Park reveals next plan after leaving Vietnam national team

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) confirmed Monday that coach Park Hang-seo will leave the team after his contract expires on Jan. 31 next year. Park's final tournament as the Vietnam national head coach will be the 2022 AFF Cup.

"After the 2022 AFF Cup, Park will return to South Korea and take a break," South Korea news agency Yonhap said.

Park's agent Lee Dong-jin confirmed that the 65-year-old coach needs to take a break as soon as possible after five years of working in Vietnam. He also revealed his client's next plan for the future.

"Coach Park is considering establishing a youth football center in Vietnam," Lee told South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun.

According to the contract between Park and VFF, he can freely negotiate with other teams with six months left in the contract. Many rumors surfaced surrounding Park's future, including that South Korea Football Association (KFA) wants him and his assistant Lee Young-jin to coach their U20 team. Park has also been linked to rumors from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Park became the head coach of Vietnam in late 2017. Since then, he has achieved continuous success with second place at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship, 2018 AFF Cup title, a place in the quarterfinal of 2019 Asian Cup, two SEA Games gold medals in 2019 and 2021, and helped the team advance to the final qualifiers of World Cup for the first time in history.

Park has extended his contract with VFF twice. The first time was in 2019 when he decided to sign for two more years and the second time in 2021 for another year. In September and October this year, VFF and Park’s agent worked together to reach the final agreement.

 

 

Park reveals next plan after leaving Vietnam national team

Park hang-seo: the spark that keeps Vietnam’s football fire burning