The biggest topic in Korean soccer these days is the selection of ‘Post Cleanseman’.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) National Power Enhancement Committee (Chairman Jung Hae-sung) is looking for a new head coach to succeed coach Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany), who was dismissed immediately after the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup. While Hwang Sun-hong, head coach of the U-23 national team, led the two consecutive rounds of Group C of the second Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North American World Cup against Thailand, KFA plans to give the next coach the baton from the remaining matches of the second qualifying round scheduled for June with Singapore (6th away) to China (11th home).
The power enhancement committee, which was re-launched under Chung’s leadership in February, formed a subcommittee for the appointment of supervisors and narrowed down the number of candidates to 11 (four from Korea and seven from overseas) after five meetings. “We will first push for non-face-to-face meetings with foreign leaders. We are collecting and analyzing videos (related to supervisors). If we find the right person, we will face-to-face (with candidates) there,” Chung said in a briefing on Tuesday.
However, I have some concerns. This is the role of the power enhancement committee. The revised articles of association (Article 52, Paragraph 1) of the KFA in July 2021 state that the power enhancement committee will be established for the purpose of giving advice and advice on the operation of male and female national teams and national teams aged 18 or older. The priority of the main functions is the appointment and dismissal of leaders and renewal of contracts, which are limited to advice and advice.
In the previous articles of association, the role of the power enhancement committee was defined as “management of national team operations,” but it was reduced for unknown reasons. In fact, when Klinsmann was appointed, the power enhancement committee failed to function at all. Even the candidates were not aware of the appointment, and they were only informed of the appointment on the day of the announcement.
On the other hand, the process of appointing Paulo Bento (Portugal), who led the team to the round of 16 teams at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, was quite different. At that time, the Power Enhancement Committee participated in all the processes, and Chairman Kim Pan-gon (current coach of the Malaysian national team) was involved in the negotiations as well as interviews for final candidates, resulting in the best outcome. However, many soccer players believe that the KFA leadership, which had been uncomfortable expanding its influence by the Power Enhancement Committee, decided to separate the technology and administrative parts, and that the revision of the articles of incorporation was also made in the process. 노래방알바
Chairman Chung expressed his will, saying, “There will be no preconceived notions or external pressure,” but the articles of association still have a big constraint. Even if you find a good candidate and interview him, there is a possibility that you may miss work in the contract process because you are only an advisor who cannot be deeply involved in the negotiations.