▲ This file photo from Sept. 13, 2020, shows FC Seoul's caretaker head coach Kim Ho-young during a K League 1 match against Suwon Samsung Bluewings at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap)

football-coach

K League's Gwangju FC hire new head coach

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean football club Gwangju FC announced their hiring of Kim Ho-young as new head coach Tuesday.

Kim, 51, served as a caretaker boss for FC Seoul for nine matches in 2020. Kim is replacing Park Jin-sup, who left Gwangju after three seasons to become FC Seoul's new full-time head coach.

Kim was the head coach for Gangwon FC in the late part of the 2011 season. After briefly coaching a college team, Kim returned to the K League 1 as an assistant for FC Seoul at the start of the 2020 season.

Kim then took over on an interim basis after Choi Yong-soo stepped down at the end of July. Kim was in charge for nine matches but resigned after clashing with the front office over his status.

Gwangju said they saw Kim as the right person to bring stability to a club in turmoil.

Park's departure put a damper on a 2020 campaign, in which Gwangju, in their first season following a promotion from the K League 2, finished in the upper tier of the top division. Earlier this month, their former general manager Ki Yeong-ok was charged with embezzlement, which also forced CEO Jeong Weon-ju to step down.

Gwangju named their former head coach Choi Man-heui as new CEO and said Choi will double as general manager.

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