Sports

Park Hang Seo becomes new coach of Vietnam national teams

Vietnam Football News


USPA NEWS - SEOUL: Former Korea Republic national team assistant coach Park Hang Seo has agreed to become the Vietnam national team coach.
The Vietnam Football Federation have announced the appointment of South Korean Park Hang Seo as the new coach of the senior national team.

Confirming the move on their official website, the VFF revealed that the 58-year-old will not only be in charge of the senior team, but also be responsible for the Under-23 and Olympic sides.
Park arrives with plenty of experience from his homeland, having been in charge of K League outfits Gyeongnam FC, Jeonnam Dragons and Sangju Sangmu Phoenix in a managerial career that began over a decade ago.

However, the highlight of the Gyeongnam native´s time in coaching arguably came back in 2002. The 58-year-old was Guus Hiddink's first assistant when the Dutch coach guided Korea Republic to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2002.

Park met a delegation from the Vietnam Football Federation in Seoul on Friday, where he agreed to become the national team coach.

He is expected to sign a two-year contract.
"After careful consideration and much thought for a week, I decided to lead Vietnam's national football team," Park said.

Park will fill the void left by Nguyen Huu Thang, who resigned in August after Vietnam failed to advance to the semi-finals of the Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games. He is the second foreigner to be handed the reins in the past three years, with Japan´s Toshiya Miura having been in charge from May 2014 to January 2016.

Park's first mission will be leading Vietnam to qualify for the Asian Cup 2019.

He is set to be officially unveiled by the VFF at a ceremony next month and his immediate attentions will be on guiding the Golden Stars to qualification for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates.

The Vietnamese are currently second in Group C in the third and final round of qualifiers, and are next in action at home to Cambodia on October 10 and Afghanistan on November 14.

"I will first watch the match with Cambodia and talk with the VFF for future plans," he said. "I have great expectations for Vietnam because they invest a lot in their youth teams and they aim for a better future."

Sources: Vietnam Football Federation, Yonhap, MASOC

Source: AFC
Liability for this article lies with the author, who also holds the copyright. Editorial content from USPA may be quoted on other websites as long as the quote comprises no more than 5% of the entire text, is marked as such and the source is named (via hyperlink).