’ (Ok & Park, 2017, p.
1972). It can thus be argued that citizen-owned clubs are not that different from
company-owned clubs in terms of the cultural background because both follow a
different purpose than simply enjoying to play, watch, or manage a professional
football club. Governors and mayors automatically become the president of the
respective local sports council and thus they are designated as club owners. (Kang,
Yoshida & Liu, p. 186) In their decision-making processes citizen-owned clubs are
strongly influenced by local governments. Parts of the club managers also belong to
the city council and so they have the power to make decisions such as financial plans
or media plans. Their working processes and particular aims are therefore highly
dependent on the political stance of the relevant local government. Public relations,
news, etc. are often checked by staff of the local government. If a company-owned
club wants to advertise a new product, a citizen-owned club aims for advertising
activities and projects of a local government.

How well a citizen-owned club will do also depends on how much the mayor is
convinced by the legitimacy of the club’s existence, and simply if he or she is positive
towards football. If a mayor is negative towards the football club he or she might
decide to drop it and stop the financing. Company-owned clubs thus have more
stability in their organizational culture as their citizen-owned counterparts. Citizen-
owned clubs are mostly run by tax money, and that is why the local government and
the local community are important stakeholders to them. Due to a dependence on the
local economy, such clubs from economically rather weak regions are hence under
financial pressure. This leads to difficulties in recruiting top players and so do citizen-
owned clubs often finish the table in lower ranks than company-owned clubs. Some
citizen-owned clubs’ purpose is to ‘simply operate’ a football club as they lack
specific sporting goals that they want to fulfill. Often football remains a ‘cost’ for
them and thus the sport serves as a medium to reach local citizens and to serve the
well-being of the community. In some cases, citizen-owned clubs see it as their duty
to operate beneficially for the greater community and not just for football fans. In

25
turn, citizen-owned clubs often advertise the local government through football clubs
and ask for the citizen’s support of the city or the region.

4.3.3 Sangju Sangmu as an Exceptional Case

With Sangju Sangmu there is one exceptional case of club ownership in the K-
League. The football club is part of the Korean Armed Forces (KAF) Athletic Corps.
As already mentioned in the introduction part, military service is mandatory for all
Korean men as long as they do not win a gold medal in a prestigious international
sports event. If a Korean football player does not want to give up his career when he
needs to serve the military he might be lucky and transfer to Sangju Sangmu. The
KAF Athletic Corps is located in the small city Sangmu and offer a chance to some
players to continue their career as a professional football player in a football club
while serving the military. The club is not allowed to participate in international
competitions such as the Asian Champions League though. Sangju Sangmu is
financially supported by the Ministry of Defense. (Ibid., p. 186) Thus it is technically
a publicly-owned football club also run by tax money.

4.4 In-depth View on a Company-owned Club: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC was founded in 1994 as the Jeonbuk Dinos with their
home place in Jeonju in the North Jeolla region. Since the Hyundai Motors Group
took ownership of the club in 1999 the club won the K-League seven times which
makes them the record champion with Seongnam FC as of 2019. The club is the
current K-League champion of 2019 and won the K-League five out of six times
since 2014. Besides, Jeonbuk won the Korean cup three times and the Asian
Champions League twice, most recently in 2016. This makes Jeonbuk Hyundai
Motors FC the most successful football club in Korea. The club currently holds its
home games in the Jeonju World Cup Stadium which was initially built for the 2002
Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup and holds 50.000 seats. In the 2019 regular season in
total 246.430 people visited Jeonbuk’s home games in the K-League which makes an
average of 14.496 per game – the second highest in the K-League after FC Seoul with
17.090 (transfermarkt.de, B), indicating that the club plays an important role in the

26
Korean football community. The club has approximately 10.000 season ticket holders
every year. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC is composed of the CEO, a director, a vice-
director, a football club management department as well as a management support
department. Overall the club is currently operated by 23 staff in total with an annual
budget of approximately 41 billion Won (31 million €) at disposal.

Without Hyundai Motors there probably would not be a football club in Jeonju as the
company keeps the club financially alive. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC is run by the
Hyundai Motors Group, and many staff are appointed by Hyundai to work for the
football club regardless of their experience in football. Particularly those staff believe
that the operation of the football club must go in line with Hyundai Motors' business
plans. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC’s reasonable sporting success is particularly
defined as winning the Asian Champions League. Hyundai Motors uses the club as a
marketing tool to spread the logo and the company, but since Hyundai Motors is
already the biggest car company in Korea, there is not much need for domestic
marketing through a football club and winning the K-League does not convince the
parent company. Instead, Hyundai Motors aims for international marketing of the
company through the Asian Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup, where
the champions of the six continental football confederations come together. In
general, Hyundai Motors cares about fan images on the club as they can be related to
the mother company itself. It is not just important that merely the football club leaves
a positive impression on the spectators, but particularly the mother company Hyundai
Motors. In general, the club management wants to express that the football club and
Hyundai Motors are on the same boat and share a natural connection. For instance, in
a fan calendar the calendar sheets are not just covered with star players, but with
players posing next to Hyundai’s newest cars. The relationship is also supposed to be
a mutual one and so did in the past people who bought a product by Hyundai
sometimes get a gift related to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC such as free entry to
home games or a free jersey. On a Business-to-Business-Level, the football club also
serves as a tool to attract foreign businessmen to cooperate with Hyundai Motors.

27
The club management claims to be a leader as well as a role model in Korean and
Asian football. If Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC does not successfully play
international football the club might lose its value as an international marketing tool
for Hyundai Motors, and it is expected that the club is dropped by the parent
company. If the club can do better depends on how much Hyundai Motors is willing
to spend on the club. In general, Hyundai does not expect the club to create any
financial profit. Rather, the club management claims that enhancing the parent
company’s image has a similar value to gaining profit. The club should not be
operated in a lavish way though, so Jeonbuk tries for instance to maintain a positive
transfer balance by selling star players. After the end of the 2019 season the club sold
with Kim Shin-wook (profit of 3.85 million € / 5.13 billion Won - three times the
initial transfer fee) (transfermarkt.de, C) and Ricardo Lopes (profit of 4.46 million € /
5.94 billion Won - 3.6 times the original transfer fee) (transfermarkt.de, D) two
important strikers to Chinese football clubs. However, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC
is a comparatively big money spender in Korean football, and the management thinks
that big investments lead to more attention and a distinct team identity which in turn
enhances the parent company’s image. Big investments on the level of Chinese or
European cases are very unlikely for Jeonbuk though due to its unprofitability in the
long term. They may be under consideration at some point if the FIFA Club World
Cup gains popularity and becomes a source for high revenue.

The club management aims for establishing a football culture that creates emotional
relationships between the fans and the club. To do so it is crucial to settle in the home
region and cooperate with regional organizations and governments in the eyes of the
club management. Although Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC is the most successful
football club in Korea, the club has difficulties to attract spectators and sponsors on a
nationwide level. Since Jeonju is a rather small city with a comparatively weak
economy in Korea, the club does not have many potential sponsors in the region. The
city of Jeonju and other local governments in the North Jeolla region are therefore
among the club’s most important sponsors, and sometimes the club is even dependent
on them. The city of Jeonju is the owner of the home stadium, and any request of the

28
club regards the stadium needs to be approved by the local government beforehand,
for instance changing the color of chairs to the team color green which has not been
permitted until currently.

One way for the club management to settle in the region and simultaneously attract
new spectators is to engage in activities with the local community. The management
describes the club’s process to settle in the region as tough because there was no
cultural foundation for football in Jeonju city and the North Jeolla region before
Hyundai Motors entered the club. Therefore, the club attempts to build a healthy
relationship with the local community to secure supporters and induce a higher
interest in local football. Groups of local people that the club engaged with in the past
were for instance school children, foreign families, farmers, etc. Charity activities are
supposed to enhance the image of the football club as well as the parent company
Hyundai Motors. Moreover, building partnerships with local organizations such as
schools and Jeonbuk University is supposed to strengthen awareness among local
people from the grassroots, as students are potential future customers. However, CSR
activities are also created for a good purpose as such programs do also support for
instance youth development in the region. In terms of a successful football event,
entertainment is more important than winning the football game for Jeonbuk’s club
managers. Winning might be considered a number on the paper that people tend to
forget about, but entertainment is considered as positive emotions to remember and
the actual reason why spectators come to the game. An exciting football game that
gets lost 3:4 is thus more valuable than a rather unspectacular 1:0 win. Star players
also lead to more spectators and more entertainment. With more spectators it is in
turn easier to convince potential new sponsors. A group of chanting supporters might
be part of the entertainment, but those supporters do not have the highest priority for
an entertaining football experience. However, the club is in touch with supporter
groups, and the relationship between Jeonbuk’s staff and the supporter groups is
considered more personal than among other K-League clubs. A particular long time
framework for working with supporter groups is missing though since they only play
a subordinate role in the club operations.

29
4.5 Identity Claims Throughout the Years: Club Emblem Changes of Jeonbuk
Hyundai Motors FC
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC’s identity claims and organizational culture partially
become visible in the emblems that the clubs used to change frequently throughout
the years since the club’s founding (see Figure 3). Interpretations and identity claims
by the management on the emblem changes were found in two books published by
Jeonbuk’s club management (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC, 2015 & 2016 ). When the
club’s name was Jeonbuk Dinos from 1995-1996, the club’s emblem was a baby
dinosaur kicking a football to express a dynamic, cute, and friendly image. The green
club colors were supposed to express a sense of freshness and resemble the clean

Figure 3: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC's Emblem Changes (Jeonbuk

Hyundai Motors FC)

30
nature of the North Jeolla region. Until today, this very first club emblem has
remained the only one with a lettering in Hangul (‘Dinos’, in Hangul: ‘ 다이노스’). In
all other emblems roman letters were used solely. From 1997-1999 the club’s name
was Jeonbuk Hyundai Dinos. From 1997-1998 the emblem was changed to another
dinosaur, trying to express a stronger determination and a more aggressive image,
with the company name Hyundai already included in the emblem. In 1999 the
emblem was changed again to a shield and stripe pattern to correspond visual habits
of European and South American club emblems. The initial idea behind was to
display the club as a prestigious club that advocates advanced soccer. Green and
yellow, which were the corporate colors of the parent company Hyundai at that time
were used to build a stronger connection between the club and the parent company.
Until 1999 the club identified itself mainly with the stroke ‘Dinos’. With the 2002
World Cup scheduled to be held, the club’s name was changed for another time to
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. The parent company raised its status as an official World
Cup sponsor and emphasized ‘Motors’ to strengthen Hyundai Motor's image with the
football club. Simultaneously, the male and female mice named ‘Moti’ and ‘Mopeu’
(in Hangul: ‘모티’ and ‘모프’) became the official mascots whose names were a
reminder for ‘Motors’ in times when the company name should be stressed. The
dinosaur, the initial green club color as well as the yellow stripes and the shield
pattern were completely erased after just one year when the visibility of the company
became a priority in the emblem design. The relation to the home region seemed to
become less important as it was written in a comparatively small font. Furthermore, a
relation to football was not visible in the emblem anymore.

With the following club emblem change in 2006 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors went back
to the shield design representing the shape of a traditional tile-roofed house in the
Jeonju Hanok Village. The club tried to establish a stronger connection with the
region by using popular symbols that are identified with the North Jeolla Region. The
current region once belonged to the Baekjae empire (18 BC – 660 AD) and among
the most popular symbols of Baekje culture was the phoenix which took in a major
part in Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC’s emblem. Furthermore, four wave forms were

31
added at the bottom of the emblem to represent North Jeolla Province’s clean
environment with the Naejang Mountain, Jiri Mountain, Deogyu Mountain, and the
Saemangeum tidal flat. Besides, the founding year 1994 was added at the bottom of
the emblem, stressing a prolonged existence. Hyundai Motors’ logo was still present
and thus it seemed that the club identifies not just with the North Jeolla region but
still with the parent company. Since the logo was simply printed on the emblem it did
not look like the club and the company consolidated forces, but rather that the club
consists of two different units whose relationship is not natural. The emblem was
changed again in 2013 with a simplified version of the phoenix, and the waves as
well as the logo of the parent company were erased. However, the club’s emblem was
still decorated with ‘Hyundai Motors’ – now in a more subordinate role. The
company name felt appropriately integrated into the overall style of the emblem
which indicated a seeming synergy of the football club, the North Jeolla province,
and Hyundai Motors. The name of the region ‘Jeonbuk’ was emphasized through a
big font and became the eyecatcher, indicating that the parent company is willing to
move to the background and give more power to the citizens of the North Jeolla
region. By doing so, the club emblem was adapted to the visual habit of European
and South American football club emblems and hence looked less like Hyundai
Motors’ marketing tool. The club management argued that it changed the club’s
emblem from business-oriented to region-oriented.

With the club’s most recent emblem change in 2018 such separation of ownership
structure became less apparent though. The stroke ‘Jeonbuk’ is bigger than ever
before, but the name of the parent company Hyundai Motors became easier to
recognize again through its blue corporate writing. Now the emblem rather seems to
express that ‘Jeonbuk’ is a department of the Hyundai Motors Group. Besides, the
founding year was removed from the emblem. Overall, Jeonbuk’s origins, the Dinos,
have been erased from the current understanding of the club. Furthermore, despite the
club’s attempt to connect the club’s identity to the history of Korea ironically none of
the emblems after 1996 contained Hangul characters and instead only roman letters.
This may be interpreted as evidence for the club management’s international

32
orientation, but the roman letters may also be understood as an attempt to establish
the club emblem based on the visual habits from European football leagues which are
very popular among Korean football fans. In addition to the common emblems the
club presented special emblems in 2014 and 2019 to celebrate its 20th and 25th
anniversary, respectively. Here the club aimed for stressing a long prolonged history
and tradition of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, easily visible through the stroke ‘We make
history’ in the 2014 emblem. The 2019 emblem indicates a stronger connection to the
particular place where history happens, namely the Jeonju World Cup Stadium whose
stands are showcased on the emblem. All in all, the change of emblems reveals that
Hyundai Motors, at first rather separated from the actual football club, the North
Jeolla region, as well as its citizens, eventually decided to express a deeper
cohesiveness between those units, but clearly with Hyundai Motors as the
superordinate club owner with the eventual power to make decisions.

4.6 In-depth View on a Citizen-Owned Club: Bucheon FC 1995

Bucheon FC 1995 is a small club owned by the Bucheon City local government and
currently playing in the K-League 2. The club’s roots go down to 1984 when the
Yugong Elephants were founded. In 1995 that club became associated with the city of
Bucheon which is located 25 kilometers away from Seoul. However, in 2006 the then
called club Bucheon SK was relocated to South Korea’s far southern island Jeju and
became Jeju United. (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 78 f.) As a consequence, the Bucheon SK
supporters group ‘Hermes’ re-founded a new club called Bucheon FC 1995, marking
the club’s roots in the city of Bucheon. With the start of the division system in K-
League, the club became a K-League 2 club in 2013 and has remained in the league
since then. Bucheon FC 1995’s home ground is the Bucheon Sports Complex with a
capacity of 35.000 seats. During the 2019 regular season 39.946 spectators attended
the home games which makes an average of 2.219 per game. (transfermarkt.de, E)

To Bucheon FC 1995 the local community is the most important stakeholder because
Bucheon city owns the club. Instead of a parent company the club serves the
intentions of the local government and the mayor of Bucheon city, who is Bucheon

33
FC 1995’s chairman. Without the financial support by the local government there
probably would not be a professional football club in Bucheon. Big companies
located in the city and Korea in general do also sponsor the club, but they rarely
cooperate on long-term contracts, which is challenging for successfully operating the
club. The city of Bucheon has thus remained the club’s financial main source. The
club is mostly run by tax money and hence the club management believes that the
club is a service for the citizens of Bucheon. Not every citizen is happy with the fact
that tax money is spent on a football club, but eventually the club has become part of
the city’s cultural landscape that tries to convince with entertainment and social
activities. The football club is operated as a service for the citizens in general and the
fans in particular, and so the fans and the local community are major stakeholders as
well. The club management, therefore, claims to have a stronger focus on the fans and
their cultural life than other clubs, especially compared to company-owned clubs.
Connecting with local companies is also considered as connecting with the local
community. Similar as in the case of Jeonbuk, the K-League office is not defined as
Bucheon FC 1995’s important stakeholders.

How the club is operated and how well the club can do on the pitch largely depends
on the city’s mayor and his or her political stance and personal interests. Luckily for
the football club, the current mayor as of 2019 is quite interested in football and sees
some public value in running Bucheon FC 1995. The club should not be used as a
tool to spread particular political values, but the club operations are nevertheless
politically motivated: For example, several club managers are also from the city
council and they have power over, for instance, financial or media plans. The club’s
public relations are controlled by the local government. If the club wants to publish
specific news the members of the city council review them in terms of the value for
the club and the local government before publishing. The club does also try to
generate profit, but it is not considered a major goal. As the salary of players is high it
is difficult to return the investment through the club’s revenue. Therefore, the club
and the local government consider making a financial loss by operating the club. In
terms of a successful football event, next to winning the game especially high media

34
attention and many spectators in the stadium make a successful football event to
Bucheon FC 1995. Media attention is considered a good advertisement for the club
and in turn is expected to lead to a higher number of spectators. Besides, there is a
potentially higher interest and support by local companies and the local government if
the club plays well and secures high media attention.

Bucheon FC 1995 runs a charity foundation called ‘Red Hands’. Among the projects
implemented were engagements with young students meeting players and learning
about a healthy lifestyle. Often the projects are not football related because the club
does not inevitably want to engage merely with football fans, but in general with
citizens. By doing so Bucheon FC 1995 does not only spread its organizational brand
but also provides a service for the well-being of the residents. For the 2019 season
Bucheon FC has won the Corporate Social Responsibility Award of the K-League 2,
which proves the club’s valuable engagement. To reach the citizens of Bucheon the
club also cooperates with other local events such as the Bucheon Film Festival, which
otherwise would be seen as a competitor on the stage of entertainment products the
citizen can choose from. However, the club also tries to establish a stronger emotional
bonding between the citizens and the club and recruit more passionate supporters, but
a rather loose emotional connection of individuals to the hometown Bucheon turned
out to be a big hurdle. One way to attract supporters is to do organizational branding
by telling emotional stories. For instance in the 2020 season there will be the very
first K-League game between Bucheon FC 1995 and Jeju United who are arch-rivals
by tradition. The club does not just want to pass this football game as something
usual but instead aims for promoting a sustainable football culture in Bucheon.

4.7 Summary & Conclusion – Organizational Culture, Expressing & Reflecting

As stated, organizational identity occurs as a result of the four processes expressing,
reflecting, impressing, and mirroring. Ideally, they continuously and simultaneously
circle between cultural self-understanding and external images as depicted in Figure
2. Hence, the identity construction of K-League football is a cyclical process, which
means that it does not have a fixed starting point. For analytical purposes, however,

35
the internal and external processes will be analyzed separately. In this section, both
internal processes of how the identity of K-League football is constructed -
expressing and reflecting - will be illustrated. Expressing describes the process by
which organizational culture makes itself known through identity claims, and
reflecting describes the process by which identity is embedded in cultural
understandings (Hatch & Schultz, 2002, p. 991).

Company-owned clubs such as Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC are operated as a means

to an (international) marketing tool for the parent company which covers the financial
burdens of operating a professional football club. The relationship between Hyundai
Motors and the club hence reveals a completely business-oriented organizational
culture. Hyundai Motors’ financial contribution is the club’s lifeline and so the
company comes first in daily operations. Given this, playing successful football in the
K-League is important so that the club can qualify for international tournaments, and
thus the K-League serves as a means to an end. However, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
FC’s history of emblems reveals a missing long term strategy of the club management
and a frequently changing organizational culture. At times, the club management did
not reflect on fan images and instead expressed an organizational identity which was
equivalent to the organizational culture when the visibility of the company became a
priority in the emblem design. In recent years, the club was stressing its relationship
with the North Jeolla region and its citizens, when the impression should have been
that the club becomes less business-oriented and more people-oriented. This indicates
that the club management became aware of the importance of the organization’s
others and began to reflect on what fans and citizens want. Such reflecting was done
from a marketing perspective and partially aimed for enhancing the image of the
Hyundai Motors Group. The missing cultural foundation for football in the region
may be redeemed by benchmarking from successful football clubs abroad, which
might be based on a reflection of fan demand. Furthermore, establishing a strong
relationship between the club and the local citizens of the North Jeolla region is
considered as inevitable as the club wants to secure its local support. The club may
have become active in the region due to marketing purposes, but reflecting on the

36
engagement embedded Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC’s status as a ‘club for the region’
in its organizational culture. However, charity activities, regardless of their efficiency,
are not altruistic and serve as a marketing purpose to some extent.

Citizen-owned clubs such as Bucheon FC 1995 serve local governments’ intents

which often means that they are more focused on the local community than company-
owned clubs. Bucheon FC 1995’s organizational culture is very citizen-centered as
they consider themselves to be a service for the people of Bucheon. The club reflects
from a somewhat political perspective on what local citizens want and, by doing so,
partially aims for enhancing the image of the local government. Since the club is run
by tax money they feel obliged to serve the regular citizen with their operations as a
football club, which also becomes visible in the various local charity activities the
club engages in. The football club belongs to the cultural landscape of the city and
goes beyond football-related activities as the club does not just want to impress
passionate football fans. However, acting primarily as a charitable foundation and
neglecting the relation to football might not be particularly beneficial for establishing
a consolidated football culture in the city. Playing football does not seem to be the
club’s main purpose and so they ‘just play’ to continue operating their public services.
Moreover is Bucheon FC 1995 financially dependent on the local government as it
cannot generate any profits, and due to the local government’s influences in the club
operations the club is heavily influenced by political intentions, even though it does
not aim for spreading particular political values. If the club will continue to exist and
operate successfully depends on the mayor’s view on Bucheon FC 1995 and so the
club managers will always try to please him or her. With frequent political changes
the club’s organizational culture might thus change equally frequently.

The owners are the ones keeping the clubs and hence also the K-League alive as they
provide the money necessary to operate a football club and mostly tolerate the
financial deficits the clubs usually generate. At the current state of the K-League, a
football club can hardly act financially independent or sustainable which makes club
owners important stakeholders for the K-League office. It is argued that a majority of

37
club owners reflect on this fact and embed the perception of being a driver of K-
League football in their organizational culture. K-League’s ultimate goal, however, is
to attract spectators and eventually fill the stadiums, and so their reflecting process
should focus on what Korean football fans want. The K-League clubs and their
owners do not share this aim under all circumstances though. Due to their ownership
models and a certain financial stability the clubs are simply not fully dependent on
the revenue gained by paying football fans. If the K-League reflects on how to thrive
Koreans’ enthusiasm for local franchise football, company-owned clubs rather reflect
on how they can serve the parent company’s intent to sell their products, while
citizen-owned clubs reflect on how to serve the local government’s intent to engage
with the local community. To company-owned clubs such as Jeonbuk Hyundai
Motors FC recruiting K-League spectators and gaining attention is certainly not
irrelevant, but the club’s major goal is rather to attract new customers internationally.
Citizen-owned clubs such as Bucheon FC 1995 aim for reaching local citizens by
operating the club partially as a social service which does not automatically lead to a
higher number of spectators. Successfully maintaining a professional football club is
simply not the aim of many club owners, and so did K-League football become a
medium for them to follow other purposes. The K-League office seems to aim for a
balance of pleasing both the club owners and the football community and establishing
a football environment that is beneficial for both stakeholders including the K-League
itself. Nevertheless, all organizations have been prone to frequent changes in their
organizational cultures since their establishment. They have not been acting in
common, and K-League’s long-term goals such as sustainably increasing the number
of spectators could have not been realized until today. So as the spectator numbers
remain negligible and low for now, the spectators seem to lack power as a stakeholder
in K-League football. In turn this means that club owners are not just financial drivers
of K-League football but they possess the leverage to shape substantial parts of
professional football in South Korea. The organizational culture of K-League football
could thus be described as one that is not centered on the growth of a healthy
environment for professional football in Korea, but on the commercial or political
interests of parent companies or local governments, respectively.

38
5. Organizational Image in K-League Football: the Perspective of South Korean
Football Fans
This particular chapter covers organizational images that the ‘others’ of K-League
football, namely Korean football fans and spectators, hold on K-League football.
During ethnographic fieldwork in South Korean football stadiums the behavior of
fans and spectators was observed, and personal experiences as a self-identified
football fan helped to build the researcher’s personal image on K-League football.
Furthermore, the survey as well as the interviews conducted with authorities in South
Korean football did not just reveal aspects of the organizational culture but also their
personal images as a football fan. Besides, fan-narratives on the professional football
club Daejeon Hana Citizen FC found at the club’s online forum (in Hangul:
자 유 게 시 판 , accessible at www.dhcfc.kr) were collected and analyzed to find out
about images that the football community holds on a company-owned or a citizen-
owned club, respectively. Given that the club was recently transformed from a
citizen-owned club to a company-owned club, the process of transformation revealed
a diverse spectrum of images on ownership, history, and tradition that otherwise
would have maybe stayed hidden. The collected data was illustrated and analyzed in a
way that it indicates the organizational images in K-League football, including the
external identity construction processes impressing and mirroring. To simplify the
results, five different types of images were recognized with two of them being rather
negative towards K-League football and the remaining three being rather positive.

5.1 Rather Negative Images in K-League Football

As football is a global sport the K-League competes with European football leagues
as well. The English Premier League (EPL) or the German Bundesliga for instance
are broadcasted in Korea, and to many watching those leagues is more interesting
than watching the K-League. Some football fans argue that the pace of K-League
football is too slow and that the K-League lacks quality in comparison to European
football. The impression that one is watching high-quality football seems to be
crucial to many Koreans. Besides, it is often claimed that European football leagues
have a long-lasting tradition and football culture that Asian football leagues can not

39
exhibit. To many Korean football fans the image that the local franchise lacks a
particular culture and technical quality is crucial and thus they do not see any reason
to watch K-League football as they can refer for instance to the EPL. One interviewee
tried to explain this image with success-oriented thinking of Koreans: ‘Koreans care
about surviving, becoming a big person, a good college degree, being in a big
company, success, money, etc. The image of K-League just doesn’t fit here because it
is not the best or most successful football played.’ Moreover, watching K-League
football lacks a widely accepted cultural framework. During national games Koreans
gather to watch ‘how the country performs’. It may be culturally appropriate to watch
games of the national team, but watching local football as part of one’s leisure
activities seems rather inappropriate to some Koreans. One interviewee explained this
by claiming that there are no local communities but a national community, which
leads to a disregard of local teams: ‘If a team from Pohang, Ulsan, or Gwangju wins
is simply not important to many Koreans and even to people living in that particular
city or region, and in turn this is the reason why passionate supporters of K-League
clubs are sometimes viewed as outcasts.’ Such image is a big problem for the K-
League in general as it induces a cycle resulting in a low number of spectators.

Such images might relate to a considerable number of football fans in Korea – mostly
to those who enjoy watching football, but not K-League in particular. Besides,
chances are high that such football fans also dislike the K-League office. Through a
match-fixing scandal in 2011 an image of corruption could grow which eventually led
to a higher disinterest in the franchise among many football fans. As K-League
regulations were often changed for the benefit of persons in charge the football
community dismissed the missing long-term approaches and developments. Many
football fans thus thought that the K-League office does not do a good job,
particularly when compared to European football leagues. However, such an image is
not limited to Korea, as all over the world many of the passionate football fans dislike
the operations of a country’s respective national football association. What needs to
be taken into account though is that the image of K-League football is certainly not
limited to those rather negative images as there are Koreans who do enjoy K-League

40
football and even consider themselves as passionate fans. Those fans are more likely
to hold a more positive image on K-League football in general, and it is argued that
those fans visit K-League games in the stadiums frequently. The images of such fans
and spectators will be elaborated closely in the following sections.

5.2 Rather Positive Images in K-League Football & the Researcher’s Personal
Images: The Football Event
In total I visited six different professional football games (the first on September 29th
2019, the last on November 23rd 2019) in Seoul, Suwon, and Ulsan, comprising nine
different football clubs. Among them were three K-League 1 games, one K-League 2
game, and two Korean FA Cup games. Personal experiences and observations that I
made through my ethnographic fieldwork at those games as well as their implications
for the organizational image of K-League football are illustrated in the following.

5.2.1 K-League Football as a Relaxing Event

Before the start of the game many spectators buy food and drinks outside the stadium
to consume it during the football game. Nearby supermarkets, convenience stores,
and fast-food restaurants are thus crowded with spectators of the football game. When
the games starts many spectators seem to have a picnic-like atmosphere where they
eat, drink, and chat with friends or family members. Especially young families did
not seem to be interested in the football game itself, but they were rather looking
forward to enjoying a family trip where it is appropriate for the kids to get loud. This
was especially observable during home games of the two Seoul based teams FC
Seoul and Seoul E-Land FC: Before the kickoff those clubs offered family events
outside the stadium when particularly children could participate in fun activities. FC
Seoul even motivated children to ‘simply make noise’ by blowing a Vuvuzela, a loud
plastic horn which became known to the football world through the FIFA World Cup
2010 in South Africa, to distract attacks of the opponent team. The presence of a
home club’s official cheerleader group as well as half time shows underpins that the
clubs do not just try to satisfy the spectator with the football event itself, but also with
entertainment rather unrelated to football. Moreover, the number of couples visiting

41
the football game together was also very high, and due to them as well as the young
families there were more women than what I am used to from football games in
Germany. Many of those people described above were likely not to be fully interested
in the football game itself as they did not follow it closely and only cheered on rare
occasions. When the final whistle was blown those people did also not show a
particular reaction and instead just began to leave the stadium. A lack of attention
among many spectators often led to my personal perception of a missing tension and
a reduced feeling of belonging to a crowd; a connection to other spectators as well as
a feeling of ‘being in this together’ that I enjoy at professional football games in
Germany was missing. As some K-League games worked as a relaxing event for most
spectators, it did simply not match my expectations of a football game.

Among all football games watched, such impressions became most distinct during a
home game of the K-League 2 club Seoul E-Land FC against Busan IPark. The club
was formed in 2014 and since 2015 the club holds its K-League 2 games in the Seoul
Olympic Stadium which has a capacity of 69.950 seats. However, by average the club
had with only 4.3% the lowest percentage of available seats sold among all 22 K-
League clubs in the 2019 season (transfermarkt.de, E). The huge track & field
stadium thus looked quite empty and the appreciated football atmosphere that I
described above did not emerge. At the entrance club staff handed out small Seoul E-
Land flags and a banner which had player faces, names, as well as chanting
instructions and song lyrics printed on it. The club was expecting that most spectators
are not fans and do not know much about the club and thus they decided to teach
them how to cheer and even gave them some tools to do so. The selected fan songs
were stressing the name of the club’s corporate owner, the E-Land Group, whose
brand emblem also strongly reminds of the club emblem of Seoul E-Land FC. This
indicates the club’s role as the parent company’s marketing tool. Even after thirty
minutes had been played there were still new spectators coming, indicating that they
were not that focused on the game itself as they can have fun anyway. After Seoul E-
Land scored a goal the spectators cheered a little, but their attention shifted away
quickly again, also because the players did not interact with the fans at all after

42
scoring a goal – they were simply to far away from the spectators and that also led to
my impression of an emotional distance. Some spectators did also not show any
reaction when the opponent scored a goal.

Most families with young children among the spectators wanted to enjoy a nice day
together in a rather uncommon setting where especially children could frolic around.
Thus, I assumed that to those spectators it is rather irrelevant if they attend a football
event or something different. Hundreds of children who then performed in a
Taekwondo half time show on the pitch appeared at the stands during the second half
time and so did the event more and more feel to me like it has been made for
children. When Seoul E-Land FC scored their third goal during the added time in a
3:5 home loss the spectators celebrated the goal as if it were a winning goal: In my
impression was the result irrelevant to most spectators as they simply appreciated the
cheering opportunity. Given that it was the last game of the season for Seoul E-Land
FC the club decided to hold a season-ending event after the final whistle when they
showed a trailer of the club’s best moments of the season on a big screen inside the
stadium. Ironically, the club finished the K-League 2 table at a distant last place and
thus such trailer seemed inappropriate to me as most football fans in Germany would
probably not be impressed by that. Eventually, there was a technically impressive
drone show when for instance the sponsor’s and club owner’s names became visible
at the sky. However, my personal overall image of the event was that it lacked an
exciting football atmosphere as it was either meant to be a relaxing family event as
well as a thoroughly organized marketing opportunity for the club’s parent company
when the actual football game played a subordinate role.

5.2.2 Guided Actions and Emotions

In several cases the chanting and cheering of spectators was not a spontaneous act but
rather a requested and well-organized action. To cheer spectators often required a
request by either the stadium speaker, a fan group leader, or through displaying the
instructions of a particular chant on a screen inside the stadium. Without such a
request most spectators were rather quiet and did not reveal their emotions they feel

43
towards the game. For instance, if there is an opportunity to score a goal through a
set-play such as a free kick or a corner kick a stadium speaker often asked people to
do a simple chant; people were asked to e.g. wave flags, balloons, or simply shout
‘goal’ and clap all in time. To me personally it seemed like people wanted to be
prepared for a potential scoring chance and thus the requested chanting was meant to
pay attention to the actions on the pitch. The more passionately chanting supporter
groups were usually guided by group leaders who were shouting in megaphones to
set the chant which is also not uncommon at professional football clubs in Europe.
However, if a chant ended and there were no other guidelines by the group leader
even the more passionate supporters went almost completely quiet until the next
chanting request was made. My observation was thus that all kinds of spectators
refrained from cheering or chanting spontaneously and instead waited for a prompt to
do so. One interviewee tried to give a cultural explanation for such behavior: In
Korean society staying quiet and modest is often seen as more appropriate than trying
to stand out and affecting other persons. In the football stadium being quiet is thus
also more appropriate than showing sudden emotions which might disturb people. A
stadium speaker is thus required to guide spectators to cheer and chant which gives
them a reason to act all together in an organized manner instead of spontaneously and
individually which is viewed as rather inappropriate. By cultural conditions it may
thus be argued that Koreans often enjoy a relaxed football atmosphere simply more,
and so is a football stadium not unconditionally seen as a place of enthusiasm in
Korea. According to the interviewee, Koreans may engage in spontaneous and
enthusiastic actions when visiting football games in European football leagues, but
back in Korea such behavior may lead to social sanctions, and thus people refrain
from it. Such observation bolsters the indication that local franchise football in Korea
lacks a cultural framework for showing unconditional joy. A modest behavior of
Korean spectators is therefore in sharp contrast for instance to football fans in the
English Football League (EFL), where 60% of football fans younger than 35 years do
not mind the aggressive and abusive language of individuals and believe that it is part
and parcel of going to football games (EFL, 2019, p. 55).

44
5.2.3 Supporter Groups and Their Behavior
Supporter groups are considered as rather passionate fans supporting a particular
football club, for instance through chanting during the game. Those fans often have a
stronger emotional relationship to a football club than general football fans. Among
all K-League spectators they make a minority, but they are usually the group of
spectators which stands out the most through their chants, and thus they play an
important role in the overall atmosphere of the football event. However, among K-
League clubs the formation of supporter groups is considerably diverse which had
crucial effects on my personal perception of the football atmosphere in the stadium.
Whereas for instance FC Seoul and Ulsan Hyundai FC’s chanting supporter groups
made a rather small number compared to the rest of the home fans, Suwon Samsung
Bluewings’ chanting supporters made the overwhelming majority of the home fans.
Seoul E-Land FC in contrast probably had a low two-digit number of supporters that I
identified as more passionate and who I personally perceived as ‘out of place’ among
the remaining spectators. That the actions of supporter groups are also guided to some
extent was already illustrated in the preceding paragraph. In other words, some
supporter groups became completely silent for a few minutes if the fan group leader
did not guide any chants. Such incidents were very remarkable to me in the case of
FC Seoul and Ulsan Hyundai FC home supporter groups. Interestingly, in times of
silence they did also not show many reactions to what happened on the pitch, for
instance to a questionable referee decision.

In contrast to such experience were Suwon Samsung Bluewings’ supporters who

seemed to exhibit a more complex cheering culture. The supporter’s group leaders
consistently guided and motivated the supporters to cheer and chant and so they
barely took any break to do so. Moreover they reacted to anything that happened on
the pitch which also included aggressive chants when they for instance demanded the
referee to ‘open his eyes’ after a decision against the home team. Some passionate
supporters consider themselves as ‘Ultras Suwon’ which was also expressed through
several banners. However, they did also not hide their respect towards the well
playing opponent teams given that the Suwon supporters applauded those players

45
when they bowed down in front of the Suwon supporters’ stands. The fans performed
several choreographies and were chanting diverse and individual songs even
including musical instruments. When games were over, the supporter groups
continued cheering and singing outside the stadium. As those supporters were the
majority, Suwon Samsung Bluewings’ home games did not feel like the already
described family event. Furthermore, there were no cheerleaders or other attractions
and events that were meant to promote a relaxing family event. Regardless of my
personal perception of such a football event coming close to my desired football
atmosphere, it became evident that the supporter group's behavior has a crucial
influence on the general perception of a K-League football game. Otherwise does the
overall intent of a K-League game affect the formation of those supporter groups. For
example, Seoul E-Land FC’s relaxing family event did not seem to promote the
formation of a supporters group such as the one in Suwon.

Worth to mention are also the away fans. Usually the away stands are quite empty
and only the most passionate fans make an effort to follow their favorite K-League
club to Away games. Ironically, those fans sometimes outshine the home spectators
who usually are in superior numbers: Due to them being a rather small group in often
big stadiums the spotlight seems to be on them and so they become easily visible.
More importantly, as the majority of away fans belong to passionate supporter groups
almost all of them engage in cheering and chanting, which might lead to the
circumstance that the away team chants are louder than the home team chants despite
them being low in numbers. Overall the away teams might make the minority but
they may be at least even in numbers with the passionate supporter groups of the
home team. However, if the away fans are low in numbers the football experience
might become less thrilling anyway. Moreover, my personal experience in a group of
Ulsan Hyundai FC away supporters at an FC Seoul home game resulted in my
personal perception that the away fan experience is rather purely football intended.
Being part of the away fans, at no time I felt included in FC Seoul’s entertainment
activities, and so my focus in the away block was basically on the game itself.

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5.2.4 Other Factors for Attending a K-League Game
The K-League and the football clubs have their passionate supporters who follow the
league and visit football games regardless of any outside factors. However, those fans
are the minority as many do not consider themselves as passionate supporters of a
football club and so their attendance of a K-League game depends on several factors.
To many spectators watching a K-League game is simply an enjoyable event among
others they can choose from. Such spectators are not really fans of a particular
football club, instead they ponder how they want to spend their free time. To many
fans, such as the ones described in section 5.2.1, visiting a football game has a similar
value than going to the cinema or a concert, having a picnic, etc. and so are the K-
League and the clubs in competition with those events. For instance, during spring
season when cherry blossoms bloom and people prefer to enjoy a picnic the spectator
numbers are noticeably lower than usual. Many K-League clubs thus try to motivate
people to visit the home games through special entertaining events, which has
however resulted in a mitigated interest if there is no special event. Empirical studies
on motivational factors for visiting a K-League game strengthen this impression: In
Won & Kitamura’s research (2006) entertainment, releasing daily stress or pressure,
but also team identification were determined as the strongest predictors for
attendance frequency in K-League spectators (p. 245). In particular the entertainment
factor goes in line the results of Kim, Yoo & Pedersen’s study (2007) as they
identified star players, a record breaking performance of the home team, an offensive
playing style as important factors for attending a K-League game (p. 32).

In a more recent empirical study on factors that have an impact on the entertainment
value of a K-League game, Jang & Lee (2015) argued that K-League spectators
prefer a winning home team, an offensive performance, and many goals (p. 77).
Teams with lower probabilities for draw outcomes as well as a general uncertainty of
the outcome were favored, and so is a competitive balance an important factor for
enjoying a football game. (Ibid., p. 73) Such factors are rather met by company-
owned clubs as they are often more competitive due to their financial capabilities, and
so were for instance in the 2019 season five company-owned clubs among the six

47
teams with the highest average of spectators (transfermarkt.de, A). Jang & Lee (2015)
also argued that the particular stadium age plays a role in attending a K-League game
as a new stadium has increased the attendance per game in the first seasons after
construction (p. 75). Currently this is observable in Daegu where the DGB Daegu
Bank Park, opened in the 2019 season, saw approximately the threefold of spectators
compared to the 2018 season (transfermarkt.de, B & F). Moreover is the DGB Daegu
Bank Park with 12.415 seats much more compact than the Daegu World Cup Stadium
with 66.442 seats, where Daegu FC played their home games before, which simply
leads to a better atmosphere and eventually more entertainment. Many K-League
clubs play their home games in a stadium that they can barely fill. Among them are
even track & field stadiums not solely built for the purpose of playing football which
means that the spectators are even further away from the players on the pitch.
Daegu’s attempt with a modern and rather small stadium has been very successful so
far as the compactness of the stadium and the spectators leads to a tense atmosphere
and eventually to more spectators who want to enjoy such a football event.

Besides, the success of the South Korean national team in international competitions
has a strong positive effect on the interest in K-League football in general. In 2018
the K-League had a season with a record low of spectators, but due to the national
team’s emotional win against Germany at the 2018 Russia World Cup and the title
win at the 2018 Asian Games the spectator numbers rose remarkably. Players who
played for the national team became popular, particularly among teenage students,
and so did the respective K-League club they played for also gain high attention.
Interestingly, the chance of winning the league title does not automatically lead to a
higher number of spectators: On the second last matchday in the 2019 season, the top
of the table Ulsan Hyundai Motors faced the second in the table Jeonbuk Hyundai
Motors FC in an almost sold-out stadium in Ulsan with 19.011 spectators
(transfermarkt.de, G). The game ended in a draw and so the championship was
decided on the very last matchday of the K-League. When both teams had the chance
to win the championship in a game at their home ground in Jeonju and Ulsan,
respectively, the eventual champion Jeonbuk had fewer spectators than their actual

48
season average, and also Ulsan had only 15.401 spectators (transfermarkt.de, G).
When I asked interviewees for an explanation of this apparent contradiction they
claimed that the main reason for the lower spectator numbers was the rainy weather
on the last matchday which is a crucial factor for many Koreans. Furthermore, as
Jeonbuk is Korea’s best football team currently, the game against them is often
already considered like a ‘final’ and so did some fans lose interest in Ulsan’s actual
championship decider after the game against Jeonbuk.

5.3 Images on History, Tradition, and Ownership – Case Study on Daejeon Hana
Citizen FC’s Change of Ownership
These days football clubs in Europe experience big financial investments which some
football fans oppose as it is often argued that such investments are incongruent with
the football club’s unique culture or tradition. However, such worries are less visible
in Korea as K-League football has a rather short history. One interviewee claimed
that ‘there is nothing to lose in Korea’: Due to a lack of football culture and
emotional bindings to a club, fans try to benchmark from European football culture
and want the clubs to be alike European football clubs which requires financial
investment into the otherwise uneconomic K-League clubs. The Korean football
community is generally positive towards a parent company’s investment and they do
not consider it as a threat to K-League’s tradition or culture. Companies invest in
Korean football clubs since the start of the K-League and thus such investment is
seen as usual. What might be considered as a threat to a club’s culture or tradition are
relocations, given that they indicate that ‘there is no way of sharing a cultural
connection and identity between professional clubs and local residents’ (Ok & Park,
2017, p. 1973). When Bucheon SK became Jeju United in 2006 fans decided to
continue the history of the club by establishing a new club in Bucheon. To maintain
the club’s tradition Bucheon FC 1995’s fans still chant the songs from earlier days
which indicates that there is a general understanding that K-League clubs do possess
a history or tradition that fans consider as worth to be preserved. Now especially the
club’s main supporters look forward to playing Jeju United which indicates that the
relocation became part of Bucheon FC 1995’s history that fans have not forgotten.

49
The money a local government provides to a citizen-owned club is widely not seen as
an ‘investment’, and their fans often have lower demands in terms of the results. Due
to the financial investment of parent companies, fans expect better results from a
company-owned club, which is generally seen as the biggest upside of corporate
ownership. Therefore, being against financial investments from companies into
football clubs is illogical in the case of K-League football. At some K-League clubs
the fans respect the parent company for the money they provide to operate the
football club, and they even prefer their products over others. A high level of team
identification among fans may lead to an enhanced identification with the sponsor or
the club owner which may positively affect their images. (Kim & Kim, 2009, p.28)
For example, some Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC supporters say they will not drive
any other car brand than Hyundai as they hold very positive images on the parent
company. However, such fans are rather a minority in K-League football.

Such things also become visible when looking at the images of the K-League 2 club
Daejeon Hana Citizen FC. At the end of 2019 it was promulgated that the mayor of
Daejeon sold the citizen-owned club Daejeon Citizen to the Hana Financial Group.
The club was transformed into a company-owned club, the name was changed, and
the club’s annual budget increased from approximately 6 billion Won (4.5 million €)
to 20 billion Won (15 million €) due to the investor. From 1997 to 2006 the club was
already once company-owned but changed to a citizen-owned club due to bankruptcy
of the parent companies. In the 2019 season the club finished second last in the K-
League 2 and had an average of 1.947 spectators per home game (transfermarkt.de,
E) which was the lowest average among all 22 K-League clubs. Thanks to the new
investment most fans look forward to better results, hope for a quick promotion to the
K-League 1, and eventually, want the club to play successful football in the Asian
Champions League. In short, most fans are very happy and thankful that the club was
sold to the Hana Financial Group as they now see prospects for sporting success.
Fans also seize on the parent company’s rhetoric which makes the club appear as a
marketing tool: ‘Hana’ (in Hangul: 하나), as in the parent company’s name, means
‘one’ in Korean and so the club management began to constantly emphasize that the

50
players, the fans, and the managers need to ‘become one’ to be successful. Before
Hana Financial Group’s entry the football club had issues with a factional dispute of
two different supporter groups. Eventually the two groups refer to the owner change
as a chance for a new beginning and so they announced ‘to cheer as one for Daejeon
Hana Citizen FC’. Hana Financial Group’s impact on the organizational culture of the
football club thus seems to impress the supporter groups.

At first, some fans were not happy with the club being sold to a company. Those fans
criticized the local government and Daejeon’s current mayor for neglecting the
football club, showing no interest in it, and thus wasting tax money on it. Some fans
worried that the club was sold without the fans in mind and that neither the mayor nor
the corporation would care about the club’s history or region. Those fans were afraid
that the club’s history and tradition will be erased as a consequence of the acquisition.
This induced a discussion among the club’s fans what exactly they consider as the
club’s tradition and if it is worth retaining. Many fans eventually agreed that Daejeon
Hana Citizen FC’s tradition is defined by the historical club color maroon and by the
club’s biggest successes such as winning the 2001 Korean FA Cup and the K-League
2 in 2014. In the club’s first season after the acquisition the team’s home jersey is
maroon mixed with Hana Financial Group’s corporate color mint green, and also the
club’s new emblem inherits those colors. The new emblem furthermore roughly
resembles the style of the old emblem; an ‘H’ signifying the new parent company was
added. Besides, the emblem indicates an identity claim by the club management that
the club is strongly connected with the city Daejeon and its citizens through common
symbols such as the Baekje phoenix or the cross mixed in the colors maroon and mint
green which is supposed to symbolize the city of Daejeon as a popular transportation
hub in Korea. Notably, the core of the club’s old name ‘Daejeon Citizen FC’ has
remained in the new name. The club’s involvement in a match-fixing scandal in 2011
was rather part of a history that the fans did not want to retain with the ‘restart'. Hana
Financial Group took the fans’ worries and demands about retaining a certain
tradition into account which eventually satisfied and impressed many fans. In terms
of the organizational images of K-League football this indicates that the football fans

51
from Daejeon are generally aware of ownership issues: At a citizen-owned club fans
consider the mayor responsible for success or failure, and at a company-owned club
this role is taken in by the parent company. Fans tolerate the economic or political
intentions of the club owners but simultaneously ask for benefits themselves and a
balance between the interests of owners and fans. Some football fans from Daejeon
demanded that the club retains what they consider as a certain tradition, while many
others were simply satisfied with the outlook on sporting success due to the parent
company’s investment. The impression that emerges in the case of Daejeon Hana
Citizen FC is that the fans tolerate most of the club owner’s actions as well as
economic or political intents. Inheriting the historical club color or claiming a
connection to the city was easily realizable for Hana Financial Group. Given that
their demands were taken into account, the fans now simply expect the club to gain
good results. Therefore it is claimed that a club owner can act without strong
opposition from the fans as long as the sporting results are appropriate. A company
acquiring a Korean football club is not generally seen as a threat to a club’s history or
tradition, which seems to play a subordinate role for most fans anyway.

5.4 Summary & Conclusion: Organizational Image, Impressing & Mirroring

As stated, organizational identity occurs as a result of the four processes expressing,
reflecting, impressing, and mirroring. In section 4.7 the organizational culture of K-
League football, as well as the internal identity construction processes expressing and
reflecting, were illustrated. In this section, the organizational image of K-League
football as well as both external processes of how the identity of K-League football is
constructed – impressing and mirroring - will be illustrated. Impressing describes the
process by which expressions of identity leave impressions on others, and mirroring
can be identified as the process by which the others’ images influence the
organizational identity (Hatch & Schultz, 2002, p. 991).

This research identifies five different groups of images that Korean football fans hold
on K-League football. Two of them are rather negative towards K-League football
and thus those people do not show much interest in it: football fans who complain

52
about the quality of the K-League experience as they prefer to watch for instance the
English Premier League, and people who disregard the local franchise as the national
team offers a more appropriate framework for them to enjoy football as part of one’s
leisure. Those people are not impressed by identity claims made by the K-League or
football clubs. The remaining three types of images are rather positive towards K-
League football, and were identified as part of an ethnographic field study inside the
football stadium: First, spectators who simply want to enjoy a relaxing event with
friends and family; second, spectators who enjoy watching football but act very
reserved when it comes to cheering or showing emotions because K-League football
does not offer an appropriate cultural framework to do so; and the third group are the
chanting supporter groups who are most likely to have a strong connection to a
particular K-League club. All three groups are to different extents impressed by
identity claims made by the K-League office or football clubs. The first group of
spectators simply seeks entertainment as well as releasing daily stress and so the
football game itself plays a rather subordinate role which was observable for instance
through the many young families who did not pay attention to the football game. The
clubs have reacted to their demand and partially offer events targeted at those
spectators to impress them, sometimes blended with the marketing intentions of the
parent company. The ones who do come with the intend to watch a K-League football
game are additionally best to impress with star players, a competitive balance, many
goals and a winning home team, as well as an offensive play-style. Company-owned
clubs meet those factors more likely than citizen-owned clubs.

The formation of supporter groups is quite diverse among K-League clubs though. As
these spectators stand out the most among all, their chants have a crucial influence on
the general perception of a K-League football game and the overall organizational
image of K-League football. A lively supporter group thus has the power to impress
other spectators as well. On the other side does the overall intent of a K-League game
affect the formation of those supporter groups which eventually leads to divergent
experiences: Spectators who show interest in forming a supporter group were not
impressed by Seoul E-Land FC’s family-focused event, but the football-focused event

53
at the Suwon Samsung Bluewings home games seemed to impress such spectators as
the supporter groups took in the majority of spectators in the stadium. The away fans
may also affect the atmosphere in the stadium, but as they are usually quite low in
numbers their influence often remains negligible. However, they may be able to
impress other spectators if they manage to stand out from the rest of the spectators
through their chants. Cheering and chanting are often not spontaneous and only done
if guided by the stadium speaker or a supporter group’s leader. In Korean society
staying quiet and modest is often more appropriate than standing out and affecting
other persons, and a stadium speaker can give an adequate framework so that all can
chant together in a well-organized manner rather than individually. This indicates that
Koreans are often simply more impressed by a relaxed football atmosphere and that a
football stadium is not unconditionally seen as a place of enthusiasm in Korea.
Moreover, new and compact home stadiums as well as the national team’s success
boost K-League’s popularity and spectator numbers. The Championship itself does
not automatically impress and lead to a higher number of spectators in the stadium
since factors such as the weather play a crucial role in attendance.

The club owner has a lot of freedom in terms of a certain tradition or history that fans
may want to retain with a K-League club. As the history of K-League clubs is short
there sometimes is not much which could be considered as tradition or history in the
eyes of the fans. Due to a lack of emotional bindings and a missing unique culture,
some fans are impressed if their club resembles other European clubs. Relocations of
a club may be considered as a threat to a club’s history and tradition, though, which
indicates an important role of the particular place regarding fan identity and thus also
the organizational identity. Fans are aware of ownership issues, may respect the
owner for the money provided and tolerate the owner’s economic or political
intentions as long as fans see benefits themselves. A club owner who shows efforts in
retaining a club’s tradition or simply facilitates good results can impress which may
result in an enhanced image of the owner. The results further indicate that the two
different ownership models only influence the organizational images marginally. A
company’s investment is seen as helpful and nothing reprehensible here, given that

54
company investments have always been the roots of professional football in Korea.
The only remarkable difference is that, due to the financial capabilities, fans expect
better results from company-owned clubs than from citizen-owned clubs which is the
main reason why fans may welcome a company’s investment. The ownership model
does furthermore not seem to make a big difference in terms of the fan behavior and
eventually the organizational image. Rather did fans of clubs with the same
ownership models show diverse actions and images.

6. Conclusion & Practical Implications

What can we learn from the preceding analysis of identity construction in K-League
football? According to Hatch and Schultz, a healthy organizational identity is based
on a balance between the influences of both culture and image and results from the
interaction between all four identity construction processes. Such balance is achieved
by paying attention to the organization’s stakeholders and trying to include their
images in the process of reflecting on one’s identity. (Hatch & Schultz, 2002, p. 1005)
Regarding professional football, clubs might for instance identify themselves with
particular sporting goals, while they simultaneously (and ideally) pay attention to
expectations of key stakeholders. In case of such interaction and if expectations are
met ‘a club is presumably more likely to have satisfied stakeholders, whether these
are fans, sponsors or the media’ (Nissen, 2015, p. 15). In this particular study,
primarily the K-League office as well as the K-League clubs and their respective
owners were identified as the relevant organizations that shape the organizational
culture of K-League football; fans and spectators were defined as relevant
stakeholders that hold images on K-League football. The implications are based on
the historical and cultural background of K-League football illustrated in section 3,
the results in section 4, which covered the organizational culture of K-League football
as well as the internal identity construction processes expressing and reflecting, as
well as the results of section 5, where the organizational images of K-League football
and the external identity construction processes mirroring and impressing were
elaborated.

55
The results imply that K-League football is only to a limited extent willing or able to
respond to its organizational images: In section 5 this research identified five
different types of images that football fans hold on K-League football, with two of
them being rather negative towards K-League football and the remaining three rather
positive. The rather negative images of people who lament a lack of quality in K-
League football, incompetence of league managers, as well as people who do not see
a proper framework for enjoying local franchise football as part of one's leisure were
barely reflected by any of the relevant organizations in K-League football. In terms of
those images the organizations seem to have created what Hatch & Schultz refer to as
a ‘dysfunctional identity’, a condition that occurs when an organization ignores or
denies the links between culture and image (Hatch & Schultz, 2002, p. 1005). One
type of dysfunctional identity Hatch and Schultz define is organizational narcissism.
A narcissistic organizational ‘identity develops as the result of a [one-way]
conversation between identity and culture in which feedback from the mirroring
process is ignored’ (Ibid., p. 1008). The relevant organizations in K-League football
seem to act narcissistic in a sense that they tend to ignore the general football fans
with rather negative images on K-League football. The organizations are much more
responsive to spectators and fans that hold positive images on K-League football.
However, particularly the clubs respond to those spectators to different extents: Some
clubs such as Seoul E-Land FC seem to rather respond to images of young families
who simply seek any form of entertainment, while Suwon Samsung Bluewings
respond more to the images of chanting supporter groups. Moreover, company-owned
clubs reflect mostly from a marketing perspective of the parent company, and citizen-
owned clubs reflect from a generally political perspective. This may lead to diverse
experiences in the stadiums throughout the country, but also exclude some people
from the football events and explain to some extent why most K-League stadiums are
barely filled. The K-League office itself claims that the fans are their most important
stakeholders, but since spectator numbers remain low they do not seem to act as an
important stakeholder in practice. There is also only a limited direct communication
between league managers and the football community. As it is claimed that the
organizational culture of K-League football may be described as one that is not

56
centered on the growth of a healthy environment for professional football in Korea,
but on the commercial or political interests of parent companies or local
governments, it may be concluded that K-League football has developed an
organizational narcissism. However, it needs to be emphasized here that particularly
those spectators and fans with rather positive images on K-League football do not
seem to exhibit much pressure through the process of mirroring. Fans with positive
images seem to be mostly satisfied with the actual football event and their role in it.
Thus, they show themselves impressed by identity claims but do not actively react in
a way that relevant organizations in K-League football feel the need to respond to
those images. That might be one reason why some clubs do not see an urgent
necessity to comprehensively reflect on organizational images in K-League football.

Such results offer a wide range of practical implications on how the K-League office,
the football clubs including their owners, as well as also the KFA can promote a
growing interest in K-League football among Korean football fans so that local
franchise football in Korea can match the popularity of the South Korean national
team in the long term. One important indication is that all relevant organizations need
to show more effort in understanding Korean football fans. Big European football
clubs often have departments dealing with fan issues, but Korean clubs do not put
that much attention on the fan perspective. The relevant organizations in K-League
football need to retreat some of their power so that the focus of K-League operations
can shift from culture to image, or in other words: from companies and local
governments to the football community. Given that the stadiums in K-League football
are often barely filled and that Korean football fans can easily refer to European
football leagues, the K-League needs to give convincing arguments on why people
should watch K-League football. One such argument is the chance of co-determining
developments in the still young football franchise. Ok & Park (2017) argue that
European football leagues resemble ‘a type of popular culture that has been
developed together with the lives of the people. In this context, Korean professional
soccer needs to ensure a cultural identity that can be shared with Koreans to become a
national sport akin to European soccer’ (p. 1966). This might require a change of

57
mindset among relevant organizations in K-League football as it is necessary to treat
fans more like stakeholders than as customers. If the clubs pay more attention to fan
images and allow fans to participate in shaping the Korean football environment the
K-League can turn its seeming disadvantage of a lacking history, culture, or tradition
to an advantage: If football fans realize that they can set directions of developing
history, culture, or tradition themselves in Korean football they might pay more
attention to K-League football. This way, K-League football could grow distinct from
European football leagues while Korean football fans develop their own, ‘Korean’
interpretation of football. Ideally, K-League football could thus become more popular
because Korean football fans can enjoy football they way they like it and eventually
develop a more appropriate cultural framework for enjoying local franchise football
as part of their leisure time. As a result, club owners would also crucially benefit from
the growing interest in K-League football if they pay more attention to fan images.

Looking at the nationwide enthusiasm and joy among Koreans during the 2002 Korea
Japan FIFA World Cup it is obvious that football, in general, is capable of unfolding
its power to move the masses in Korea. In 2002 such power could unfold thanks to
several cultural preconditions, but certainly not due to a mindset of football =
marketing and fans = customers. However, K-League football seems to act contrary
to that as the relevant organizations do not facilitate a better cultural framework for
local franchise football and instead see football as a marketing opportunity and fans
as customers. If K-League football can involve fans more in the shaping of Korean
football it has the potential to reach the extents of the national team in the long term.
Nevertheless, if local football fans in Korea cannot build stronger emotional
connections to K-League football or a particular club desired things such as a good
atmosphere with big crowds in the stadium or a club’s distinct culture are likely not to
arise. As one interviewee put it: ‘Fans don’t have any place to go, they don’t have the
atmosphere they want, no feeling of belonging. If there is no feeling of belonging to a
football club, they have no real reason to be interested in the K-League. […] The
problem is that we don’t give them a proper experience - the legitimacy to exist.’ As a
feeling of belonging to a football club is not given people seek other values such as

58
entertainment, may it be through family events or high technical quality of football
players. If such emotional bonding can be realized complaints about a lacking
technical quality of K-League football are likely to be pushed to the background as
this value might loose importance for many Korean football fans.

The strengthening of a club’s relationship with its local community might be helpful
here: Kim & Kwak (2015) found out for the case of Daejeon that people who felt
emotionally attached to the city had a higher chance of identifying themselves with
the local football club and thus supporting it, particularly because they considered the
club to be representative for the local community (p. 380 f.). They concluded that
‘[through] a close relationship with the local community, sports teams can achieve
more than just ticket sales, including revitalizing the local image, building grassroots
interest, and stimulating the local economy.’ (Ibid., p. 383) They, therefore,
recommended clubs to strengthen community engagement in the sense that it fosters
local identities and cultures. The K-League clubs seem to have acknowledged this
opportunity and have already begun to engage with their respective local
communities, for example through CSR programs. However, some clubs may have
more difficulties than other clubs to reach the local communities: First, it is not
unusual that Koreans rather identify themselves with a region instead of a particular
city. K-League’s tour-system, when teams played in different cities throughout their
region in the past, has shown itself to be inferior to the single-host-city system though
because it had difficulties to enhance fan loyalty. (Jang & Lee, 2015, p. 75)
Moreover, province-related clubs such as Gangwon FC, Gyeongnam FC, or Jeonnam
Dragons FC do not seem to be more popular than other city-focused clubs, while
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC’s attention in K-League football is mostly based on the
club’s sporting success. Second, in the wider Seoul region for instance people may
often have a lower identification with the city they live in and a lower emotional
connection to a hometown than in other parts of the country which turns out to be a
big hurdle for some K-League clubs. In such cases it is even more crucial for a
football club to invite general football fans to participate in shaping the football
environment, and thus establish a fan community based on people’s motivation to

59
help build up a football club. This in turn may possibly strengthen the identification
with a city, a local community, and eventually a football club.

For a first step in this direction K-League clubs can orientate themselves by Japan’s
J.League and the clubs’ ownership models. For instance, Urawa Red Diamonds is a
big Japanese football club from the city Saitama in the wider Tokyo area and
company-owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Among other J.League clubs, the
‘Reds’ ‘have begun to encourage prefecture- and city-level governments to become
shareholders and subsequently to participate in annual shareholders’ meeting. […]
Clubs that use this type of ownership structure are typically those building strong
relationships with their fans, local residents and society as a whole. Unlike the clubs
compelled to obey only their parent companies, socially owned clubs are governed
both by many local firms and by local governments, causing them to address current
social and environmental challenges’ (Kang, Yoshida & Liu, 2019, p. 182). While
particular such broadening of a club’s role in its respective local community may be a
role model for company-owned clubs in K-League, citizen-owned clubs may consider
to diversify their shares and sell them to third parties in their franchise areas: In the
2018 season, the current J2 League club Albirex Niigata was owned by 163
companies and investors who are mostly located in the Niigata Prefecture. The capital
stock is thus mainly held by several external stakeholders as ‘the foundation of each
J.League club was designed to promote the active participation of many local
companies and investors when it was established’ (Ibid., p. 182). By doing so in
Korea, parent companies and local governments would loose some of their power in
club operations, but it might be for their benefit if K-League football may receive a
boost through ownership changes. Clubs such as Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC and
Bucheon FC 1995 have been already following such approaches to some extent, but
there are still things to improve. In terms of average spectator numbers in the 2019
season, the J1 League was with 20.750 visitors (transfermarkt.de, H) statistically
much more successful than the K-League 1 with 7999 spectators (Ibid., A). Among
others, the ownership models might be an explanation for such gap in numbers.

60
A look over to Germany may also be profitable for K-League clubs given that the
German Bundesliga club RasenBallsport (RB) Leipzig has been a success story that
particularly clubs in Korea have been aiming for: The East German football club was
founded in 2009 and thus has a comparatively short history, is basically company-
owned and financially funded by Red Bull GmbH, but has become one of Germany’s
and even Europe’s current most successful football clubs - in many terms - just within
ten years of operations. By tradition already, Germany offers a cultural framework
which makes watching local franchise football one of the most popular leisure
activities among Germans, which means that RB Leipzig’s experiences do not apply
to K-League football in a one-to-one relation, but there are nevertheless lessons to
learn: Even after more than 30 years after Germany’s reunification, East Germans
often claim that they do not have enough share of Germany’s development and
wealth. Here, RB Leipzig can spread an image that East Germany becomes
competitive and that the region has perspectives again. The club quickly became a
source for the region’s common good; the sporting and economic success induce a
collective winning mentality and strengthen the East German identity. Despite a
seemingly missing regional bond and a lacking history, tradition, or culture the club
was able to foster the region’s self-confidence and so did people identify themselves
with RB Leipzig. The club claims to be part of East Germany’s society and shows
commitment particularly to the city of Leipzig. The club’s approach was to develop a
football culture together with the local community, given that a certain lack of
tradition allows giving space to diversity. RB Leipzig managed to leave the question
of the club’s identity open for discussion with fans and local citizens, and so is the
club’s identity intentionally formed through an interplay between the club owner and
the local community. (Meynhardt & Frantz, 2016, p. 3 f.) Particular K-League clubs
can learn from RB Leipzig’s development given that they share many attributes such
as the ownership model, a parent company as the club’s roots, a short history and a
lack of tradition, rapid growth, the need to build a fan base and find a connection to
the local community, the striving for international sporting success as well as
economical profitability, etc.

61
Patience is a crucial factor here as such developments will not be finished just after a
few seasons. Some interviewees indicated that managers in K-League football do not
seek for longtime growth, but rather for immediate effects; one interviewee illustrated
this by claiming that many managers want a ‘Barcelona factory’ instead of
establishing fundamentals first. Since its establishment the K-League tried to grow as
quickly as possible, and often the authority to make decisions has been in the hands
of people with a non-football background. A change of mindset seems crucial here so
that football can develop in Korea. Moreover, transparency must become one of the
most important values in K-League’s developments as an organizational image of
corruption may have dreadful effects. Closer cooperation between the K-League and
the KFA might be of interest to find solutions on the question of how Koreans’
enthusiasm for the national team can flow over to the K-League and how the ones
considering themselves only as fans of the national team can be integrated into the
existing K-League football community. In regards to closer cooperation between the
K-League and the KFA may also be the improvement of Korea’s coaching system
important to improve the technical quality of K-League football. One interviewee
elaborated that coach curricula are all equal among the professional as well as youth
teams of all ages which may result in bad coaching and football players who can
hardly develop their skills as individuals or as a team. The KFA and the K-League
can cooperate here to ensure sustained technical development of football players and
coaches. Last but not least, attention should also be paid to women’s and girl’s
football. Not just in Korea and Asia in general but almost everywhere in the world,
the main perception is that football is a boy’s or men’s sport, which makes it difficult
to develop women’s football. Efforts here need to begin at the grassroots to make sure
that girls also show interest in football and kick the ball at a young age. The Women’s
K-League (WK-League) which was formed in 2009 has been one of a few good
efforts here, but there are still many things to improve.

62
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Appendix – Survey & Interview Questions

1. 귀 하 가 소속된 조 직 이름 은 무엇십니까? 그 조 직 내 에 서 귀하는 어 떤

직위십니까? / What’s the name of your organization? What’s your position
within the organization?

2. 아래 보기에서 귀하가 속한 조직에 가장 중요한 요소는 무엇 십니까?

1 ( 가장 중요한) 에서 9( 가장 중요하지 않음) 까지 순위를 매겨주십시오. /

66
 Which of these stakeholders are most important to your organization? Please
rank them from 1 (most important) to 9 (least important).

• 대한축구협회 / KFA

• K 리그 / K-League

• 클럽 소유자, 주주 / Club owners, shareholders

• 클럽 매니저 / Club managers

• 선수, 코치 / Players, Coaches

• 스폰서 / Sponsors

• 관중 및 서포터즈 / Spectators & supporters

• 지방자치단체 / Local governments

• 지역사회 / Local community

3. 귀하의 조직에 어떤 축구 행사가 좋다고 생각십니까? 다음 중 가장 많이

해당되는 세 항목을 골라주십시오 . / What makes a good football event for
your organization? Please choose the three most applicable statements.

• 우리 팀이 이기는 것 / our team wins the game

• 우리 팀이 좋은 경기를 펼치는 것 / our team performs well

• 경기장에 관객이 많은 것 / many spectators in the stadium

• 관객층이 다양한 것 (예:남성,여성,아동,가족) / a diverse spectrum of visitors

(e.g. men, women, children, families)

• 관중이 환호성을 지르며 열정적으로 팀을 응원하는 것 / spectators chant a

lot and support the team passionately

• 관중들이 즐기는 것 / spectators feel well entertained

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• 문제 없이 잘 조직된 행사 전개 / a trouble-free and well organized procedure
of the event

• 언론의 높은 관심 / high media attention

• 조직( 이해관계자 포함) 이 긍정적인 인상을 남기는 것 / the organization

(including stakeholders) leaves a positive impression on others

• 조직의 재정적 이익 / financial profit for the organization

• 기타 / something else: __________

4. 귀하의 조직에 어떤 축구 시즌이 성공적이었다고 생각하십니까? 다음 중

가장 많이 해당되는 세 항목을 골라주십시오. / What makes a successful
football season for your organization? Please choose the three most applicable
statements.

• 팀이 순위에서 어느 정도의 성공을 거둠 / Our team finishes the season with

reasonable sporting success

• 시즌 종료 시 조직의 향상을 위한 기초가 있음 / there is a basis for further

improvement of the organization at the end of the season

• 재 밌 고 기 억 에 남 는 경 기 장 면 들 이 있 었 음 / there were entertaining,

memorable sporting moments

• 가장 중요한 이해관계자들이 시즌 결과에 만족함 / Our most important

stakeholders are satisfied with the season’s result

• 재정적 지속 가능성 또는 이익 달성 / Financial sustainability or profit was

accomplished

• 조 직 ' 브 랜 드 ' 가 성 공 적 으 로 확 산 됨 / the organizational ‘brand’ was

successfully spread

• 기타 / something else: __________

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5. 귀하의 조직과 한국 축구 커뮤니티 간의 관계는 어떠십니까? / How would
you describe the relationship between your organization and its football
community in South Korea?

6. 대기업은 한국의 클럽 축구를 형성하는데 어떤 역할을 하십니까? / Which

role do big companies (such as Samsung or Hyundai) play in shaping South
Korean club football?

• 대기업은 한국 축구의 원동력 / Big companies are drivers of South Korean

football

• 대기업은 한국 축구에 긍정적인 영향을 끼침 / Big companies have a good

impact on Korean football

• 대기업은 회사 이미지를 축구클럽에 요구함 / Big companies impose their

company image on football clubs

• 대기업은 축구 클럽을 더 상업화함 / Big companies make football clubs

more commercial

• 대기업 소유 클럽과 시민 소유 클럽의 차이가 큼 / Company-owned clubs

are different from citizen-owned clubs

• 대기업 소유 클럽의 '문화' 또는 '전통'이 적음 / Company-owned clubs have

less ‘culture’ or ‘tradition’

• 대기업은 관중과 지지자들의 행동에 영향을 미침 / Big companies do have

an impact on spectators’ & supporters’ behavior

매우 그렇다 - 그렇다 - 그런 편이다 - 그렇지 않은 편이다 - 그렇지 않다 -

전혀 그렇지 않다 / strongly disagree – disagree – rather disagree – rather
agree – agree – strongly agree

7. 한국에서 프로 축구 조직을 운영 하는데 있어 주된 어려움은 무엇이라고

생 각 하 십 니 까 ? / What are the main difficulties of managing your
organization?

69
8. 한국 축구는 5 년 후에 어떻게 될 것이라고 보십니까? / How do you think
will Korean football do in five years?

매우 나빠질 것이다 - 나빠질 것이다 - 약간 나빠질 것이다 - 약간 좋아질

것이다 - 좋아질 것이다 - 매우 좋아질 것이다 / significantly worse – worse –
rather worse – rather better – better – significantly better

9. 귀하의 조직은 5 년 후에 어떻게 될 것이라고 보십니까? / How do you think

will your organization do in five years?

매우 나빠질 것이다 - 나빠질 것이다 - 약간 나빠질 것이다 - 약간 좋아질

것이다 - 좋아질 것이다 - 매우 좋아질 것이다 / significantly worse – worse –
rather worse – rather better – better – significantly better

10. 한국의 클럽 축구에 대해 바꾸고 싶은 것이 있습니까 ? / What would you

change about Korean football in general if you had the chance to?

11. 더 언급하고 싶은 점이 있습니까? / Is there anything else that you want to

mention?

12. 제 논문에서 귀하의 조직명을 포함한 답변 내용을 언급하는 것에

동의하십니까? / May I mention your answers under the name of your
organization within my thesis?

13. 추후 본 연구와 관련된 추가적 질문에 대해 연락 받는 것에 동의하십니까?

만약 동의하신다면, 성함, 이메일, 연락처를 입력해주십시오. / Can I
contact you for further questions regarding my research? If yes, please input
your name, email, or phone number.

70
 Statutory Declaration

“I herewith declare that I have composed the present thesis myself and without use of
any other than the cited sources and aids. Sentences or parts of sentences quoted
literally are marked as such. Other references are indicated in regard to statement and
scope and are specified by full details of the publications concerned. The thesis in the
same or similar form has not been submitted to any examination body and has not
been published. This thesis was not yet, even in part, used in another examination or
as a course performance. I declare that the submitted written (bound) copies of the
present thesis and the version submitted on a data carrier are consistent with each
other in contents. Moreover, I give my consent to have the present thesis checked by
plagiarism detection software.”

“Ich versichere hiermit, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und ohne
Benutzung anderer der angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel verfasst habe. Wörtlich
übernommene Sätze oder Satzteile sind als Zitat belegt, andere Anlehnungen,
hinsichtlich Aussage und Umfang, unter Quellenangabe kenntlich gemacht. Die
Arbeit hat in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form noch keiner Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegen
und ist nicht veröffentlicht. Sie wurde nicht, auch nicht auszugsweise, für eine andere
Prüfungs- oder Studienleistung verwendet. Zudem versichere ich, dass die von mir
abgegebenen schriftlichen (gebundenen) Versionen der vorliegenden Arbeit mit der
abgegebenen elektronischen Version auf einem Datenträger inhaltlich
übereinstimmen. Darüber hinaus stimme ich der Überprüfung der vorliegenden Arbeit
durch eine Plagiatssoftware zu.”

Ort, Datum Unterschrift

Paderborn, 27.05.2020

71

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