K-League club FC Seoul has issued an apology after they accidentally filled their stadium with "adult toys" during Sunday's game against Gwangju.
While the 2016 league champions claimed a crucial 1-0 win on the pitch, it's what happened off it that really caught people's attention.
With fans not allowed to attend games following the coronavirus pandemic, Seoul decided to fill the stands with mannequins, only for fans to quickly realise they were in fact of the adult variety.
2016 K League winners FC Seoul inadvertently used sex dolls rather than fashion mannequins to help fill empty stands this weekend. The club has apologised. Both the club and the supplier are pointing fingers at others. (It's not just COVID-19 you need to avoid catching!) #kleague pic.twitter.com/59rSU8XxYL
— Devon Rowcliffe (@WhoAteTheSquid) May 17, 2020
Seoul was promptly slammed for the mistake, with Korean media since declaring that the country's international reputation is a concern because of it.
The club themselves have apologized for the incident and attempted to provide some clarity as to how the mistake happened.
"We would like to apologize to our fans. We’re genuinely sorry to our fans about the installation of the mannequins at our game on May 17," the club wrote in a message posted on Instagram. "We confirmed from the start that the mannequins we installed in the stands had no relation to the adult toys, even though they do indeed resemble real humans. The mannequins are manufactured by a company named Dalkom, and they informed us that the mannequins are designed for displaying apparel and fashion products. We confirmed with them on numerous occasions to make sure that the mannequins are not adult toys.
"However, Dalkom has been distributing some of the mannequin products to another business named Soros, and in the process of return and exchange of the products between them, the installation at our stadium included some products with messages in text that are related to the adult toys. That was a problem on our employees who couldn’t check every detail of everything that was installed. That is an inexcusable mistake on our part.
"Our intention from the start was to provide even a small entertainment after it was decided that the games would be hosted behind closed doors due to coronavirus. Regardless of that, we would like to apologize once again to everyone who loves and supports FC Seoul. We will be holding further discussions on how we can review potential problems in similar matters. We will put forth our due diligence to prevent such issues in the future."