The outgoing head of South Korean soccer said on Thursday he would like to see “a young and passionate” person take over the reins next year.

At a press conference, Cho Chung-yun, the chairman of the Korea Football Association, said he will stick to his earlier decision not to run for a second term.

In a statement released on Oct. 17, Cho said he will step down from his post at the end of his tenure in January next year.

“I will not reverse that decision,” Cho said. “I joined the KFA as an executive director in 1998, and the ensuing years as a vice chairman and the chairman have been a very meaningful time for me personally.”

Cho, 66, spoke of the growth of the KFA over the past decade, from a small organization with about 20 employees and some 7 billion won ($6.4 million) in annual budget to one of the country’s largest governing bodies of a sport with about 100 employees and 110 billion won in budget.

Looking ahead, Cho, the first former player to serve as the KFA head, said he would like to see a successor dedicated to improving South Korean football.

“I hope a person who is serious about football and who isn’t simply trying to fulfill his personal greed will be elected,” he said. “I’d like to see someone young and passionate with original ideas so that we could usher in a new, hopeful era for Korean football.”

Cho became the KFA chairman in January 2009.

On his watch, South Korea reached the round of 16 at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the first time South Korea made it past the group stage at a World Cup held away from home.

At the London Olympics this summer, South Korea won the bronze medal for its first Olympic football medal.

On the other hand, Cho found himself in hot water over the KFA’s abrupt dismissal of Cho Kwang-rae as the national team head coach last December. 

In February this year, the KFA became a subject of state auditing after paying an ex-employee a large settlement after he threatened to divulge corruption within the football body.

Following the London Olympics, Cho was called to stand before a parliamentary committee on sports after the KFA sent an apologetic letter to its Japanese counterparts over a South Korean player’s celebration of the bronze-medal victory over Japan.

Midfielder Park Jong-woo held up a sign that read, in Korean, “Dokdo Is Our Territory,” following Korea’s 2-0 win over Japan. (Yonhap News)