‘Uninterested’
Noise surrounding the position of manager of the Korean national soccer team is continuing. As K-League coaches are under fire to replace the dismissed coach Jurgen Klinsmann, fans of the Korean national team are anxious.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) appointed Jung Hae-sung, chairman of the tournament, as the chairman of the national team’s power reinforcement committee, ahead of the appointment of the new national team coach on the 20th.
Chairman Chung held the first meeting of the power strengthening committee on the following day (on the 21st) and presented the criteria for the A national team coach candidates. He said he would appoint all coaches regardless of their job or current positions.
The problem is that the head coach, who is in charge of the K-League club this season, is also a candidate for the head coach of the A national team. Article 12, Paragraph 2 of the KFA’s National Football Team Management Regulations stipulates that “the association shall notify the head of the club if the appointed person under paragraph 1 belongs to the club, and the head of the club shall comply with it unless there is a special reason.”
Because of this regulation, even if the current K-League coach is appointed by the KFA as the A national team, there is no way for his club to reject it. Criticistic public opinion against the KFA has intensified as Kim Ki-dong, FC Seoul coach, Kim Hak-beom, Jeju United coach, Choi Yong-soo, former Gangwon FC coach, Hong Myung-bo, Ulsan HD FC coach, and Hwang Sun-hong, coach of the Olympic national soccer team, have been named candidates.
Among them, head coach Hong Myung-bo, who led the 2012 Olympic team and the 2014 A team, emerged as a strong alternative, and Ulsan HD fans issued a statement on the 22nd to protest. On the 23rd, two trucks were parked in front of the KFA Football Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, displaying phrases such as “K League is not a toy of the Korea Football Association,” “The end of the Korea Football Association’s hasty administration is to stop the K League coach from turning it around,” and “Only when it is necessary, head coach Hong Myung-bo is not a public good.”
Kim Ki-won, chairman of Ulsan HD Supporters’ Cheoyong Warrior, who interviewed “The Fact”, said, “We were closely watching because the KFA had nominated an active manager of the K League. I heard that the candidate was nominated to some extent and that Hong was the most likely one. We are people who support Ulsan HD, and we started protesting because we thought that the KFA would not appoint a coach who leads the team a week before the opening of the K League 1 in the 2024 season.”
He also expressed his intention to respond in various ways if Hong goes to the A-team. “If the club says there is no way to stop it, we are considering sending an official letter to the parent company,” Chairman Kim said. “If we can contact Hong directly, we will do one more thing that we can do by conveying our intentions.”
Finally, KFA fans, not just Ulsan HD, asked for a planned appointment of KFA as a coach. Chairman Kim stressed, “I hope that the KFA will appoint a formal coach who passed the process after systematic and solid verification,” adding, “If you are thinking of taking a coach who belongs to the K League, it will not help the A national team and will have a bad impact on the league, so please withdraw it.” 메이저 토토사이트