Park Hang-seo

At 65 years old, Park Hang-seo has this physical status:

Park was the captain of the South Korea under-20 squad which won the 1978 AFC Youth Championship. On 8 March 1981, Park made his senior international debut against Japan, which ended in a 1–0 victory. Park performed his mandatory military service in Army FC after he joined the semi-professional club Korea First Bank. From 1984 to 1988, Park played for Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso, and contributed to the 1985 K League title. He received the K League Best XI award in that season.

Coaching career

After his professional retirement, Park started a coaching career at Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso in 1989. In November 1996, he was appointed a caretaker manager and was in charge of one match in the 1996 Korean FA Cup.

From 1997 to February 2000, he was a coach of Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

Park was one of the two assistant managers of Guus Hiddink at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Managerial career

In August 2002, Park was appointed as head coach of the South Korean side for the 2002 Asian Games by performing successfully as the senior team assistant. However, Korea Football Association (KFA) had not done any preparation for the 2002 Asian Games since there was no manager or coaching staff for two years. KFA had focused on the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was co-hosted in South Korea, so Park had to prepare for the tournament in two months. In addition, KFA was criticized that Park worked without getting paid because they formally didn't sign with him. South Korea lost to Iran on penalties in the semi-finals, but won the bronze medal. Park was sacked after the tournament.

In August 2005, Park became the inaugural manager of the newly-formed Gyeongnam FC in the K League. Gyeongnam finished fourth in the 2007 K League season, but Park left the team due to internal conflict. In December 2007, he succeeded Huh Jung-moo as the manager of Jeonnam Dragons. The team finished as the runners-up of the 2008 League Cup and sixth in the 2009 K League. He later resigned due to poor performances in the 2010 season. From 2012 to 2015, Park managed the military team Sangju Sangmu in South Korea. Under his guidance, his squad won the country's second-division league, K League Challenge, in 2013 and 2015. He left the team after his contract expired after the 2015 season. In 2017, Park was appointed manager of Changwon City, a third-division team. Changwon won the 2017 Korea National League Championship, and he was named the tournament's best manager.

On 29 September 2017, Park was appointed the head coach of the Vietnam national football team. Also in charge of the under-23 side, the team reached the final of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, which is Vietnam's first final in the official AFC competitions. At the 2018 Asian Games, his side also advanced to the semi-finals and finished fourth for the first time in 56 years, with Park earning praise for his management. On 15 December 2018, the Vietnamese team under Park won the AFF Championship after defeating Malaysia, 3–2 on aggregate, in the second leg of the finals in Mỹ Đình National Stadium of Hanoi. This was Vietnam's first regional championship in ten years. In the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Vietnam reached the quarter-finals but lost to eventual runner-up Japan, 1–0. Park won the gold medal at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, thus winning the first football title for Vietnam as a united country at the games. In the very next Southeast Asian games in 2022, he led Vietnam to defend their gold medal to win their 2nd straight title, before he resigns from the under 23/Olympic team. In the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, he led Vietnam got 4 points when they won 3-1 against China and drew 1-1 against Japan, which is Vietnam's best result in a FIFA World Cup qualification. He decided to leave Vietnam after his contract expires on 31 January 2023. The 2022 AFF Championship in December will be Park's last tournament as head coach of the Vietnam national football team.

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