The Korea Football Association has proposed improvements to the national team management system for each age group, including the under-23 (U-23), after failing to qualify for the Olympic Games for the 10th consecutive time.
The KFA held a presentation at the Jongno Football Hall in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday, announcing the technical philosophy and policies of Korean soccer, as well as plans to improve the national team management system for each age group.
South Korea failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics after falling in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup in April.
It was the first time South Korea had failed to qualify for an Olympic men’s soccer tournament in 40 years, since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and the loss to Indonesia, which was considered an underdog, sent shockwaves through the soccer world.
Hwang Sun-hong, who coached South Korea to gold at last year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou and then to the Paris Olympics, said after the U-23 Asian Cup exit that the system needed to change, saying that “age-group teams should be on a four-year cycle.”
The federation, which failed to qualify for the Olympic Games and also failed to win the Asian Cup for adults earlier this year, has made a number of changes to the national team management system in response to the crisis.
The main changes include having separate Asian Games and Olympic coaches for the U-23 teams, with one head coach overseeing the entire program.
In addition to the U-23 and U-22 coaches preparing for the Asian Games, the U-21 coach will also be in charge of the U-21 team to bridge the gap in managing age-group players for the future Olympic Games.
“We considered having the U-21 team compete in the Asian Games with a focus on the Olympics, but we came to the conclusion that the Asian Games is more important than the Olympics, so we had to win the gold medal with the most elite members,” said Cho Joon-heon, head of the National Operations Team. The military service benefits that athletes receive for winning an Asian Games gold medal could not be ignored.
There have also been proposals to have separate teams for the Asian Games and the Olympics every four years, but the disadvantages include lack of continuity and coordination and reduced efficiency.
In the end, the team decided to ‘dualize’ the team under the supervision of one head coach, but it is pointed out that it is difficult to make a big difference from the current operation method.
“There are practical difficulties because the only time we can gather the players together is during the A-Match, but we can overcome those concerns depending on the coach’s capabilities, the federation’s will, and how well the technical director, manager, and coaching staff collaborate, share philosophy, and lead every training session,” Cho said.
For the U-17 team, which will play in the World Cup every year starting next year, the coaches will split between the U-16 and U-15 teams and focus on them in “one-year increments”.
For the U-20s, one coach from the national team will take over the U-18s, which have been relatively neglected, and will be in charge of training and competitions.
The KFA also announced the technical philosophy of Korean soccer, “Fast, Brave, and Driven,” amid the realization that there is no consistency in policy direction and no systematic system.
The ultimate goal of the KFA is to lead world soccer and inspire fans by developing excellent players. Specifically, the goal is to “enter the top 10 in the world by 2033.
In addition, the association laid out the detailed principles of the game, divided into offense, defense, attack transition, and defense transition, and introduced coaching and training guidelines for playing such games.
Lee Im-sang, technical director of the association, said, “Based on the soccer philosophy and game model, we will move forward with the connection between the A national team and the U-23 and U-20 national teams. The age group teams up to U-17 will focus on discovering talented players and developing their personal growth and characteristics through world-class experiences.” 스포츠토토