South Korean football has a high call for "firing Klinsmann", and the national football coach needs to speed up the pace?

When rumors of "infighting" in the South Korean team before the semi-finals of the Asian Cup were widely circulated by foreign media, the traditional Asian powerhouse may have fallen into an even greater crisis. According to South Korean media on the 14th, members of relevant departments within the Korean Football Association have publicly asked the chairman of the association, Zheng Mengkui, to dismiss the current coach of the South Korean team, Klinsmann. However, according to the Korean media, the dismissal of Klinsmann will require a huge economic price of 7 billion won (more than 5 million US dollars), and the Korean Football Association has to act cautiously. It is worth noting that if the Korean Football Association finally confirms the "change of coach", will the target of the new coach candidate in its intention also be among the candidates for the new coach of the Chinese team? This is actually worthy of the attention of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese football community.

After losing to Jordan by 2 goals in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, the South Korean team returned to South Korea on February 8 local time. In front of the media cameras, South Korea coach Jurgen Klinsmann always smiled. Like the statement made after the semi-finals, Klinsmann did not mention "resignation", and even made a positive outlook for the next 2026 World Preliminary Championships.

However, the result of South Korea being blocked from the Asian Cup final by Jordan, a team in Pot 3, seems to be unacceptable within the Korean Football Association, fans and the media. According to the mainstream media in South Korea such as Chosun Ilbo, the Technical Enhancement Committee of the National Team of the Korean Football Association will hold a special working meeting this week on the summary of the performance of the South Korean team in the Asian Cup. South Korean media "YTN" quoted Lee Se-jae, vice chairman of the Korean Football Association, as saying that some representatives of the association's top management had agreed to remove Klinsmann from his post through another internal meeting. Lee then conveyed the opinions formed at the meeting to Chung Mong-kyu, the chairman of the Korean Football Association, who was absent from the meeting.

According to Korean media reports, the South Korean public (fans) and the Korean Football Association are dissatisfied with Klinsmann for several reasons: first, the South Korean team's record in this Asian Cup is not satisfactory; second, the South Korean team lacks good tactical use during the confrontation with teams ranked lower than their own teams in the international ranking. There are even rumors that a local civil society group in South Korea complained to the police that Jung Mong-kyu unilaterally appointed (Klinsmann as the coach) of the South Korean team. They and some representatives of South Korean politics also demanded that the Korean Football Association dismiss Klinsmann.

According to South Korean media, the 60-year-old Klinsmann has returned home to the United States on February 10. Even when he attends meetings, he can only do so online. South Korean media quoted a member of the Korean Football Association's National Team Technical Enhancement Committee as saying: "This makes the situation even more complicated." At the moment, it is uncertain whether the German coach will participate in the review (summary) meeting of the South Korean team's performance in the Asian Cup. This led some members to question the necessity of the next meeting. The suspicion stemmed from the commissioners' dissatisfaction with the current head of the committee, the German Michael Müller.

In December 2017, the Korean Football Association established the National Team Technical Enhancement Committee in order to improve the skills of the national team and select coaches. For example, the coaches of the Korean national teams with good coaching achievements, such as Bento, the previous Portuguese coach of the South Korean team, and Kim He-beom, the coach of the 1997 National Olympic Team, were all selected and hired by the committee through the process. However, since Mr. Mueller took over on January 25 last year, the committee's work has been mired in controversy. To be precise, many members of the committee believe that Muller is arbitrary in the selection of the national team coach, and on the issue of making specific decisions, he only communicates with Jung Mong-kyu and other senior members of the Korean Football Association, regardless of the opinions of the committee members.

Although the call for "sacking Klinsmann" has been boiling inside and outside the Korean football scene, it is difficult for the Korean Football Association to make a decision. This is because Klinsmann is by far one of the most expensive foreign coaches hired by the Korean Football Association. According to data released by Korean media, the total budget of the Korean Football Association in 2023 will reach 158.1 billion won (about 118.2 million US dollars). If Klinsmann is fired, then the Korean Football Association may have to pay a termination fee of around 7 billion won (more than $5 million).

There is another point that makes the Korean Football Association very entangled. That is, the South Korean team currently leads the group standings in the round of 36, and its three-goal away win over China in November last year was also named the best game of the year for the Korean national team in 2023 by the Korean Football Association. In addition, the South Korean team's record in the top 4 of this Asian Cup is still improved compared with the result of the last round of 8. If the Korean Football Association fires Klinsmann in this situation, is it in a hurry?

Another Korean media revealed that if Klinsmann resigns, then the Korean Football Association will launch a "Plan B" on the selection of coaches. However, just like the difficulties faced by the Chinese team in changing the manager, there is now just over a month to go before the resumption of the round of 36 in late March, and South Korea will next play back-to-back matches against Thailand, which has improved significantly in recent years. This means that even if there is a change of coach, the time left for the Korean Football Association is very short.

Just when the South Korean team was surrounded by all kinds of rumors, rumors about former Qatar coach Queiroz and former Oman coach Ivankovic are expected to be re-employed. According to foreign media, Queiroz is relatively close to the coach of the Algerian team, and Ivankovic said that he has received invitations from some African and Asian member associations and will make a choice in the past 10 days. As a leader in Asian football, such coaches could theoretically be candidates for a change of coach in Asian teams. So once the South Korean team decides to change the coach, will it form a "competition" with the Chinese team's selection of coaches? This has indeed become a topic worth paying attention to in the near future.

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Yun

Editor/Wang Haozhou