Ex-Jeonbuk boss Kim Sang-sik set to helm Vietnamese national team: Report

Korean broadcaster KBS reported Monday that Kim signed a two-year deal with the Vietnamese national team that runs through March 2026.

Kim Sang-sik watches a K League 1 match between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Ulsan Hyundai, now called Ulsan HD, at Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on Feb. 25, 2023. [YONHAP]

Former Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors manager Kim Sang-sik looks set to take the helm of the Vietnamese national team.

Korean broadcaster KBS reported Monday that Kim signed a two-year deal with the Vietnamese national team that runs through March 2026.

The move comes nearly one year after Kim resigned from the Jeonbuk manager position in the early days of the 2023 K League 1 during which he faced criticism for a poor start to the campaign.

He did not coach any team following his resignation. The Vietnamese national team will be the second team he's helmed after starting his managerial career at Jeonbuk.

Kim, 47, started his coaching career at Jeonbuk, serving as an assistant coach from 2014 to 2020 and working as manager from 2021 to May 2023. There, he won the 2021 K League 1 and 2022 Korean FA Cup — now called the Korea Cup.

Kim replaces Philippe Troussier, who was fired by the Vietnam Football Federation last month after an unimpressive run during which he failed to lead Vietnam to the knockout stage of the AFC Asian Cup in January.

If Kim takes charge of the Vietnamese national team, he will be the second Korean manger to lead Vietnam after Park Hang-seo, who saw unprecedented success with the Southeast Asian side during his five-year spell that ended after his resignation last year.

During his five years at the helm of Vietnam's senior and U-23 national teams, he not only won the AFF Suzuki Cup with the national team and two South Asian Games with the U-23 team, but he elevated Vietnamese football to a significantly higher level, bringing up the country’s FIFA ranking from around No. 130 to the low 90s.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]