The possibility that Hwang Sun-hong, the head coach of the Olympic team, will officially lead the national team has emerged.
After a closed-door meeting at the Korea Football Association (KFA) on Friday afternoon, Jeong Hae-sung, chairman of the Korea Football Association’s power enhancement committee, told reporters, “Through the fifth meeting, which lasted for three hours today, a total of 11 candidates were selected out of 32 candidates. Four from Korea and seven from abroad.”
Asked if there is an incumbent coach in the K-League among the four candidates in Korea, Chairman Jung Hae-sung, who answered “yes,” also talked about Hwang Sun-hong. Chairman Chung said, “Coach Hwang Sun-hong can sufficiently come up on the (appointment of a coach), but there has been no decision or discussion,” but added, “I think there is enough opportunity.” Regarding the prospect of Hwang being able to take over the A team, he said, “It is unfounded,” but it was a nuance that he included Hwang in the list of candidates for the new head coach.
Coach Hwang Seon-hong, who is leading the Olympic team, was deployed as a firefighter for the Korean national soccer team last month. The Korean soccer team broke up with former coach Jurgen Klinsmann after the Asian Cup of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in February, and immediately appointed an official head coach, but gave Hwang the baton temporarily.
Coach Hwang Sun-hong led the national soccer team and led the team to the third and fourth leg of the 2026 FIFA North-Central America World Cup Asian regional qualifiers against Thailand, recording one win and one draw. Rather than his performance, he was praised for raising the sluggish atmosphere in the aftermath of his elimination from the Asian Cup and sealing internal problems such as the “table tennis gate.”
However, Hwang Sun-hong, who entered Korea after finishing his away match in Thailand, said in a straightforward manner, “I have never thought about that (appointment as an official coach).” “A good coach will come,” Hwang said in an interview at the time. 유흥알바
Nevertheless, the KFA’s Power Reinforcement Committee chose Hwang Sun-hong as one of the candidates. If Hwang is appointed as the national team’s head coach, it is expected that a difficult situation will unfold in which he will have to share the national soccer team’s A-match and Olympic preparations to be held in June.
“I wasn’t satisfied with the first game, but I clearly saw them blend in well with the players when I went to the enemy territory. All the players, including Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in, tried to create a good atmosphere before. There was no flaw in every aspect of life, meals and training. I don’t know if it’s an expression that I dare to use,” Jung Hae-sung, the chairman of the committee, said of Hwang Sun-hong, who led the two consecutive games in Thailand. “As the chairman of the committee, I thanked the players and thanked them for taking care of it.”