The Korea Football Association has again made a senseless irrational move. Hwang Sun-hong, the head coach of the under-23 national team, was appointed as the interim coach of the men’s soccer team A. It is a ridiculous decision, doubtless whether the Korea Football Association and the Korea Power Enhancement Committee are an organization that has common sense.
Let’s take a look at what Hwang has to do in the future. Hwang will announce the list of the A-team around March 10. He will likely have many difficulties from now on, including how many players under 23 will be included in the A-team, whether to recruit Lee Kang-in, and how the Thai national team has been. The national team will convene and train on Tuesday, play against Thailand in Seoul on Tuesday, and leave the country to face off again in Bangkok on Tuesday. Korea is leading the group with two wins in the second qualifying match for the Asia region for the 2026 North-Central American World Cup. If Korea wins both games, it will confirm its advance to the final qualifying round.
Hwang is the head coach of the under-23 national team. The under-23 national team will convene on March 18 and participate in a friendly match in Saudi Arabia until May 26. This is the final step to prepare for the under-23 Asian Cup (April 15 – May 3 in Qatar), where tickets for the Paris Olympics will be at stake. Hwang will not participate. This is because the schedule for the convocation overlaps with that of the A-team.
Under-23 teams need to be in the top three of the 16 teams including Japan, Australia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan to win a ticket to Paris. Although Korea is taking the Olympic stage for the ninth consecutive time, ranking third among the 16 teams is not easy. Moreover, it has been confirmed that Middle Eastern countries’ performance in the Asian Cup, which ended recently, skyrocketed. For Hwang, it would not be enough to focus on the Under-23 Asian Cup. With Hwang just around the corner with his big mission to win an Olympic ticket, it is hard to understand why he is assigned to the A team at such a sensitive and chaotic time. Wouldn’t it be common sense to have Park Hang-seo, former coach of the Vietnamese national team for more than five years, be assigned as interim coach.
Chung’s remarks were also irresponsible. Responding to concerns that the under-23 national team might fail to qualify for the Paris Olympics, Chung said, “If you ask me what I will do when the results turn out bad, I will take full responsibility as the chairman.” It seems to mean resignation. The chairman is a part-time employee. What kind of responsibility does quitting a part-time job? Resignation from a part-time job will not change the outcome, nor will it have a huge impact. 유흥알바
Resignation of the chairmanship of the committee is not an individual’s job. Resignation means that the committee will soon abandon its duty of selecting the next coach for the national team. The decision on whether to qualify for the Paris Olympics will be made no later than May 2. If Chung were to quit due to failure to obtain Olympic tickets, he would also withdraw from the process of appointing an official coach for the A team, which he had promised to finish by May. On the contrary, it is even more outrageous that he would withdraw from the committee’s leadership ceremony after selecting the head coach for the A team. How many fans would agree if the head of the committee, who caused his failure to advance to the Olympic finals, chooses the head coach for the A team.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) and the Korea Power Enhancement Committee have lost their common sense, and they do not know much about the public opinion. They said that switching to the appointment of a temporary coach was a choice that reflected public opinion, but made a dangerous mistake in the final decision, ignoring public opinion and common sense. Only the KFA leadership seems to be unaware of the complaints from KFA employees that they cannot give out their business cards because they are embarrassed these days.