Choi Kang-hee (footballer)

Choi Kang-hee (Korean: 최강희; Hanja: 崔康熙; born 12 April 1959) is a South Korean football manager and former player.

Choi Kang-hee
Personal information
Full name Choi Kang-hee
Date of birth (1959-04-12) 12 April 1959
Place of birth Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Right back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1979 Hanil Bank
1980–1982 ROK Army (draft)
1983 Pohang Steelworks 3 (0)
1984–1992 Hyundai Horang-i 184 (10)
Total 187 (10)
National team
1987 South Korea B
1988–1992 South Korea 33 (0)
Teams managed
1998–2001 Suwon Samsung Bluewings (assistant)
2002–2003 South Korea U23 (assistant)
2003–2004 South Korea (assistant)
2005–2011 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
2011–2013 South Korea
2013–2018 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
2018–2019 Tianjin Quanjian
2019 Dalian Yifang
2019–2021 Shanghai Shenhua
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
In this Korean name, the family name is Choi.

Club career

Choi played in the Korean Semi-professional League for Hanil Bank and ROK Army FC. After he accomplished his military service in ROK Army, the South Korean professional league K League was founded at a similar time, and he started his professional career by joining a K League team Pohang Steelworks. However, he transferred to Hyundai Horang-i, after hearing the news of its foundation. He became a founding member of Hyundai Horang-i, and spent the rest of his playing career in there. He retired at the end of the 1992 season after a row with the club's manager Cha Bum-kun about his training methods.[1]

International career

Choi was called up to the South Korea national team to take part in the 1988 Summer Olympics, He played all three games at the Olympics, but South Korea were knocked out in the group stage.[2] He was included in the squad that came runners-up to Saudi Arabia in the 1988 AFC Asian Cup, where he represented his country three times within that tournament.[3] He also participated in the 1990 FIFA World Cup as South Korea exited the tournament in the group stage.[4]

Managerial career

The year after Choi retired as a player, he went to Leverkusen and Cologne in Germany to study soccer training and management.[5] By 1996, he joined the coaching staff at Suwon Samsung Bluewings and then became an assistant to head coach Kim Ho as the club won the 2000–01 Asian Club Championship.[6] He was an assistant coach of the South Korea U23 and then the South Korea senior men's team under Humberto Coelho.

Choi's first stint managing K League 1 side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors lasted from 2005 to 2011. He focused on offensive tactics and transformed the team into one of the best in Asia. He led Jeonbuk to the K League 1 title in 2009 and 2011. He also won the Asian Champions League in 2006 and lost the final in 2011 to Qatari side Al Sadd.

Choi repeatedly turned down offers to become South Korea national football team head coach after former coach Cho Kwang-Rae was sacked. After being repeatedly offered the job, he finally accepted it on 21 December 2011. He insisted that his reign would only last until the end of World Cup qualifiers, saying, "I asked that [the contract only runs until June 2013]. What we need to do is qualify for the World Cup finals for the eighth time in a row...My mission is to take the national team to the finals. After that, a foreign coach should take over the team. If the KFA doesn't accept this, I won't sign the contract."

On 25 February 2011, South Korean national football team beat Uzbekistan, 4–2, in a friendly match, marking Choi's first victory as national coach and making many fans look forward to his journey to the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup. Nevertheless, his team showed a poor performance in 2014 FIFA World Cup Asian qualification match on 18 June 2013, when South Korea suffered a 1–0 defeat to Iran and almost failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals.

Prior to the final World Cup qualification match against Iran, Choi complained that Iran failed to provide adequate training facilities for the team's away qualification match against Iran on 17 October 2012. Iran coach Carlos Queiroz hit back at this statement by claiming that Choi had humiliated the Iranian people and demanded an immediate apology. Instead, Choi said Iran seemed to make unnecessary provocations in desperation and that Queiroz would watch the World Cup on TV. Queiroz pinned the sad face of Choi on his black polo shirt and mocked him, and also offered to send Choi the jersey of Uzbekistan national football team as Choi said he would help Uzbekistan qualify for the World Cup finals over Iran.[7]

After Iran's victory against South Korea in their final qualification match, Queiroz showing his anger at the South Korean coach with a raised fist gesture which was deemed offensive by the Korean players and staff, almost causing a fight between the two teams. Queiroz had answered previously to Choi that Iran had fairly shared what they had with the Korean team on their visit to Iran.[8]

Choi then returned to Jeonbuk and led them to four more K League 1 titles in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. He also led the team to its second Asian Champions League title in 2016, making him one of the most successful managers in Asia of all time.

Career statistics

Club
All-Time Club Performance
Club Season League League Cup AFC Champions League Total
Apps Goals Assts Apps Goals Assts Apps Goals Assts Apps Goals Assts
POSCO Dolphins 1983 3 0 0 - - - - - - 3 0 0
Total 300------300
Hyundai Horang-i 1984 26 0 2 - - - - - - 26 0 2
1985 21 0 2 - - - - - - 21 0 2
1986 16 0 1 15 0 2 - - - 31 0 3
1987 29 3 6 - - - - - - 25 3 6
1988 24 0 2 - - - - - - 20 0 2
1989 9 0 0 - - - - - - 9 0 0
1990 13 2 3 - - - - - - 13 2 3
1991 37 5 4 - - - - - - 37 5 4
1992 17 0 0 3 0 0 - - - 20 0 0
Total 18410201802---2021022
Career Totals 18710201802---2051022

Manager
As of 18 June 2013
Team From To Competition Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 4 July 2005 21 December 2011 K League 188 79 51 58 303 245 +58 042.02
Korean FA Cup 5 3 0 2 10 6 +4 060.00
Asia 23 15 1 7 55 26 +29 065.22
Other[nb 1] 11 7 0 4 15 7 +8 063.64
Total 227 104 52 71 383 284 +99 045.81
South Korea 21 December 2011 18 June 2013 Competitive 9 5 2 2 15 7 +8 055.56
Friendlies 5 2 0 3 8 13 −5 040.00
Total 14 7 2 5 23 20 +3 050.00
Career totals League 188 79 51 58 303 245 +58 042.02
Cup 5 3 0 2 10 6 +4 060.00
Asia 23 15 1 7 55 26 +29 065.22
Other 11 7 0 4 15 7 +8 063.64
Competitive 9 5 2 2 15 7 +8 055.56
Friendlies 5 2 0 3 8 13 −5 040.00
Total 241 111 54 76 406 304 +102 046.06

Honours

Player

Hyundai Horang-i

Individual

Manager

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Shanghai Shenhua

Individual

Notes
  1. Includes K League Championship and FIFA Club World Cup.

References
  1. 이번엔 스승이 제자 이길까?…차범근과 최강희의 오랜 악연 관심. Naver.com (in Korean). Kukinews. 9 March 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  2. "Choi Gang-Hui". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 13 December 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  3. "Kang-hee Choi » Länderspiele » Asian Cup". weltfussball.de (in German). Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  4. "CHOI Kanghee". FIFA. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  5. "최강희 '조용한 카리스마'". naver.com. 9 November 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  6. "Asian Club Competitions 2000/01". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  7. "Iran Carlos Queiroz offers South Korea coach obscene gesture after qualifying for World Cup". Yahoo Sports. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  8. "Iran Carlos Queiroz offers South Korea coach obscene gesture after qualifying for World Cup". Yahoo Sports. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  9. "되돌아본 86 월드컵서「86」까지 스포츠熱風의 한해". Dong-A Ilbo. 30 December 1986.
  10. "프로축구 '레전드 베스트11' 투표". Dong-A Ilbo. 31 May 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.