SEOUL, The South Korean football federation announced Tuesday it has appointed former coach Chung Hae-sung as the new leader of a committee responsible for filling the coaching vacancy at the men’s national team.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) settled on Chung, 65, as the new leader of the National Team Committee, following a meeting among its senior executives earlier Tuesday.
Chung was an assistant coach to Guus Hiddink for South Korea during their run to the semifinals at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Chung served as the top assistant to Huh Jung-moo at the 2010 World Cup, when South Korea reached the round of 16.
Chung also had club coaching stints in the domestic K League with Jeju United and Jeonnam Dragons.
In 2017, Chung returned to the national team mix as an assistant to Uli Stielike. He later served as the head of the KFA’s Referees Committee and, most recently, its Competitions Committee.
Chung replaces Michael Muller, who had been at the National Team Committee’s helm since January 2023. M
uller was the person in charge for the hiring of Jurgen Klinsmann, who was fired last Friday after less than a year on the job, in light of South Korea’s disappointing semifinal exit from the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup.
Chung faces a time crunch in his search for Klinsmann’s successor. South Korea will play home-and-away World Cup qualifying matches against Thailand next month — March 21 in Seoul and March 26 in Bangkok.
Chung immediately named 10 new members for his committee and will hold his inaugural meeting Wednesday morning.
He will then hold his first press conference in his new capacity around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
If Chung and his new-look National Team Committee aren’t able to find a full-time coach in the coming weeks, they may settle on a caretaker manager for the two March matches.
Most of the names that have been bandied about, including Ulsan HD FC head coach Hong Myung-bo and Jeju United boss Kim Hak-bum, have prior national team experience but are under contract with their K Lea
gue clubs.
The new K League 1 season kicks off March 1.
Source: Yonhap News Agency