New head coach of national soccer team appointed, Lee Im-saeng to run as technical director
New head coach of national soccer team appointed, Lee Im-saeng to run as technical director
Blog Article
Lee Im-saeng, the technical director of the Korea Football Association, will lead the selection of the next national soccer team in place of Jeong Hae-
seong, the chairman of the National Team Strengthening Committee who has expressed his intention to resign.
According to the soccer world on the 30th, the Korea Football Association is still working on selecting a new manager even after Chairman Jeong
announced his resignation.
A Korea Football Association official said, "With Chairman Chung suddenly expressing his intention to resign, the remaining members are left to
wrap things up," and added, "The selection of the final candidate has been completed, so Director Lee Im-saeng will meet with the members of the
power reinforcement committee to set a direction."
This technical director served as chairman of the technology development committee in January of last year, and has also served as the newly
established full-time technical director since April of this year.
The technical director is in charge of overseeing national team-related work and technology.
For this reason, the technical director has been naturally involved in the selection of a new national team coach by communicating with Chairman
Jeong.
Chairman Chung, who was appointed last February and has led the selection process for the national team coach, delivered his gratitude to the
Football Association on the 28th without giving a clear reason.
The power reinforcement committee has been evaluating over 100 foreign coaches who showed interest in the national team coach position under the
previous chairman's 카지노사이트모음 regime.
It is known that Chairman Chung believed that it would be difficult to bring in attractive foreign leaders because they do not meet realistic conditions
such as salary, and that his judgment was reportedly tilted toward domestic leaders such as Ulsan HD coach Hong Myung-bo and coach Kim Do-
hoon.
However, the judgment of the highest level of the Football Association was different. He felt burdened by the appointment of a domestic manager.
As the gap in this area was not narrowed, it seems that Chairman Chung eventually decided to resign from his position.
The task of selecting the next national team, with Technical Director Lee at the helm, is expected to naturally focus on 'foreign leaders' again.
The Power Strengthening Committee has selected around four foreign candidates. It is reported that this technical director plans to leave the country
this week and conduct interviews with them.
Domestic leaders who were mentioned as strong candidates all declined the position of director.
Coach Hong met with reporters ahead of the K League 1 match on this day and said, "I heard through the media that I was nominated as the number
one candidate (for the national team coach position). If that's the case, then the 'boundary' for the national team coach has been set," and expressed
his intention to decline.
Meanwhile, the national team played four matches in the second round of the 2026 North and Central America World Cup qualifiers under interim
coaches Hwang Sun-hong and Kim Do-hoon during the A-match periods in March and June, respectively, and secured its spot in the third round of
qualifiers by finishing first in its group.
In the third preliminary round draw held on the 27th, Korea was placed in Group B along with Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, and Kuwait.
The first match of the third qualifying round will be played at home against Palestine on September 5. There are just over two months left.
An official from the Football Association said, “As the appointment of a new coach cannot be delayed any longer, we believe we will proceed as quickly
as possible.”