Nat’l football team head coach returns home after ‘good meetings’ in Europe

Hong Myung-bo, new head coach of the South Korean men’s national football team, returned home from a European trip Thursday after interviewing candidates for his assistant positions and meeting with South Korean players across the continent.

Hong had left South Korea on July 15, days after his controversial appointment by the Korea Football Association (KFA) was approved in a vote by its board of directors.

Hong did not have formal media availability at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, but told reporters he’d completed a productive trip.

“I had some good meetings and had good talks,” Hong said, without elaborating further. “I will keep those in mind as I finalize my choices. I have not settled on my coaching staff yet. I’ll have to wait and see.”

Hong made stops in Spain, England, Germany and Serbia. After interviewing European assistant coaching candidates, Hong met with Son Heung-min, captain for both Tottenham Hotspur and the South Korean national team, in London. The new coach also connected with Germany-based South Korea internationals, Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich and Lee Jae-sung of Mainz 05.

Hong then met two Serbia-based players, Hwang In-beom and Seol Young-woo of Crvena zvezda.

“I had good conversations with the players,” Hong said, before exiting the airport.

Hong is scheduled to hold his inaugural press conference at the KFA House in Seoul at 11 a.m. Monday.

The KFA has been in hot water over controversial circumstances surrounding its hiring of Hong. The 55-year-old had publicly spurned the KFA’s job offer before accepting it, seemingly on a dime, on July 6, following a brief meeting with KFA’s technical director, Lee Lim-saeng. The KFA’s announcement of Hong’s appointment on July 7 caught many in football by surprise, because the national governing body had spent the previous five months mostly screening and interviewing foreign-born candidates.

The sports ministry is conducting an audit into the KFA’s operations, amid mounting criticism that the football federation had disregarded its own vetting process to select Hong.

Hong, who had been coaching two-time defending K League 1 champions Ulsan HD FC before taking the national team reins, has been hammered for reneging on an earlier pledge with Ulsan fans that he wouldn’t leave the club midseason for the national team gig.

Hong previously coached the national team from 2013 to 2014, a short stint that ended after South Korea’s elimination in the group stage at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Hong’s second tour of duty will begin on Sept. 5 against Palestine in the third round of the Asian qualification for the 2026 World Cup.