Shin Sang-woo to takes helm as manager of Korean women’s football team: Report

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Shin Sang-woo to takes helm as manager of Korean women’s football team: Report

Published: 09 Oct. 2024, 12:13 Updated: 09 Oct. 2024, 12:15

PAIK JI-HWAN
paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr

Shin Sang-woo [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Shin Sang-woo has been appointed as the new manager of the Korean women’s football team, according to a report from the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, on Tuesday.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) has yet to make an official announcement about the appointment as of press time Wednesday, but the KFA board has reportedly approved the appointment.

Shin, 48, is a veteran coach with over a decade of experience in Korean football. He has served as the assistant coach at military club Gimcheon Sangmu since 2022 and oversaw the club’s league victory in the K League 2 in 2023, which sent them to the K League 1, where they sit in second place on the 12-team table as of Wednesday.

Shin began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Gimhae FC in 2010 and left the team in 2014 to serve as an assistant coach at Mungyeong Sangmu from 2015 to 2016.

He went on to take the helm of the now-disbanded WK League club Icheon Daekyo in 2017 and became a manager at Changnyeong WFC in 2018, the year the club was founded. He then joined Gimcheon in 2022 after a three-year stint with Changnyeong.

If Shin takes charge of the Korean women’s football team, he will fill the vacancy left by Colin Bell, who departed the team through “mutual agreement” in June, six months before his contract was due to expire.

English manager Bell was the first foreign coach to lead the Korean women’s team, serving from 2019 to 2024, during which he competed in World Cups in 2019 and 2023, both of which ended with Korea exiting in the group stage.

Once Shin takes charge of the national squad, he will have to prepare for a friendly against age-old rivals Japan on Oct. 26. No further games or tournaments are scheduled for Korea this year as of Wednesday.

Since crashing out of the 2023 World Cup group stage, Korea has faced disappointing results on the international stage, finishing their Hangzhou Asian Games run in the quarterfinals and failing to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

The Taeguk Ladies did secure wins against the Czech Republic and the Philippines in friendlies this year.

The national team has three more years to prepare for the 2027 World Cup, but they also have the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2026, which serves as a qualifying tournament for the World Cup.

Korea has qualified for the World Cup four times: in 2003, 2015, 2019 and 2023, with their best result being a round of 16 finish in 2015.

Korean women’s football has a relatively small talent pool, as the highest level of women’s football league is the semiprofessional WK League, where most regular national team picks play.

The WK League consists of only eight teams and doesn't have a promotion-relegation system, making the league less competitive than those with such systems. Former national team boss Bell previously stated that the lack of competition in the WK League does not allow its players to compete with intensity.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]