Gangwon FC part ways with top coach award winner, promote assistant coach

The 2024 South Korean football runners-up Gangwon FC announced Friday they have parted ways with head coach Yoon Jong-hwan.

The decision came a week after Yoon received the K League 1 Coach of the Year award for leading Gangwon to the best season in club history. They finished in second place with 64 points, eight back of Ulsan HD FC. Yoon became just the fourth winner of the top coaching award not to come from the league champions.

Yoon’s contract expired after the end of the 2024 season, and he and Gangwon couldn’t come to an agreement on a new deal. Gangwon FC, operated by Gangwon Provincial Government, aren’t flush with cash, and Yoon is believed to have demanded 900 million won (US$633,580) in annual salary, which would have made him one of the highest-paid tacticians in the league.

Instead of shelling out money for Yoon, Gangwon FC promoted their top assistant Chung Kyung-ho to be their new head coach. Financial terms for Chung’s deal were not disclosed.

Chung, 44, spent three of his 10 K League seasons with Gangwon FC, after joining them in their inaugural season in 2009. He served as their captain in 2010.

After retirement, the former South Korean international went on to coach a college team and a couple of K League clubs before taking over as the senior assistant for Gangwon last year. He is from the Gangwon Province town of Samcheok and played in the province through high school prior to his professional debut in 2003.

“It’s an honor to be head coach of my hometown club,” Chung said. “I will try to make our supporters happy in the 2025 season.”