Discussions are in full swing to appoint a successor to former Korean national football team coach Paulo Bento. The Korea Football Association’s National Team Power Reinforcement Committee is focusing on the process of discussing the appointment of a coach, blocking any mention of the next coach candidate, which is being discussed as a self-contained tacheon. The Korea Football Association is expected to confirm and announce the next coach around the end of this month ahead of the first A-match evaluation match scheduled for late March.
On the 25th of last month, the Korea Football Association Power Reinforcement Committee held its first meeting to appoint a national team coach. The meeting was conducted online and privately, and the results of the meeting were not disclosed. It is known that seven new power reinforcement committee members, including Michael Müller, head of power reinforcement, Park Tae-ha, technical director of Korea Professional Football Federation, Choi Yoon-gyeom, Cheongju FC coach, and Cho Seong-hwan, Incheon United coach, shared their opinions on negotiation strategies with candidates for coaching.
The Korea Football Association is conducting discussions to appoint the next national team manager under tight security. The Korea Football Association is actively responding to comments about the next manager candidates raised through domestic and foreign media reports and is trying to reduce noise in the discussion process.
On the 18th of last month, the Spanish media reported that the Football Association had contacted Jose Bordalas (58), former coach of Valencia CF in Spain’s Primera Liga. However, on the 19th, one day after the report, the Korea Football Association actively refuted the report, saying, “There is no manager candidate who has been officially contacted.”안전놀이터
There are also coaches who have revealed their contact with the Korea Football Association. He is the former coach of Vahid Halilhodzic (70), who served as the coach of the Algeria and Japan national teams. Former coach Halil Hodzic, who is from Bosnia and Herzegovina, mentioned the fact of contact with the Korea Football Association in a telephone interview with Radio Sarajevo in Bosnia on the 29th. He said, “I got a call from the Korea Football Association, and we had a short conversation.”
However, the football world is making negative judgments on the sincerity of Halil Hodzic’s remarks. It is a strategic response to raise his own ransom. It seems extremely unlikely that the Football Association offered the manager position just a few days after the first meeting of the Power Reinforcement Committee was held.
Previously, coach Halilhozic also mentioned himself that he was nominated for director at the time of the appointment process for former Bento coach in 2018. However, the Korea Football Association drew a line, saying, “Coach Halil Hodzic is not on the list of candidates.”
Croatian coach Robert Prosinečki (54), who has experience leading the Bosnian national team, met with a domestic sports press on the 9th of last month and openly hoped to go to Korea, saying, “It would be a great honor to lead the Korean national team.” The Football Association did not give a separate position on the remarks of former coach Prosinechki.
It seems unlikely that a domestic coach will sit in the next national team coaching position. Chairman Mueller said at a press conference on the 11th of last month, “I am thinking internationally, and I am thinking with all directions open.” However, in general, the soccer world judges that it is unlikely to appoint a domestic coach considering domestic public opinion.
Meanwhile, South American countries are expected to be the opponents of the first A match of the Korean national soccer team scheduled for late March this year. The International Football Federation (FIFA) designated March 20-28 as the first A-match week in 2023. The Korean national soccer team’s first evaluation match of the year will also be held during this period. It is known that the Korea Football Association is coordinating the schedule for evaluation matches with South American countries, including Uruguay, which was the group stage opponent for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.