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Korea after another Dutch football coach

August 6, 2014

Guus Hiddink (2001-2002), Johannes Bonfrere (2004-2005), Dick Advocaat (2005-2006), Pim Verbeek (2006-2007).

Bert Van Marwijk

Koreans love Dutch football, and it looks like they’re going after another Dutch manager for their national team. This time it’s Bert van Marwijk, best known for leading the Netherlands to the final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) has been looking for a new coach to replace Hong Myung-bo, who abruptly resigned last month after his team’s dismal campaign in the Brazil World Cup.

On July 31, the KFA’s technical committee led by Lee Yong-soo announced that it had shortlisted three foreign candidates for the post and would soon start negotiations with them individually.

Lee secretly flew to the Netherlands earlier this week to meet the candidate, and confirmed his interest.

“We will wait a little longer for him to make a final decision. The negotiation will be finalized in about a week,” Lee said, adding that the KFA has not contacted two other foreign candidates.

If he took the job, van Marwijk would be the first foreign coach in seven years, but fifth Dutch coach to lead Korea.

He is familiar with Korean players in a sense that he had recruited Song Chong-guk and Lee Chun-soo when he led Dutch club Feyenoord.

There are some concerns also, however, as he was sacked by German club Hamburg after its seventh straight league loss. The departure came just 143 days after he took charge.

He had guided his country to the 2010 World Cup final, where his men were defeated by Spain 1–0 in extra time, but he resigned when his team lost all three of their matches at UEFA Euro 2012.