Published : Sept. 26, 2017 - 13:51
South Korea on Tuesday named the head coach for the men's football team at next year's Asian Games in Jakarta.
The Korea Football Association appointed Kim Bong-gil, former bench boss for Incheon United, as the national under-23 head coach. The decision was reached during the KFA's technical committee meeting.
Financial details of Kim's contract will be discussed at a later date, according to the KFA.
In this file photo taken April 13, 2014, Kim Bong-gil, then head coach of Incheon United, directs his players during their K League Classic match against Suwon Samsung Bluewings at Incheon Football Stadium in Incheon. (Yonhap)
Kim, 51, will coach South Korea at the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Championship in January next year and then the Asian Games in August.
Kim began his coaching career as an assistant with Incheon United in the K League Classic in 2008. He served as the interim head coach in 2010 and 2012, before getting promoted to the full-time head coaching position during the 2012 season.
He was sacked in 2014 and is currently coaching Chodang University in Muan, South Jeolla Province.
Kim Ho-gon, the KFA's technical director, said Kim Bong-gil was a players' coach who could work well with youngsters.
Kim Ho-gon added the new head coach will get to pick the rest of his coaching staff.
The KFA will name a different head coach for the U-23 team that will try to get into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Both the Asian Games and the Summer Olympics are limited to players under 23. But with two years between the Jakarta Asian Games and the Tokyo Olympics, the KFA said the core of the U-23 national team will inevitably change and the Olympic squad will have a different boss at the helm.
"We'll name the coach for the Tokyo Olympics in December, after the K League season ends," Kim Ho-gon said. "We'll have more names in the pool by then." (Yonhap)