A new South Korean football official overseeing national team coaches said Monday he plans to bring in a technical assistant for the national team ahead of this year's FIFA World Cup.
Kim Pan-gon was formally unveiled as head of the new committee on national team coaching hiring at the Korea Football Association. Previously, the KFA's technical committee had been responsible for hiring coaches. As part of its restructuring, the KFA created Kim's committee to handle all matters related to naming coaches on the senior and the under-23 teams, while leaving the technical committee to focus on devising long-term plans for the national teams at different age groups.
At his introductory press conference, Kim said his first task will be to hire a technical coach to work alongside national team boss Shin Tae-yong.
Kim Pan-gon, head of a new Korea Football Association commmittee on national team coaching hiring, speaks at his introductory press conference at the KFA headquarters in Seoul on Jan. 8, 2018. (Yonhap)
"To ensure thorough preparations for the World Cup, we'll hire a new technical coach and put together the Technical Study Group," Kim said. "The goal is to complete this task before March, when the national team plays friendly matches before the World Cup."
According to Kim, the new technical assistant will handle advance scouting on South Korea's group stage opponents at the World Cup -- Germany, Mexico and Sweden. Kim added he was acting on Shin's request for a new position.
The TSG will be one of subcommittees under Kim's committee.
"The TSG will analyze the national team's performance and share whatever information is necessary with the national team bench and our committee," Kim said. "We may be able to use some of that information when hiring new coaches in the future."
Kim added there will be other subcommittees on scouting and sports science.
Kim had a quiet playing career but made a name for himself as a coach. He worked with clubs in Hong Kong and South Korea, and is best known for coaching Hong Kong's national team to the East Asian Football Championship in 2010.
Kim had two different stints with Hong Kong, from 2009 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2017. He's the all-time leader among all Hong Kong bench bosses with 58 matches coached and 21 victories.
Kim said when selecting national team coaches down the road, playing resume won't be considered.
"It doesn't matter how good of a player you were, or which teams you coached before," he said. "I'll consider leadership skills and management skills, and apply objective standards to name our coaches." (Yonhap)
