Social Affairs
The famous South Korean trainer become a coach for Vietnam’s men’s national football team
Park Hang-seo, a South Korea trainer, will serve as the head coach of Vietnam’s men’s national football team, U23 team and Olympic team from October 2017 until the end of 2019, after signing a two-year contract with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) in Hanoi on October 11.
Park Hang-seo is the first ROK coach of Vietnam's football teams.
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The first challenge for the South Korea tactician will be the home-field clash with the national team against Afghanistan, scheduled on November 14 at Hanoi’s My Dinh National Stadium. In their previous meeting on March 28, Vietnam and Afghanistan played out a 1-1 draw.
Park Hang-seo, born on January 4, 1959 in Sancheong, Gyeongsangnam-do, once played for South Korea national football team from 1979 to 1982 before becoming a professional trainer. During his career as a football trainer, Park was known as the first assistant to famous Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink, who led South Korea team to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup. In the same year, he won the bronze medal with South Korea U23 squad at the Asian Games (Asiad), hosted in Busan.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Park expressed his pleasure at being appointed as head coach of Vietnam’s football teams, whilst calling for the support from the Vietnamese fans and media so that he could achieve success in his new position, thus contributing to the development of Vietnamese football.
With the experiences he has gained from years of working as a trainer in professional tournaments in South Korea as well as in top tier competitions such as the World Cup and Asiad, Park Hang-seo is expected to bring a new vitality to Vietnam’s men’s national, U23 and Olympic teams, with the utmost goal of obtaining the best results at the upcoming international competitions.
Talking about the goals that the VFF pins on Park, VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh emphasised that alongside the two Asian Cup 2019 qualifying matches against Afghanistan on November 14 and Jordan on March 27, 2018, the ROK coach will compete in the 2018 AFC U23 Championship finals together with Vietnam’s U23 team, and will lead the national team at the 2018 Asiad and AFF Cup competitions. With regards to the 2019 SEA Games, Park and his U23 team are assigned the task of reaching the finals.
As planned, Park will return to the ROK for his last match with Changwon FC in the ROK’s third-division football tournament, before coming back to Vietnam, together with his assistants and wife, on October 23, to assume the new position.
South Korea media including Yonhap News, Korea Herald also have articles for this news. “Park is best known for his role with the South Korean national team in 2002 when he was Guus Hiddink's assistant and helped the Taeguk Warriors finish fourth at the FIFA World Cup. He later managed South Korean pro clubs like Gyeongnam FC, Jeonnam Dragons and Sangju Sangmu” – Korea Herald.
