On the afternoon of the 27th, the Korean Football Association's National Team Power Strengthening Committee held its third working meeting on the change of coach of the Korean team in Seoul, South Korea. The new head of the committee, Jung Hae-sung, announced that the association has decided to appoint Hwang Sunhong, the current coach of the South Korean Olympic team, as the interim coach to lead the South Korean national men's football team to the 2026 World Preliminary Asian Round of 36 at home against Thailand and away against Thailand in the fourth round.
The Korean Football Association (KFA) last week confirmed the termination of its partnership with South Korea's former German coach Jurgen Klinsmann after the latter failed to win the 18th Asian Cup with a poor record.
On the 21st of this month, the Korean Football Association confirmed that Jung Hae-sung, a local football legend who had assisted coach Guus Hiddink to coach the South Korean team, replaced German Michael Müller and took over as the head of the Korean Football Association's National Team Power Enhancement Committee.
Jung Hae-sung originally planned to officially appoint the new head coach of the South Korean team before the third round of the round of 36 in late March, but due to the tight time and the start of the Korean professional league, the Korean Football Association's national team empowerment committee had to find an interim coach to lead the team to participate in the two World Preliminary Tournaments in March.
According to South Korea**, at the meeting on the 27th, among the 11 members of the Korean Football Association's National Team Power Enhancement Committee, Gangwon FC coach Yoo Jung-hwan and another committee member, Lee Mi-yeon, were absent due to their respective teams' league schedules. Still, as many as nine members of the committee were present, and they voted unanimously to approve a resolution to select Hwang Sun-hong to take over the South Korean team on an interim basis.
The announcement of the Korean Football Association's latest appointment to Hwang Sun-hong means that another popular candidate, former Vietnam coach Park Heng-suo, is not expected to take over the South Korean team. However, Hwang Sun-hong is also currently shouldering the heavy responsibility of leading the South Korean Olympic team to the Paris Olympics. It will be interesting to see if he can lead the team to turn the tide of decline. The Korean Football Association will continue to look for a full-time coach for the South Korean team.
Text: Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Yun.
Edited by Xu Zhao.