South Korean fans who bought tickets to a July 2019 Juventus friendly expecting to see Cristiano Ronaldo play sued the match organizer after he stayed on the bench, and in the resulting Korea Ronaldo no-show lawsuit an Incheon court ordered the company to refund the ticket price and pay damages for psychological harm. A second court in Seoul reached the same conclusion later that year for a much larger group of plaintiffs.
What Fans Were Promised and What Happened
The exhibition match was played on July 26, 2019, at Seoul World Cup Stadium between Juventus and a K-League all-star team. Roughly 60,000 people attended, many of them there specifically to see Ronaldo.1Yonhap News Agency. Ronaldo Remains on Bench for Duration of Juventus Friendly The organizer, a South Korean sports marketing company called The Fasta Inc., had a contract with Juventus that required Ronaldo to play at least 45 minutes and take part in a fan signing event.2Al Jazeera. South Korean Fans to Sue After Ronaldo No-Show for Juventus
He never came on. Juventus cited muscle fatigue from a match played 48 hours earlier in Nanjing.3Sky Sports. Cristiano Ronaldo: Juventus Reject K-League Protests Over Friendly No-Show The Fasta’s CEO Robin Chang said the company was told only about ten minutes into the second half that Ronaldo would not play.2Al Jazeera. South Korean Fans to Sue After Ronaldo No-Show for Juventus
Who Fans Sued, and Who They Didn’t
The civil suits were brought against The Fasta, not against Juventus or Ronaldo. The Fasta was the entity that had marketed and sold the tickets on the promise that Ronaldo would play, so the false-advertising claims attached to it.4ESPN. Ronaldo Fans Entitled to Compensation for No-Show, South Korean Court Rules Juventus told CNN its legal team would handle any breach-of-contract issues but was not a defendant in the fans’ cases.5CNN. Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus Tour South Korea Fans Lawsuit
Attorney Kim Min-ki took on the first group of plaintiffs. Other firms organized their own cases, and by early 2020 at least 345 fans had joined suits against the company.6Hankyoreh. Court Rules in Favor of Fans in Ronaldo No-Show Case
What the Incheon Court Ordered
On February 4, 2020, Judge Lee Jae-wook of the 51st civil division at Incheon District Court ruled for two fans who had sued The Fasta. The company was ordered to pay each plaintiff 371,000 won, roughly $311, made up of these three components:6Hankyoreh. Court Rules in Favor of Fans in Ronaldo No-Show Case
- 70,000 won (about $59) for the face value of the ticket
- 1,000 won (about $0.84) for a processing fee
- 300,000 won (about $252) for psychological damages
The court found that the event “differed from how it was promoted,” and that The Fasta’s insistence that Ronaldo would “definitely” play amounted to false or exaggerated advertising.7France 24. S. Korean Court Orders Compensation for Ronaldo No-Show
The Legal Basis for the Award
The ruling relied on South Korea’s Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising, which prohibits businesses from deceiving consumers through false or exaggerated advertising and establishes civil liability for the resulting harm.8Korea Legislation Research Institute. Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising Attorney Kim Min-gi said it was the first time a South Korean court had “accepted a request for compensation and acknowledged psychological damages in a case where the event was different from what was promoted” in the sports and entertainment sector.6Hankyoreh. Court Rules in Favor of Fans in Ronaldo No-Show Case
The Second Ruling in Seoul
On November 20, 2020, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of 162 plaintiffs in a second major case. The Fasta was ordered to pay each plaintiff 50 percent of the ticket price plus 50,000 won, roughly $45, in additional damages.9Yonhap News Agency. Court Rules in Favor of Fans Over Ronaldo No-Show The per-person award was smaller than in Incheon, but the underlying finding was the same: the company was liable for marketing a product it did not deliver.
Additional lawsuits were also in motion. A separate group of 87 plaintiffs had sued in Seoul Central District Court seeking 950,000 won (about $797) each, and third and fourth suits involving 231 and 25 people were being prepared.6Hankyoreh. Court Rules in Favor of Fans in Ronaldo No-Show Case
The Separate Criminal Investigation
Alongside the civil actions, a South Korean attorney filed fraud charges against The Fasta, Juventus, and Ronaldo with the Seoul police cyber investigation unit. On August 8, 2019, officers from the Seoul Suseo Police Station raided The Fasta’s offices as part of a criminal fraud inquiry tied to the roughly $4.9 million the company collected in ticket revenue. One unnamed company official had already been placed under a travel ban.10The Korea Herald. Police Raid TheFasta Offices Over Ronaldo No-Show The outcome of that criminal investigation was not reported in later coverage.
The K-League separately fined The Fasta 750 million won (about $629,000) over the incident.6Hankyoreh. Court Rules in Favor of Fans in Ronaldo No-Show Case
Why the Ruling Mattered
The dollar figures were small. What made the case notable was the recognition that fans could recover for psychological harm when a sports or entertainment event failed to match its advertising. Before the Incheon decision, promoters could sell tickets on the strength of a star’s name with little exposure if that star didn’t appear. The February 2020 ruling, backed by the Seoul court’s decision later that year, established that “mental anguish” from a broken promise was compensable under Korean consumer-protection law.6Hankyoreh. Court Rules in Favor of Fans in Ronaldo No-Show Case