Park Tae-ha will replace Hong Myung-bo in the K-League match against Tottenham Hotspur | Dong-A Ilbo

Pohang Steelers head coach Park Tae-ha will lead the K-League (K-League All-Stars) against Tottenham Hotspur (England).

Officials from the Korean Professional Football League and Pohang City announced on the 17th that “Coach Park Tae-ha will take over the K-League from national team coach Hong Myung-bo.”

The K League will play the first game of the 2024 Coupang Play Series against Tottenham Hotspur at the Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 pm on the 31st.

The head coach of the K-League champion team of the previous season has been in charge of the K-League team. In 2022, the first year of the Coupang Play series, Kim Sang-sik (then), the coach of Jeonbuk Hyundai, the winning team of the previous year, led the team, and in 2023, Hong Myung-bo (then), the coach of Ulsan HD, led the K-League team.

Originally, last year’s champion Ulsan coach Hong was going to be the head coach of this year’s K League, but there was a change and coach Hong was appointed as the head coach of the national team.

A person related to the Professional Football League said, “Since coach Hong Myung-bo left, we first negotiated with Ulsan. Ulsan also considered letting a new coach take charge of the K League. But he said it was difficult because Ulsan was very busy during this period, including adapting to the team.”

He went on to say, “We made last year’s runner-up Pohang the next priority, and although there was also coach Kim Ki-dong (current Seoul coach) leading the runner-up team at the time, we decided to do this. It is right for the ‘team’ to qualify as runner-up rather than individuals, so we decided to have coach Park Tae-ha take charge.”

Meanwhile, 12 of the 22 players have confirmed their participation in the K-League. Lee Seung-woo (Suwon FC), Jesse Lingard, Ki Sung-yong (Seoul), Joo Min-kyu, and Cho Hyun-woo (Ulsan) were selected as the “fans’ eleven” through fan voting, and one player was selected. Yang Min-hyuk (Gangwon Province), 22, who performed best this year, was selected through the “Youngple couple”.

The remaining 10 players will be announced through an additional “Pick Ten” selected by the coaching staff, which includes coach Tae-ha Park.

(Seoul = News 1)