New Korea manager Hong Myung-bo couldn't do it in 2014. What's changed?

The appointment means an early exit from back-to-back K League 1 champions Ulsan HD, where Hong has spent the last three years and, until last week, promised to stay.

Korean national team manager Hong Myung-bo gives instructions to his players during the first half in a game against Belgium during the 2014 World Cup in Sao Paulo, Brazil. [YONHAP]

Veteran coach Hong Myung-bo was announced as the Korean national team’s permanent manager Sunday, ending a tumultuous five-month search by a cash-strapped, heavily criticized Korea Football Association.

The appointment means an early exit from back-to-back K League 1 champions Ulsan HD, where Hong has spent the last three years and, until last week, promised to stay.

Hong’s return to the helm a decade after his first stint, having led the national team from 2013 to 2014, also snuffs out speculation that the KFA could hire a foreign manager after floating a cacophony of names like Jesse Marsch, Senol Gunes and Jesus Casas and then more recently Gus Poyet and David Wagner.

The KFA National Team Committee, then led by Chung Hae-sung, reportedly attempted to hire a foreign manager but failed to get a deal finalized, forcing the KFA to appoint Hwang Sun-hong in March and Kim Do-hoon in June as interim managers.

KFA Technical Director Lee Lim-saeng departed to Europe last week to interview new foreign manager candidates, but deals did not go through after his judgment that Korean national team players would not be able to adapt to either of their styles in such a short period ahead of the third round of 2026 World Cup qualifiers in September.

Hong will now face an immediate challenge in the third round of qualifiers in September and is set to lead the team through the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup.

While his first stint as national team manager ended after failing to reach the knockout stage of the 2014 World Cup, he returns after building a new domestic top club.

Who is Hong, how does he coach and how much success has he seen as a manager?

World Cup legend to national team coach

Hong, 55, made his professional debut in 1991 as a defender and won multiple honors like the K League MVP award in 1992 and a place in the league’s best XI in 1994.

He also saw great success with the Korean national team at the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. He captained the squad and scored the winning penalty against Spain in the quarterfinals to send Korea through to the semifinals for the first time in World Cup history.

With 136 caps, tied for the Korean record, he left the national team in November 2002 and retired from the sport in 2004.

Hong started his coaching career as an assistant coach at the Korean senior team in 2005 and was part of the squad until he became a head coach for the U-20 national team in 2009.

After leading the U-20 team to the quarterfinals of the 2009 World Cup, he took the helm of the U-23 national team and earned a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first Korean football manager to bring home an Olympic medal.

Korea players celebrate with their manager, Hong Myung-bo, after defeating Oman in a qualifying match for the 2012 London Olympics on Feb. 22, 2012. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

One-year spell at the helm

His success with the U-23 team earned him the senior national team job in June 2013, which came after Korea had qualified for the 2014 World Cup despite a poor performance under then-manager Choi Kang-hee.

But as Hong took charge of the team only a year before the 2014 World Cup began, he had little time to elevate the team’s level and prepare for the tournament.

The EAFF E-1 Football Championship in July 2013 was his first test as senior team manager, but his squad that included zero Europe-based players — typical of the tournament as it happens outside a FIFA international break — ended the tournament with one loss and two draws.

Hong then called up Europe-based players like then-Sunderland forward Ji Dong-won and Wolfsburg midfielder Koo Ja-cheol for friendlies later in 2013 and started to pick up some wins against Haiti, Mali and Switzerland, although the team lost to some higher-ranked opponents like Croatia, Brazil and Russia.

With one year of preparation, Hong entered the 2014 World Cup and crashed out of the group stage after losing to Algeria and Belgium and drawing with Russia, failing to secure a single World Cup win.

Korean national team manager Hong Myung-bo, second from left, and Son Heung-min leave the team hotel for a closed training session in preparation for their match against Algeria during the 2014 World Cup in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil on June 20, 2014. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

During the group stage run, Hong displayed a lack of tactical awareness and failed to dominate any opponent, with his players seemingly lacking cohesion.

It was clear during the 4-2 loss to Algeria, where the players seemed lost over how to defend against Algeria’s fast-paced attack, and Hong came up empty-handed with no solution.

After the winless World Cup run, he resigned from his post on July 10, 2014.

Victories in Ulsan

Hong returned to coaching with Chinese Super League side Hangzhou Greentown, now called Zhejiang FC, in December 2015. He helmed the club for a total of 32 matches across all competitions, notching just eight wins in the first division — leading the team on a disappointing march toward relegation.

Hong resigned from the Chinese club after his failure with Hangzhou. He stepped away from managing after that, taking up an executive role at the KFA in a reshuffle in 2017 that also gave Lee Lim-saeng the top technical director post and playing a leading role in the recruitment of former manager Paulo Bento, but returned to the game in 2020 — answering the call from Ulsan just before Christmas.

And Hong would find redemption with Ulsan Hyundai, now called Ulsan HD, leading the club to back-to-back K League 1 championships in 2022 and 2023 and establishing himself as one of the most successful managers in Korea.

Ulsan HD manager Hong Myung-bo dictates the game plan against Gwangju FC in a game at Gwangju Football Stadium in Gwangju on May 15. [YONHAP]

Ulsan were already one of the strongest teams when Hong took the reigns ahead of the 2021 K League 1 season. They won the 2019-20 AFC Champions League and were runners-up to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the domestic flight in 2019 and 2020 under Kim Do-hoon, the most recent caretaker of the Korean national team, who resigned after failing to lead Ulsan to a league title.

Ulsan would play second fiddle to Jeonbuk again in 2021, their first year under Hong’s watch, finishing two points behind them on the table after a year where they crashed out of the Korean FA Cup to a K League 2 side and saw an early Champions League exit.

Ulsan manager Hong Myung-bo gives instructions to his players during a game against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on Feb. 25, 2023. [YONHAP]

But Hong kept his job, and Ulsan began to see their fortunes turn.

Ulsan claimed the top spot on the 12-team table in the early days of the 2022 K League 1 season and held on despite challenges from back-to-back-to-back champions Jeonbuk. They won the title for the first time in 17 years with one match to go, beating Gangwon FC 2-1 to seal their victory and going on to end the season three points ahead of Jeonbuk.

And Ulsan defended their title in 2023 with ease, stretching their lead to double digits and overcoming a brief mid-season wobble — to claim their second straight trophy with three games to go.

Ulsan renewed Hong’s contract in the middle of the 2023 K League 1 season, giving him the stamp of approval through 2026.

It was also the year when Hong was tapped to lead the all-star Team K League in exhibition games against European heavyweights over the summer. (Jeonbuk head Kim Sang-sik had the gig the year before.) He led Team K League to a dramatic 3-2 win over Spanish side Atletico Madrid, pulling off the upset with a group of players that had never stepped on the pitch as a team.

Ulsan have remained at the top of the table in the 2024 K League 1 season but it's been a considerably more competitive campaign, with a handful of clubs trading for No. 1 and just six points separating the first and fifth place teams as of press time Monday.

Whiplash

Hong’s appointment as national team manager on Sunday came as a surprise — not least because the man himself has repeatedly said that he has no interest in the role.

Hong’s name has been in the mix since the spring, when Chung Hae-sung, then the head of the national team selection committee, admitted that they were looking at Korean candidates for the job.

Hong and FC Seoul manager Kim Gi-dong were assumed to be the contenders, prompting an immediate backlash from K League fans who didn’t want to see their managers picked off in the middle of the K League season.

Four months later and that’s exactly what has happened — and the KFA likely will still face a lot of criticism from both Ulsan and K League fans for its lack of respect for the league.

Hong likely won’t be immune from criticism either.

Having spent the last five months repeatedly saying he had no interest in the national team job, promising Ulsan fans he wasn’t leaving and criticizing the KFA for its approach to management selection and player development, the sudden reversal might not sit well with some fans.

Ulsan HD manager Hong Myung-bo protests the referee's decision in a game against FC Seoul at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on June 16. [YONHAP]

It’s going to be an uphill battle for the new manager. Hong remains one of the most popular coaches in Korea, but his performance with the Taeguk Warriors will now have to be good enough to overshadow the memories of the five-month debacle that followed the Jurgen Klinsmann era and his own sudden 180.

How things are left at Ulsan also remain unclear. As of press time Monday, nobody seems to know whether Hong is already packing his bags and heading to Seoul or if he will still be on the touchline when Ulsan take on Gwangju on Wednesday. If the latter does turn out to be true, he could face a frosty reception.

Ulsan's official supporters club have already made their opinion clear.

"The KFA disregarded demands from us and other Korean football fans," the supporters club said in a statement. "They were unable to come up with a solution and ended up filling their hole with a K League head coach, the worst possible solution. We strongly condemn this decision, which has once again dealt a massive blow to football fans.

"Such a catastrophic choice by the KFA will lead to failure. And even if this turns out successfully, the KFA must not forget that it came at the expense of Ulsan and the other K League clubs, not because the KFA did well."

That said, the prevailing mood across Korea is likely to be relief. However the deal ended up happening, the Korean national football team does finally have a manager — and just in time for Son Heung-min’s birthday on Monday as well.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN, MARY YANG AND JIM BULLEY [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]