Jürgen Klinsmann is the new national coach of South Korea. The Asian country’s growing goals may have attracted the former VfB Stuttgart player – but they also pose a serious threat.
When the decision was made, breaking news shot to smartphones. “German icon Jürgen Klinsmann is the new coach of South Korea’s men’s national team,” headlined the leading news agency Yonhap. For a moment, the news topped various other topics that are actually more important: There are the new missiles from the enemy North Korea or controversial investigations by the public prosecutor’s office against the South Korean opposition leader in parliament. But on Monday afternoon, Klinsmann briefly dominated the news.
A sensation
The deal, which the South Korean Football Association (KFA) was able to announce after days of speculation, is a sensation. Finally, with Jürgen Klinsmann, a man comes to the East Asian country who became world champion as a player in 1990, achieved a surprising third place as coach of Germany at the World Cup in 2006 and also coached the USA to a large extent successfully for a number of years. In South Korea – Klinsmann’s third station as national coach – he is now to start a new football chapter.
In the country of 55 million, football is the most popular sport alongside baseball. However, one hopes for some years greater successes than recently. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the “Taegeuk Warriors”, as the selection is called, reached the round of 16 after narrowly advancing in the group stage, where they then suffered a clear defeat against Brazil. The contract of the Portuguese Paulo Bento, who had coached the team until then, was not renewed afterwards.
The demands have grown over the past decades. When South Korea hosted the World Cup together with Japan in 2002, the team coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink surprisingly reached the semi-finals. Ten years later, South Korea won the bronze medal at the London Olympics. But since then it has only reached for the round of 16 twice at world championships. And with regional rivals Japan now claiming a spot in the top eight teams in the world, it’s only natural that South Korea will want to follow suit.
For Klinsmann, who has a contract until after the 2026 World Cup, this will be the yardstick: South Korea should be Asia’s number one if possible and at least a reliable participant in the knockout rounds at World Cups, but would like to do more than that. After all, South Korea has long since ceased to be a footballing developing country. The professional league K-League is considered one of the strongest in Asia and consists mostly of local players.
Talents from South Korea are popular
The greatest talents have been lured away from European clubs at a young age for years. South Korean superstar Son Heung-min, who plays for Tottenham Hotspur and is a regular feature on South Korean TVs, includes SSC Napoli defender Kim Min-jae, Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Hee-chan Hwang and midfielder Lee Kang- in from RCD Mallorca to the most famous kickers. Jeong Woo-yeong from SC Freiburg is considered a beacon of hope.
Jürgen Klinsmann’s commitment was via a Germany connection. At the beginning of January, the Korean association introduced the German Michael Müller, who after years in the DFB youth division had worked in youth development at the KFA from 2018, as technical director of the national team. In an interview, Müller explained that he wanted to rely on “Korean values” when choosing a coach, namely “a strong mentality and fighting spirit”. In this respect, the solution made by Klinsmann, who is also well known as a whip, makes perfect sense.
In South Korea, the former star of VfB Stuttgart is still remembered anyway. In the group stage of the 1994 World Cup, Klinsmann scored a dream goal against South Korea, which is often shown in retrospect today: with his back to the goal, he lifted the ball himself and shot it into the corner with the turn. With two Klinsmann goals, Germany won 3-2. Two decades later, as head coach of the USA, Klinsmann flattered the East Asian football nation. Before the 2014 World Cup, he asked for a test with South Korea. Explanation: “They have tremendous energy and talent in their ranks.”
Klinsmann also fits into South Korea’s coaching image because the country has been happy to entrust itself to foreign coaches for decades. After Guus Hiddink, three other Dutchmen have held the position of national coach, before Paulo Bento there was also a Portuguese in Humberto Coelho. And Klinsmann is not the first German: Uli Stielike was responsible for the team from 2014 to 2017.
Is the post an ejection seat?
However, the post is also an ejection seat. There have been 13 different coaches in the past 20 years, and Paulo Bento, who has now retired, was the longest-serving at a good four years.
And it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if Jürgen Klinsmann’s involvement turned out to be a misunderstanding. This is not only because the increasing demands in South Korea – which Klinsmann should see as a welcome challenge – may be difficult to achieve. During his last coaching position, which ended quickly after a few months at Hertha BSC at the beginning of 2020, Klinsmann publicly complained about the leadership of the club without discussing this with the club. In South Korea’s corporate culture, such an approach would hardly be forgivable and would be considered disloyal and ungrateful.
