Lee Im-saeng, technical director of the Korea Football Association, who was in charge of the appointment of the next head coach of Korean soccer, left the country to meet with foreign coaches who were nominated.
An official from the Korea Football Association said in a phone call with Newsis on the 3rd, "Lee Im-saeng, a technical director, left the country on the morning of the 2nd," adding, "I understand that he is meeting three people on this business trip."
The National Power Reinforcement Committee has undergone a recent change.
Chairman Chung Hae-sung expressed his intention to resign on April 28, and some of the committee members reportedly left the company. Chairman Chung reportedly stepped down because the candidates who decided on priorities as members of the Korea Football Association did not accept it from the leadership of the Korea Football Association.
The Korea Football Association said it could no longer delay the appointment of a new coach, leaving technical director Lee Im-saeng to appoint a new coach. In response, Lee went on a business trip to meet candidates selected by the Korea Electric Power Reinforcement Committee.
To sum up the finalists so far, Jesus Casas (Spain), coach of the Iraqi national team (Spain), and Graham Arnold (Australia) coach of the Australian national team.
These are countries that currently have a contract and have to play the third Asian qualifying round for the '2026 FIFA North-China World Cup' with South Korea.
In particular, in the case of Iraq, it is pointed out that the possibility of negotiations is low because it belongs to Group B with South Korea.
And on the day of Lee's departure, former Norwich City coach David Wagner of Germany and former Greek national team coach Gus Foyet of Uruguay were found to be candidates for the interview.
Born in Germany, Wagner has a history of playing for the U.S. national team following the nationality of his American adoptive father.
After retirement, he took the leadership path and took charge of Huddersfield in the English Professional Football Championship (second division) and won attention by winning promotion to the English Premier League (EPL) in the 2016-2017 season.
He then led Germany's Schalke (2019-2020), Switzerland's Young Voice (2021-2022), and Championship Norwich City (2023-2024). When he led Norwich, he also coached Hwang Ui-jo (Nottingham Forest).
Foyet is a former Uruguayan star player who has led Brighton, Sunderland (England), Athens (Greece) and Shanghai Shenhua (China) since his retirement.
In particular, he is also familiar to domestic fans as Ki Sung-yueng (Seoul)'s manager during the 2013-2014 season when he led EPL's Sunderland.
Both coaches have the advantage of coaching Korean players and not having a team, but question marks follow whether they are suitable leaders for the Korean national team, which is seeking to advance to the World Cup finals for the 11th time in common.
Meanwhile, the interview schedule for candidates for the Korean coach is undecided. The leadership of the Korea Football Association does not want it, and people who were mentioned as candidates are turning down the foggy road.
An official from the Korea Football Association also said, "The schedule for the interview with the domestic coach candidate has not yet been shared." 안전놀이터
"(However,) I understand that we have made a plan to conclude the candidate interview within this week," he said, announcing his plan to rush to not leave the director position vacant any more.