Ulsan HD coach Hong Myung-bo (55) has been selected as the head coach to lead the Korean national team. Coach Hong Myung-bo and the Ulsan team also accepted the decision.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced on the 7th that “Hong Myung-bo, coach of Ulsan HD, has been appointed as the next coach of the national soccer team.”
More than four months have passed since Jurgen Klinsmann was replaced, but the KFA has not been able to appoint a successor. It was a series of difficulties. Foreign coaches presented by the committee, including Jesse Marsy and Jesus Casas, refused to join hands with Korean soccer one after another.
Eventually, the association, which had promised to appoint a new coach by March, temporarily appointed Hwang to earn time. Hwang’s “A-match” in March itself had one win and one draw through two consecutive matches against Thailand.
Hwang Sun-hong was already in charge of the Olympic team. Under such circumstances, Hwang had to lead both the A-team and the Olympic team, and an accident that he had been concerned about occurred. The Olympic team failed to advance to the finals of the Paris Olympics. Criticism poured down on the KFA, which temporarily appointed the national team coach.
Even after some time passed, the appointment process was still difficult. He had failed negotiations and rejected. Finally, in May, he appointed Kim Do-hoon temporarily. He played the role given to him by winning two consecutive games against Singapore and against China.
Confusion continues after Klinsmann’s replacement. Against this backdrop, Chung Hae-sung, chairman of the Korea Electric Power Corp., who was leading the appointment of the coach, dropped out, leaving someone with to complete the task.
With the final candidates selected, director Lee Im-saeng left for Europe on the 2nd to quickly complete his appointment and had a meeting with the director candidate group. After the report of director Lee Im-saeng, who returned home on the 5th, KFA made a quick decision. On the 7th, KFA officially announced that Hong Myung-bo has been appointed as the next head coach.
Ulsan, led by Coach Hong Myung-bo, is in fierce competition to win the title in the 2024 season. Ulsan has scored 39 points (11 wins, six draws and four losses) through 21 matches in the league, ranking second only to Gimcheon Sangmu (40 points). The third-ranked Pohang Steelers are chasing after the latter with 38 points.
“The KFA and the KFA have reached the stage of consultation regarding this issue. The KFA communicated with the club and consulted with the club. We had to consider both the development of Korean soccer and the development of the K League. We discussed and discussed together,” Ulsan CEO Kim Kwang-guk said in a telephone interview with OSEN.
CEO Kim said, “Coach Hong’s achievements and presence in Ulsan were so great that the absence will be very unfortunate for the fans no matter what kind of coach he will serve in the future. However, if we achieve good results in the Korea Cup and ACL, including the goals we set at the beginning of the year, the K-League’s third consecutive win, we expect the fans to support us again.” 토토사이트
A KFA official discussed the details of the proceedings. “Lee Im-saeng returned to Korea on Friday (Friday) after an interview in Europe and met with Hong Myung-bo immediately afterwards. Hong Myung-bo accepted the offer (as coach of the national team) on Saturday (June 6) and negotiated the contract on June 6 and 7.