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Cha Du-ri named Hwaseong FC manager ahead of K League 2 bid

Published: 25 Dec. 2024, 10:47 Updated: 25 Dec. 2024, 18:00

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

Cha Du-ri poses in a photo shared by Hwaseong FC on Dec. 24. [NEWS1]

Former Korean national team assistant coach and son of Korean football legend Cha Bum-kun, Cha Du-ri, has been named the manager of Hwaseong FC, the club announced Tuesday.

The appointment comes ahead of the K League’s decision on Hwaseong’s bid to join the league's second tier next season.

“I want to delight football fans with a good system and performance,” Cha said in a statement shared on Hwaseong’s official Facebook page. “Please expect football through which viewers can feel joy and passionate energy.”

Cha, 44, would become the first manager to lead Hwaseong in the K League 2, provided the K League approves the club’s request during a plenary session in January.

Founded in 2013 and located in the southern part of Gyeonggi, Hwaseong FC has won the K3 in 2014, 2018 and 2023. The K3 is a semiprofessional league beneath the professional K League 2.

A veteran figure in Korean football, Cha has held multiple coaching and advisory roles following a 13-year playing career. As a player, he was part of Korea’s rosters for the 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cups, competed for several Bundesliga clubs, played for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership and retired with FC Seoul.

He is also the son of Cha Bum-kun, often referred to as Tscha Bum, widely regarded as Korea’s greatest-ever footballer — a title that only Son Heung-min has rivaled in recent years.

After retiring, Cha Du-ri began working as a match analyst for the Korean senior national team in 2016 and became an assistant manager in July 2017. He later managed FC Seoul's U-18 squad in 2019 and served as the club’s academy manager from 2022 to 2023.

Cha returned to the Korean national team as an adviser in March 2023 under then-manager Jurgen Klinsmann and resumed an assistant manager role in September that year. He held the position until February this year, when Klinsmann was dismissed.

The role at Hwaseong in the K League 2 would mark Cha’s first position as the head manager of a professional team. If Hwaseong’s bid is approved, the K League 2 would expand to 14 teams competing for promotion to the top tier, where up to three second-tier clubs can ascend each year.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]