"An excellent coach, yet his application was rejected." Hyun Young-min also acknowledges it: "A regrettable case due to the coaching staff failing to meet qualification requirements."

*This content was translated by AI.

Hyun Young-min, president of the Korea Football Association (KFA), expressed regret over a case where an excellent coach candidate was rejected during the selection process for the interim national team head coach. Although he did not name the individual directly, it is widely believed to refer to former Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors coach Gus Poyet of Uruguay, who was considered the most likely candidate.

The president explained on the 4th in a video released through the KFA's official YouTube channel regarding the selection process for Spanish coach Roberto Moreno: "Considering the situation at the Korea Football Association, we decided that choosing a method with clear procedural legitimacy would be the best way to regain even a small amount of trust from the public." He added, "We opted for an 'open recruitment' approach in accordance with the National Team Selection and Operation Regulations of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee."

He further stated, "It is true that there were concerns both internally and externally about whether open recruitment would realistically allow us to secure the best possible coach for the A national team. In fact, while conducting the open recruitment and selection process, we personally experienced the difficulties of applying open recruitment in a football-specific environment."

During this interim head coach open recruitment, the KFA required applications not only from individual coaches but also from entire coaching staffs submitted as groups. Both the head coaches and all coaches included in these groups underwent quantitative evaluations. The entire group's coaching experience and achievements in major tournaments were scored, with only the top five groups advancing to interviews while the rest received notifications of rejection at the document screening stage.

The president specifically noted, "As we conducted quantitative evaluations for the entire coaching staff, there was a regrettable case where an excellent head coach candidate was rejected at the document screening stage because the accompanying coaching staff failed to meet qualification requirements."

This is widely interpreted as a reference to Coach Gus Poyet. From the very beginning of the interim national team head coach recruitment process, Coach Poyet was considered the top-ranked candidate. This was due to his clear demonstration of leadership in leading Jeonbuk to a K-League 1 and Korea Cup double (winning two titles) and his strong expressed desire to lead the Korean national team. In fact, just one day before the application deadline, a Japanese media outlet reported that "Coach Poyet is almost certain," making headlines.

However, Coach Poyet was eliminated early without even passing the document screening stage. The issue of whether coach Lee Dong-gook, a former national team player, could join as a coach under the KFA's coaching staff qualification standards had already sparked controversy. As explained by Hyeon Yeong-min (Chairman), it was extremely difficult for Coach Lee Dong-gook to receive any points during the evaluation process. Regardless of how highly Coach Poyet was rated, this ultimately became a fatal blow in the overall scoring system that summed up all scores.

However, regarding this method, the president also expressed the view that adjustments are necessary to suit Korean football. He stated, "To secure the best possible coach for the A national team in line with global trends and the KFA's circumstances while ensuring procedural legitimacy, we should explore ways to balance pros and cons and consider them as reference points for future head coach selection processes."

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*This content was translated by AI.