ZAPOPAN – Hong Myung-bo resigned as head coach of the South Korean men’s national football team Sunday, a day after the country was eliminated from the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Yomhap News Agency reported.
Hong, 57, made the announcement at a press conference at the team’s training site in Zapopan, western Mexico.
“Today, I am stepping down as head coach of the South Korean men’s national football team,” Hong said, reading from a prepared statement. “I would 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.”
Hong was hired in July 2024 for his second tour as head coach, and his contract was to take him through the 2027 Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup, set to run from January to February next year.
At the World Cup, South Korea finished third in Group A with three points from a win and two losses. They had harboured hopes of sneaking into the round of 32 as one of the eight best third-place teams, but fell out of the picture Saturday, the final day of the group stage.
Hong had also failed to get South Korea past the group stage at his first World Cup as head coach in 2014. He is the only man to have coached South Korea at two different World Cup tournaments.
“Accepting this job was not an easy choice. And from the moment I decided to take the position, I thought doing my job responsibly through the end was the only way to go about it. I didn’t think of anything else,” he told the press conference.
“Over the past two years, I asked myself the same question whenever I had to make important decisions, select players or prepare for training sessions and matches: Is this the right choice for Korean football?” Hong continued. “I cannot say every decision has been the right one, but I can tell you that I have made every decision with Korean football in mind.”
Hong took a moment to thank his players and his staff for their support.
“Even though I am leaving the national team, I am not abandoning Korean football altogether,” Hong said. “I will cheer for the national team from the bottom of my heart and hope that the team will be trusted and loved by the people once again.”
He was given a second chance with the national team two years ago under controversial circumstances.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) came under immediate fire for putting him back in charge, with critics questioning the transparency and fairness of the process. The KFA passed on a few foreign-born candidates after a rigorous vetting process but gave Hong the job after a senior KFA executive met him briefly.
Even the National Assembly got involved, as it summoned Hong and KFA leaders to parliamentary sessions and grilled them on Hong’s appointment.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism conducted an extensive probe and demanded the KFA take discipline action on its president Chung Mong-gyu and other senior executives for reasons including the selection and appointment of Hong as head coach.
Hong was an unpopular choice from the beginning. He was booed mercilessly in his return to the national team in September 2024 at the start of the third round in the Asian World Cup qualification.
Even as South Korea went on an undefeated run to easily qualify for the World Cup, the public sentiment did not change in Hong’s favour.
Optimism ruled the day in December when South Korea got drawn into Group A with Mexico, South Africa and a European playoff winner that ended up being the Czech Republic.
It was widely seen as a soft group without a traditional heavyweight, and many pundits saw South Korea as the second-best team behind only Mexico.
South Korea then had a positive start to the tournament by coming from behind to beat Czechia 2-1 on June 11. They lost to Mexico 1-0 a week later, but they still had a chance to finish second in Group A and grab an automatic knockout berth with either a win or a draw against South Africa on Wednesday.
However, South Korea suffered a 1-0 loss, a performance even Hong admitted was the team’s worst in the group stage.
The result, which sparked an uproar back home, left South Korea in third place. With the tournament expanded to 48 nations, the eight best third-place teams would receive knockout tickets, in addition to the top two teams from each of 12 groups. South Korea sat in fourth place in the rankings of third-place nations when they completed their group stage but ended up in 10th place.
Hong is the third coaching casualty of this year’s World Cup, following Sabri Lamouchi of Tunisia, who was fired after one match, and Steve Clarke of Scotland, who resigned Saturday after his team’s elimination.
Hong competed at four World Cups as a defender and captained South Korea to the semifinals at the 2002 tournament that the country co-hosted with Japan.
Hong did not take questions from the media Sunday. He and eight players are scheduled to return home early Tuesday, with the remainder of the squad scheduled to head home later in small groups. – June 29, 2026