[이데일리 김민정 기자] Ahn Jung-hwan, a football commentator, expressed his position on being mentioned as the successor of coach Paulo Bento.
In an interview with JoongAng Ilbo on the 12th, Jeong Jae-hoon, CEO of Ahn’s agent Moro Sports, dismissed the rumors about Ahn as the next head coach of the Korean national soccer team as “baseless.”
|
According to CEO Jeong, Commissioner Ahn said, “Are you making people talk about this ridiculous reason without asking me or checking me?” I don’t have the ability,” he said.
Regarding this, CEO Jeong said, “Commissioner Ahn has never received a phone call or an interview regarding the matter. He said, “I wonder if you have thought about the situation of the person in question, football fans, and the people, to post speculation on the important matter of the coach of the national team,” he said.
Representative Jeong also talked about Ahn’s future moves. He said, “Commissioner Ahn intends to gradually reduce the schedule of the current television programs. After completing all the leadership training in principle, I am planning leadership training in Europe and Japan, where I played,” he said. Ahn had previously said the World Cup in Qatar was his “last commentary.”
The ‘Director Ahn Jung-hwan Theory’ started when Park Dong-hee, a reporter for Sports Chunchu, mentioned Ahn on YTN radio’s ‘News King Park Ji-hoon’ on the 8th. Reporter Park said, “The name of director Choi Yong-soo, who is being discussed a lot now, is also coming up. And there’s even a story about Ahn Jung-hwan, who is a football commentator.
In response, the host said, “I think it’s correct to say that Ahn Jung-hwan is a broadcaster.” Reporter Park replied, “Yes. And there is the story of director Kim Hak-beom. Of course, all of these people deny that they have ever spoken to the Football Association. The overall direction of the Korea Football Association is likely to be decided by the Korean coaches. The annual salary appeared to be set at less than 1 billion won.”
|
Since then, reports have been pouring in regarding this, and the Korea Football Association (KFA) announced on the 10th, “We express serious concern about the reckless and speculative reports of some media regarding the appointment of a national coach new.” It is questionable who the person in question is, and even if an official from the Korea Football Association made such a statement, it is only his personal opinion and not the official position of the Korea Football Association. “‘, but the first meeting has not yet taken place, and is now in the preparation phase for discussion.”
Ahn Jung-hwan scored two goals during the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup and led Korea to the semi-finals. During his active career, he played for Yokohama Marinos and FC Metz, and after retirement, he is active as a soccer commentator at MBC while broadcasting.
Meanwhile, coach Paulo Bento will depart from Incheon Airport on flight EK323 at 11:30pm on the 13th.
Portuguese coach Bento took over in September 2018 as a successor to former coach Shin Tae-yong. Bento, who set a new record for the longest tenure among Korean national football team coaches, delivered Korean football with promotion to the World Cup round of 16 for the first time in 12 years. However, the association with Korean football ended with the round of 16 match against Brazil.
On the 7th, coach Bento said goodbye, saying, “The past four years have been very satisfying,” and “Korea will stay forever in my career as well as in my life.”
It seems that Bento is taking a break in Portugal for now and is looking for another destination.
ⓒ E-Daily Comprehensive Economic Information Media – Unauthorized commercial reproduction and redistribution prohibited
