March 09, 2023 09:12
Jürgen Klinsmann, the new head coach of the Korean national football team, arrived in Korea on Wednesday.
"I'm very proud and very privileged to have this opportunity to come to Korea and to work for the national team," Klinsmann told reporters at Incheon International Airport. "I think they've done a very, very good job [at the 2022 World Cup] in Qatar, and I hope I can bring even more success to the team."
He said he was excited when he was offered the job, as he had a good impression of Korea and its people.
The legendary German forward first visited Korea in 1988 to play at the Summer Olympics in Seoul and again in 2002 during the World Cup.
He said his first goal is "winning the Asian Cup next year."
The quadrennial event will be held in Qatar in January next year. Korea won the inaugural Asian Cup in Hong Kong in 1956 and retained the trophy four years later when it hosted the event, but has never won it since, finishing in second and third place several times.
Klinsmann is contracted to lead the national team until the end of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
He is scheduled to hold a press conference at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on Thursday, and attend a match between FC Seoul and Ulsan Hyundai in the capital on Sunday.
He will make his debut at the helm in a friendly match against Colombia in Ulsan on March 24, which will be followed by another friendly against Uruguay in Seoul on March 28. He will announce the roster for the friendlies early next week.
Klinsmann, who plans to stay in Korea until his contract ends, will initially stay at a hotel in Seoul.
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