And the second factor is cultural similarity: “Football is a team game and Korean coaches are more knowledgeable about Asian football than managers from Europe.
In particular, there are many cultural similarities between Vietnam and Korea. That helps teachers and students understand each other better. Coach Park Hang Seo not only showed his coaching skills but also understood the thoughts of Vietnamese players.”.
And another important reason is the financial aspect: choosing coach Kim Sang Sik will cost less than European coaches. The above paper reads: “Not only is there more cultural similarity, but VFF’s choice of a Korean coach also shows cost effectiveness. When Mr. Park Hang Seo took on the job with the Vietnam national team in 2017, his annual salary was only about 300 million won (5.5 billion VND).
And the amount Mr. Park received after creating the ‘magic’ to bring the Vietnamese team to new heights is about 700 million won/year (13 billion VND).
Mr. Park’s great success with Vietnamese football will be a challenge for anyone who comes after him. Mr. Troussier has gone through it and now it’s Coach Kim Sang Sik
Vietnam paid Mr. Troussier a higher salary than Mr. Park, about 18 billion VND/year, but Vietnamese football returned to the era before Mr. Park Hang Seo arrived.”.
Although happy that Korean coaches are favored by Southeast Asian football, News Worker also raised some problems with Mr. Kim Sang Sik and questioned whether this coach can create ‘magic’ like that. Mr. Park, after being “chosen to send gold” by VFF?
“Coach Kim Sang Sik has achieved a number of achievements as head coach of Jeonbuk, but fans of this club do not evaluate his coaching ability very positively.
He was assessed that his strategy and tactical direction were unclear as well as criticized for his ability to use players, use the wrong positions, roles, etc.
So, now is the time for Coach Kim Sang Sik to prove that he was chosen by VFF to be the head coach of Vietnam because of his ability, not because Vietnamese people remember the ‘magic’ of Mr. Park…”.
