The Korean national team is showing stellar performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics. From the women’s team archery competition (Jeon Hoon-young, Lim Ji-hyun, Nam Soo-hyun) that boasts a gold medal for the 10th consecutive time, to shooting that produced Korea’s youngest gold medalist at the Summer Olympics (Ban Hyo-jin) at 16 years, 10 months, and 18 days, various new records have been set. Korea has achieved five gold medals in just three days since the start of the Olympics, and is making progress. Athletes who have no connection with medals but did their best are also applauding. Internet communities were full of encouragement saying that they can do better in four years. The Paris Olympics shows that Korea’s sports viewing culture has far exceeded the level of results alone.
However, some sports make people laugh when the festival is in full swing. Korean men’s soccer has broken the milestone of advancing to the finals for the 10th consecutive Olympics. Soccer is the most popular sport in Korea in name and reality. The A-match between national teams is sold out whenever it is held. The same applies to this year. Soccer fans flocked to the second Asian qualifying round for the 2020 North-China World Cup against Thailand held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on March 21. It was only about a month after the team lost 2-0 to Jordan in the semifinals of the Qatar Asian Cup. Like the Paris Olympics, soccer fans did not cheer for the national team just by looking at the results.
It seems that only the Korea Football Association and their appointed national soccer team coach Hong Myung-bo do not know this fact. At a press conference held on July 29, Hong emphasized the national team’s “performance” and “growth” all the time in the name of his inauguration. According to his remarks, the controversy over the appointment of the national team coach seems to be a “sexual problem.” In fact, Korean soccer is falling because it lost trust, not because it failed to perform.
Let’s go
The Qatar Asian Cup, in which world-class players including Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae and Lee Kang-in participated, was considered the best chance to win the title in 64 years. Jurgen Klinsmann, who was criticized for his “no-strategy,” led the national team, which was considered the best player in history, but tied with Jordan and Malaysia in the group league. He advanced to the semifinals after many twists and turns, but was completely defeated by Jordan, who met again. After being eliminated, he said, “I think it is a successful competition that has advanced to the semifinals. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m criticized.”
Two fundamental factors were pointed out over the Asian Cup failure. One is the so-called “table tennis gate” that heated up the last February and March. The clash between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in broke the harmony of the team. The suspicion, known as a report by the British media “The Sun,” became true with the confirmation of the Korea Football Association. Chung Mong-kyu, president of the Korea Football Association, recalled in “The Age of Football – 30 Years of Jung Mong-gyu Soccer,” published on July 26, “I was wondering that he played a lethargic game against Jordan, and I didn’t know about the fight between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in on the eve of the game.” The remarks make the uncertain correlation of conflict between players look like a causal relationship of defeat against Jordan.
Until the discord became known, it was clearly coach Klinsmann who was criticized as the root cause of his elimination. Criticism continued over his moves, tactics and results from the start to the end of the Asian Cup. It was diluted with “table tennis gate,” but the fundamental factor of the Asian Cup disaster in the first place was the lack of the coach’s ability. The problem was that the more he criticized coach Klinsmann, the more he talked about the Korean soccer system (system) that failed to objectively evaluate his ability and the theory of Chung’s responsibility, which is known to have finally been selected.
Amid mounting public criticism, the federation held a committee meeting at the Korea Football Association building in central Seoul on Feb. 15 to discuss the coach’s issue. A day later, the union abruptly replaced Klinsmann. “Clinsmann failed to show the leadership and leadership that we expect from the coach of the Korean national team,” Chung said in a press conference. As for his responsibility, he said, “I humbly accept criticism and reprimand and apologize.” It is hard to see what responsibility high-ranking officials of the federation took for the result of losing the best chance to win the title in 64 years. Nevertheless, they gave themselves the authority to find the coach again. It was the beginning of a five-month long run that no one expected.
the starting point
The Korea Football Association appointed Jeong Hae-sung, chairman of the Korea Football Association, on February 20 and selected a total of 10 members of the Korea Football Association on his recommendation. Soccer fans were tired of the coaches who play so-called “Son Heung-min” and “Lee Kang-in” soccer. This time, expectations were raised that a “foreign coach” with tactical abilities to utilize the players’ capabilities would be appointed. In fact, the committee included people who have experienced European soccer such as former member Park Joo-ho and have connections.
Expectations have been wavering since the beginning. The first round of the committee was held on Feb. 21. According to the data released by the Korea Football Association, the committee analyzed that the biggest problems of the two former coaches, Paulo Bento and Klinsmann, were their failure to “harmonize” and “establish discipline” within the national team. After all, the committee recognizes the need for Korean-style Confucian soccer. Of course, the person who can do this best is the Korean coach. In fact, a majority of the committee members started discussions by expressing their preference for domestic coaches from the beginning.
Efforts were made to appoint a foreign coach. This can be broadly divided into two periods before and after Chung’s resignation. In the previous period, French women’s soccer team coach Hervé Renard and current Canadian men’s team coach Jesse March were criticized through domestic media and other media. In fact, both were reviewed, but failed due to reasons such as attitude, residency requirements and tax issues.
The federation again selected candidates for the coach. At the 10th round of the competition held on June 21, the final three candidates were selected. Two of them were foreign coaches, and one was a domestic coach. However, on June 28, Chairman Chung resigned for unknown reasons. Lee Im-saeng, technical director, took over the appointment of the coach and met with Gus Foyet, former coach of the Greek men’s team, and David Wagner, former coach of Norwich City. Lee left for Europe on July 2 to meet the two coaches, and returned home on July 5. In other words, they showed sincerity by presenting “22 pages of data including the cover and 16 videos of the national team’s game” or “16 pages of PPT data including the cover.” However, soon after returning home, the director immediately visited a domestic coach. And on July 7, he said he appointed Hong as the new coach of the national team.
Trust
The search for a coach of the Korea Football Association, which lasted for about five months, has been decided as the coach of the Korean national team. Hong participated in the Brazil World Cup 10 years ago, leading the team from June 2013 to July 2014. Back then, his performance was one draw and two losses, which meant he was eliminated from the group qualifying round. It is the only time since the 2002 World Cup that the Korean team has failed to secure even a single win in the finals. The bigger problem than his past performance is that Hong was an incumbent coach of the K League 1. “I have not particularly thought about meeting (with technical director Lee Im-saeng),” Hong said ahead of a league match on July 5. “The Ulsan fans do not have to worry,” he said on June 30. As a result, he was lying.
As Hong himself has repeatedly expressed his intention not to go to the national team, he had to reveal why he accepted the position of coach of the national team. In response, Hong said in a home game between Ulsan Hyundai in the K League 1 on July 10, “Something in me started to come out. I have a strong desire to win again.” On July 15, he went on a business trip to Europe to appoint foreign coaches and said, “I would appreciate it if many people would cheer for the last challenge of my life.” His answer was always centered on the position of “I.” As criticism poured in, the official press conference on July 29th changed to “I was determined to challenge for Korean soccer, not personal greed.” He added, “I think the only way to be forgiven by disappointed fans is to lead the growth and development of the Korean national soccer team in place.” 스포츠토토
Whether they like it or not, Korean soccer is set to prepare for the next World Cup under Hong Myung-bo. Angered soccer fans wanted to verify his selection process. The petition for audit and dissolution of the Korea Football Association on the bulletin board of the National Assembly has been submitted to the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, which is a standing committee under the jurisdiction of more than 50,000 people. The government is also examining the overall selection process and operation of the football association. Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yoo In-chon is said to have ordered a strict and transparent investigation. Now not only Hong but also Chung is at a critical juncture.
an issue
There are two big issues in the inspection of the cooperative. The first is the controversy over the fairness of the appointment of a coach. The key point is simple. It was Lee’s remarks that ignited the controversy. “I decided on the three candidates based on my judgment. After comprehensively judging that Hong Myung-bo’s leadership, experience, and performance were ahead of those of other foreigners, we started persuading him at 11 p.m. on July 5,” he said. The fact that Hong applied also means that the two were consulted without an official interview.
In the face of controversy, the Korea Federation of Trade Unions said in a Q&A on the appointment process of the national team coach on July 22, “Good data preparation is not the basis for the ability and competitiveness of the coach. It is not the best to apply an interview method that asks and requires the same thing to all candidates uniformly.” The problem is that flexibility depending on the candidate in the verification process is bound to be criticized for “not having a consistent procedure or making arbitrary judgments.” In response, an official of the Korea Federation of Trade Unions said, “There is a general misunderstanding of the process of appointing a coach,” and added, “Since more than 100 foreign coaches were nominated and selected, there were cases where they sent self-introduction among them.” As this was known, sending preparatory materials was recognized as a set procedure, but there was no such procedure or process for the appointment of a coach in the past or now.” “Coach Hong did not need a separate confirmation work as he is generally known to the members of the National Committee,” he said. “In the first place, the appointment of the national team coach was not even a public recruitment form, but it is not right that there is a problem with the procedure or equity.” Hong asked again if there is a procedure that is known to have been established while serving as the executive director of the Korea Federation of Trade Unions. “The procedure is to coordinate what we ask for and the conditions that candidates ask for through interviews or negotiations,” he said.
In summary, it is as follows. The appointment of a coach of the Korean national team is not a process of selecting the best person through “procedures” such as support, introduction of the candidate’s capabilities and vision, evaluation, and negotiation. The people who make up the committee recommend and prioritize the coach’s candidates, and then deliver mutual requirements to appoint them if the conditions are met. In this structure, unless you are an official of the Korea Football Association, you are not entitled to determine whether the candidate is the best candidate or not. This means that Bento, who was evaluated as a successful appointment, may have been simply lucky, not a force of the process.
Based on this, a second issue naturally arises. It is whether the livestock association receives government support. If true, obligations arise from benefits. Problems can also be raised in the process of appointing a supervisor. Among the income statement items of the livestock association are ‘subsidiary income’ and ‘reward by lottery’. These two items are related to government support. First of all, not all subsidies are government subsidies. Subsidies are divided into three categories.