The Birmingham City star involved in shock FIFA 2026 World Cup fall-out | OneFootball

Birmingham City's Paik Seung-ho is involved in a controversial stand-off between the South Korean national team and its journalists at the World Cup

The FIFA 2026 World Cup is now firmly underway in North America, with the illustrious tournament already conjuring up no shortage of entertainment, shock and scandal - and one Birmingham City player is involved in a controversial situation.

Having commenced with co-host nation Mexico's routine 2-0 victory over South Africa at the iconic Estadio Azteca last Thursday, the tournament is less than a week old - but the storylines are brewing.

More recent editions of the World Cup have, of course, been shrouded in varying levels of controversy and scandal.

With Donald Trump's presidency in charge of the United States continuing to divide opinion, this year's tournament has expectedly been no different and the build-up to the competition was marred by a series of disputes involving the nation's controversial immigration and visa policies, with a travel ban encompassing 39 countries including Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast and Senegal preventing many supporters from attending the World Cup.

Iran's participation has been especially complicated owing to ongoing affairs in the Middle East, which saw Amir Ghalenoei's side's training base relocated to Mexico as a host of coaching and administrative staff were denied visas.

The United States' procedures have been at the heart of discussions surrounding off-pitch matters at this summer's World Cup, but there are separate - and admittedly less severe - controversies playing out, too.

As it goes, one of those just happens to involve a current Birmingham City player, who, alongside his teammates, finds himself in a divisive stand-off as the World Cup heads underway.

Birmingham City's Paik Seung-ho involved in South Korea, World Cup controversy

The player in question is Birmingham's Paik Seung-ho, with the Blues midfielder representing the Second City outfit's sole representative in North America this summer.

South Korea made a strong start to their World Cup campaign by claiming a 2-1 win over Czechia in Group A last week, with preparations now ongoing for their clash against Mexico this Friday.

Those preparations, however, have been accompanied by an off-pitch saga taking place between the South Korean players and the nation's press.

This comes after pre-tournament training footage on June 7 allegedly identified unnamed South Korean reporters making comments of ridicule involving the exemption of mandatory military service for iconic captain Son Heung-Min, which has led to the playing squad reportedly ditching media duties as a result.

The former Tottenham Hotspur sensation was given an exemption to the standard 21-month service after captaining his nation to a gold medal at the Asian Games back in 2018, instead completing a three-month training period two years later.

Paik, rather interestingly, was afforded a similar exemption in 2023, having captained the nation's under-21's to victory at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

However, Son's exemption is what has seemingly earned the ire of South Korean journalists, with the influential Los Angeles FC forward scoring 56 goals from his 147 caps to date at the age of 33.

It appears as though Son's teammates, including Paik, have been left incensed by such remarks and have now collectively decided against fulfilling media duties with the South Korean press.

Exactly how the saga continues to play out, and whether a resolution can be reached, only remains to be seen.

Birmingham City will be keen to see how Paik Seung-ho gets on with South Korea

South Korea are poised to represent an interesting proposition both on and off-the-pitch at the World Cup, though this saga shouldn't take the heat away from how Myung-Bo Hong's side get on.

They're an extremely competitive outfit with a strong chance of progressing to the knockout stages of what could well turn out to be a hotly-contested group, with arguably little at play to separate themselves from Mexico and Czechia.

For as long as South Korea are at the World Cup, Paik is primed to remain as a key player for the Asian nation, for whom he has earned 28 caps since debuting in March 2019.

The 29-year-old, who has headed into the tournament after featuring in all but three of Birmingham's 46 Championship outings in the 2025/26 campaign, played 84 minutes in South Korea's opener against Czechia and has a previous track record in the game's most prestigious tournament, having notably scored a thunderous long-range strike in a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Brazil in Qatar three-and-a-half years ago.