South Korea coach Hong resigns after elimination
SEOUL: South Korea head coach Myung-bo Hong has resigned following the country’s surprise exit from the World Cup group stages, according to reports.
The former centre-back, who played a leading role in South Korea’s run to the 2002 semi-finals, took responsibility for their back-to-back losses to Mexico and South Africa which saw them eliminated without making the knock-outs for the second tournament under his leadership – having previously failed to win a game at World Cup 2014.
He said, as quoted by the Korean Yonhap news agency: “I’d like to apologise to our fans who love Korean football and support the national team.
“We didn’t deliver the results that our fans expected, and the responsibility rests entirely with me as head coach.”
South Korea president Jae Myung Lee had already taken aim at Hong’s position, after he was re-appointed as national team boss in 2024, and has separately called for a government investigation into ths country’s perceived underachievement.
“The reason such botched appointments — which fail to distinguish between public and private interests and prioritise personal gain over the public good — are possible is that it is impossible or difficult to monitor, check, and hold those with appointment authority accountable,” he said in a post on X.
