The Korea Football Association held an executive meeting at the soccer center in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 16th and decided to replace Klinsmann.

Coach Klinsmann took over as the 74th head coach of the Korean national soccer team in March last year and dropped out after recording eight wins, six draws, and three losses in 17 A matches until the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.

Except for coach Dick Advocaat, who was appointed in September 2005 and had a short-term contract until the July 2006 World Cup in Germany, he was the only foreign coach of Korean soccer to complete the contract period for a year.

Klinsmann has left, but the Korea Football Association has to deal with the payment of the remaining salary for Klinsmann and his coaching staff. Klinsmann's contract period was until the finals of the North-Central American World Cup in 2026.

The coaching staff, including head coach Andreas Harechok, coach Paolo Stringara, goalkeeper coach Andreas Köfke and physical coach Werner Leutart, who were brought in by Klinsmann, also have two and a half years left on their contracts.

The exact annual salary of Klinsmann is not known, but it is estimated that the annual salary exceeds 2 billion won. If the coaching staff is combined, the Korea Football Association is expected to suffer more than 7 billion won in penalty alone.

The occurrence of huge penalties also had a significant impact on the background that the Korea Football Association and Chairman Chung could not easily decide despite Klinsmann's sluggishness in the Asian Cup and controversy over his working attitude.

Chung's position is that he will start discussing the penalty issue between KFA's advisor and Klinsmann. He also stressed that he is willing to help financially if it puts pressure on KFA's finances.

Chairman Chung said, "We need to consult with the (Korea Football Association) lawyer on issues related to the termination of (KFA) contract." "If the Korea Football Association has a financial burden, I will think about what I can contribute financially as chairman."

Although Chairman Chung intends to pay some of the penalty that the Korea Football Association can afford, Klinsmann eventually gets a huge penalty and becomes free again, as he did when he was dismissed from the U.S. national team in 2016.

The Korean national soccer team will have to play a home and away game against Thailand in the second qualifying round for the 2026 North-Central America World Cup (co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico) in late March. To advance to the World Cup finals for 11 consecutive times, the team has to go through the second qualifying round.

"There is no discussion yet on the next coach of the national team. We plan to form a power reinforcement committee as soon as possible and appoint a coach," Chung said.

However, the prevailing opinion in the soccer community is that a Korean leader will take charge of the national team. As seen in the "Son Heung-min-Lee Kang-in table tennis incident," domestic coaches are gaining strength due to the opinion that communication between players or between players and coaching staff is urgent, but the prevailing opinion is that it is actually due to the financial problems of the Korea Football Association.

It is regrettable to appoint an overseas leader again because the Korea Football Association is struggling to even pay the penalty for Klinsmann's division. The Korea Football Association has also received funding to build the Cheonan Football Center to cover the shortfall. There were also reports that global raw material prices have risen due to Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine, which led to 30 billion won in loans.

Before discussing communication and leadership, financial problems are the biggest. Several prestigious domestic coaches are being mentioned, but even if they are appointed as the next coaches, only Klinsmann's division will make huge profits and leave Korea.

Chairman Chung explained that he appointed Klinsmann as the national team coach in the same process as when Paulo Bento was appointed, but the result of the process, which he claimed to be the same in four years, was only billions of won in penalties. The snowball of the decision a year ago continues to roll until the 2026 North-Central America World Cup.

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