Will Klinsmann be Sacked? Football Association Begins Evaluation this Week

The process to decide whether to fire South Korea's national soccer team coach Jurgen Klinsmann will begin after the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Korea Football Association is expected to proceed quickly with the process as there is little time left until the next international match period, when the second qualifying match for the 2026 North and Central America World Cup will be held.

The Football Association will hold a national team strength strengthening committee meeting as early as this week to evaluate Klinsmann's performance at the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup. 바카라사이트

The main agenda is the evaluation of coach Klinsmann, for whom public opinion was raised about his dismissal after the Asian Cup.

A high-ranking official of the Football Association said, “Once the Strengthening Committee evaluates Klinsmann and organizes its opinions (related to his dismissal), the executive department will receive the report and make the final decision.”

He added, “As the World Cup qualifiers are scheduled next month, the Strengthening Committee’s schedule will be adjusted as much as possible.”

“We need to catch it quickly and proceed with the process,” he said.

Another official said, “I believe the Power Strengthening Committee will make a judgment on Director Klinsmann by next week at the latest.”

Korea will immediately play the 3rd and 4th games of the World Cup 2nd qualifying round against Thailand on the 21st (home) and 26th (away) of next month.

If the Football Association replaces the head coach, it must appoint a new coach at the latest before the March A-match period (18th to 26th), when the two-game series against Thailand will be played.

In order to leave the selection of players to the new manager, the selection of the manager must be completed earlier, in early March.

A little over a month is a short period of time to proceed with the process from searching for a new director candidate to selecting the final director.

No matter what conclusion is reached by the Power Strengthening Committee, it is Football Association President Chung Mong-gyu who makes the final decision.

Chairman Chung is expected to decide whether to dismiss Director Klinsmann, considering the large amount of remaining annual salary that must be paid if he is dismissed, and the one year remaining until the next presidential election.

It is known that the contract between Coach Klinsmann and the Football Association included a stipulation that the remaining annual salary must be paid in the event of dismissal.

Coach Klinsmann's contract lasts until the North and Central American World Cup, with about two years and five months remaining until the finals of the tournament.

Calculating his annual salary of 2.9 billion won as reported through overseas media, about 7 billion won would have to be paid to Coach Klinsmann if the decision is made to dismiss him.

This corresponds to 3.7% of the Football Association’s budget of 187.6 billion won this year.

In addition, the money that must be paid to the coaches of the Jurgen Klinsmann division must be taken into consideration.

With the election for the next President of the Football Association taking place in January next year, Chairman Chung is reportedly considering running for a fourth term.

If Klinsmann does poorly in the third qualifying round of the World Cup this September, Chairman Chung, who reappointed him, may be at a disadvantage in his fourth term.