ⓒYONHAP News

The K League has sent an official letter of protest to Italian football club Juventus after it decided not to play superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo during an exhibition match between Juventus and the K League All-Stars on July 26.

According to the K League on Tuesday, it sent an official letter of protest to the Italian football champions on Monday for breaching a number of clauses in the agreement made for the exhibition match. It is also set to seek financial compensation from TheFasta, a local agency which organized the event.

The K League strongly denounced Juventus in the letter as the team was not only late for kickoff but also demanded decreasing the playing time for each half to 40 minutes and reducing halftime to ten minutes.

The K League also began calculating how much financial compensation it should receive from TheFasta. The league says the agency will have a large penalty to pay for violations of clauses including Ronaldo playing at least 45 minutes, the ratio of the first string Juventus players and holding a fan meeting.

Many South Korean football fans were outraged after Ronaldo spent the whole game sitting on the bench. According to reports, some fans have reached out to legal representatives to prepare a lawsuit against TheFasta. They are seeking compensation of 70,000 won per ticket, 1,000 won for the ticket commission fee and 1 million won each for “mental anguish.”