Coach Hong Myung-bo leaves the stadium after winning 4-3 in the 3rd-4th place Korean-Iran game in the Asian Games men’s soccer match held at Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou, China on March 25, 2018. Hankook Ilbo data photo
Hong Myung-bo (51), the executive director of the Korea Football Association, who transformed from the national soccer team coach to the soccer administrator, was elected as the’Asian Champion’ Ulsan Hyundai’s command tower. This is the first time that Hong Myung-bo will be the coach of the Korean professional football K League. Coach Hong will lead the field training right after taking office next month and prepare for the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup.
Ulsan announced on the 24th that it has appointed Hong as the team’s 11th command tower. Director Hong said, “I experienced everything that I could experience with the national and overseas league managers, but I felt uncomfortable in one side of my mind as if I hadn’t done my homework. said. “I am grateful for being able to contribute as a manager to the K-League who made me exist today, and that the team is Ulsan, who leads the K-League. I will do my best so that Ulsan can become an example of the K-League in all aspects, including grades.”
Coach Hong was loved by many soccer fans for the claim of Hiddink, who made the’Quarter-final Myth’ in 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. At the 2012 London Olympics, he led the U-23 national team and won the first ever medal (bronze medal) in Korean football. However, after being eliminated from the 2014 Brazil World Cup group stage, he left Korea for a while and worked as a Chinese professional soccer team manager, and since November 2017, he has been selected as the executive director of the Football Association and has walked as an administrator. An official from Ulsan said, “Hong is a style that emphasizes’one team’ by leading the squad with strong charisma.”
Ulsan, with coach Hong as the command tower, is facing the FIFA Club World Cup, which will be held in February next year. Ulsan won the Asian Football Federation Champions League (ACL) in 8 years and will compete in the tournament as an’Asian Champion’. Coach Hong’s first stage is this international competition in which seven continental champions, including Bayern Munich (Germany), the champions of the European Football Federation (UEFA) Champions League in the 2019-20 season participate.
If Ulsan advances to the final in this tournament, coach Hong will rewrite the history of Korean club football. The K-League team’s highest record in the Club World Cup was 3rd place in 2009 by Pohang Steelers, led by coach Sergio Parias (Brazil).
Coach Hong is scheduled to convene a squad immediately after taking office on the 7th of next month and conduct field training in Tongyeong for two weeks. On the same day, through an online press conference, he also revealed his aspirations such as the team operation plan. It plans to move to Doha, Qatar around the 28th of next month. Ulsan’s first match is on February 4.
Choi Dong-soon reporter [email protected]
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