Former Germany World Cup-winning legendary forward Jürgen Klinsmann appointed as new South Korea national team head coach..

2023-02-28 19:06

Former Germany World Cup-winning legendary forward Jürgen Klinsmann appointed as new South Korea national team head coach..





The Korean Football Association announced on its official website on Monday that they have appointed German coach Jürgen Klinsmann as the South Korea national team's new head coach.


According to Korean Football Association's official statement, Klinsmann has signed on a long-term three-year deal which runs until the end of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in United States, Canada and Mexico. The Korean Football Association will finalize the list of members of its assistant coaching staff with Klinsmann in the near future. In addition, Klinsmann will also make his debut as the head coach of the South Korea national team in the international friendly match against Colombia at home in Ulsan on March 24.


After the news of his appointment was confirmed, Klinsmann, who was interviewed by the official website of the Korean Football Association for the first time said: "I am very happy and honoured to be the head coach of the South Korea national football team."


“I am well aware that the South Korea national team has been developing and achieving great results for a long time. From Guus Hiddink to former head coach Paulo Bento, it is an honour for me to follow the path of great coaches who have coached the South Korea national team. We will do our best to achieve complete success in the upcoming Asian Cup and World Cup in 2026."




About Jürgen Klinsmann


The 58-year-old Klinsmann was born in Göppingen, Germany on July 30, 1964. He is 1.81 meters tall and played as a center forward during his playing career. After coming through Stuttgart in his early career, Klinsmann won the UEFA Cup once with Bayern Munich and Inter Milan respectively, and formed a lethal strikeforce with former England international player Teddy Sheringham during his time at Tottenham Hotspur, which pushed his popularity to all over the world.


In addition to being voted the Premier League giants' Player of the Year by three different organizations in 1994, the highlight of Klinsmann's career came when he led the Germany national football team team to glory at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy and the 1996 European Championship in England.


After retiring in August 2003, Klinsmann began his coaching career by being the head coach of the Germany national team in July of the following year. During his two-year spell as the head coach of Die Mannschaft, although Klinsmann was often criticized by many people because of his need to travel between the United States and Germany for his family, and for emphasizing on using players with good performances more than those who are famous, it is undeniable that under the guidance of Klinsmann, Germany had produced the best world-class football players in the early 21st century, and these players also succeeded in helping the nation finish in third-place during the 2006 FIFA World Cup under his stewardship.


In July 2008, when Klinsmann returned to his playing days' old club Bayern Munich and became their head coach, because he failed to lead the club to league and Champions League glory, as well as falling out with the big players in the club, Klinsmann was sacked in the following April.


Two years after leaving Bayern, Klinsmann was appointed as the technical director of Major League Soccer (MLS) side Toronto FC in November 2010, but due to poor results, and that the club had always languished at the bottom of the league, he was sacked in 2010.


After that, Klinsmann became the head coach of the United States national team in July 2011. During the 5 years which he was in charge of the Stars and Stripes, the United States has made great progress under Klinsmann. He once led the U.S. national team to compete in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and also won the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup with the team. However, after a poor 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia CONCACAF qualifiers campaign, where the nation sit bottom of the table, Klinsmann was sacked at the end of November.


Since then, Klinsmann has stayed out of the limelight except for attending some footballing promotional activities and seminars. It was not until the end of November 2019 that he agreed to take over the head coaching position of Hertha Berlin that he officially returned to the coaching world. 


However, due to a falling out with the club's largest shareholder Lars Windhorst, Klinsmann unilaterally announced his resignation in February 2020 less than 10 weeks after taking over the Bundesliga club.


After that, Klinsmann once again stayed out of the limelight, only appearing as a guest at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar Group Stage draw ceremony, and occasionally took time to watch some national team games.


South Korea national team's former former Portuguese head coach, Paulo Bento, announced his resignation after failing to lead the Taeguk Warriors past the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar Round-of-16s knockout stages. At that time, there were rumorus that he could not accept the fact that former technical director Kim Pan-gon, whose managing philosophy was more akin to that of Europe resigned and took over as the head coach of the Malaysia national team, but this news was never confirmed.