Chinese football reaching out to cost-effective S. Korean coaches

South Korean football coaches are seeing their stocks rise among Chinese pro clubs, as they reach out for more cost-effective options on the bench to prepare for the new season.

Chang Woe-ryong, vice technical director at the Korea Football Association (KFA), became the latest South Korean to join a Chinese club on Monday, as the KFA announced the veteran coach will take over Chongqing Lifan FC in the top-flight Chinese Super League starting in January.

Chang brings a wealth of coaching experience, having guided clubs in South Korea, Japan and China for nearly three decades.

Chang is part of the second wave of South Korean coaches in China, following in the footsteps of those who left home in the late 1990s.

Earlier this month, Kim Sang-ho, former head coach of the South Korean club Gangwon FC, was named the new bench boss for Shanghai Shenxin FC in the second-tier China League One. Kim, who once coached the South Korean men's under-19 squad, is the first non-Chinese member of Shanghai's coaching staff since the club's inception in 2013.

Before Chang and Kim, Park Tae-ha, former assistant coach on the South Korean men's national team, got his first club coaching job last December with Yanbian Changbaishan FC, then in the China League One.

Hong Myung-bo, head coach for South Korea at last year's FIFA World Cup, is rumored to be on his way to the Chinese Super League, too. In June, FC Seoul head coach Choi Yong-soo turned down a lucrative offer from another Super League club, Jiangsu Guoxin Sainty.

The first wave of South Korean coaches leaving for China began in 1997, when Choi Eun-taek, a former national team boss, took the reins at Yanbian. They finished fourth in the first division in his first season there.

Then came the likes of Cha Bum-kun, Lee Jang-soo and Kim Jung-nam. Lee in particular coached five different clubs in China, and enjoyed his biggest success with Guangzhou Evergrande from 2010 to 2012. They were in League One when Lee was hired, and the South Korean coach led them to the second division title and a promotion to the Super League for 2011.

Then in Lee's second season, Guangzhou won the Super League championship. During Lee's tenure, Guangzhou posted their longest unbeaten streak with 32 wins and 12 draws.

The current coaching brethren can thank Park Tae-ha and his immediate success with Yanbian.

Yanbian were supposed to be relegated to the third-tier China League Two, but when one of the second-tier clubs, Shaanxi Wuzhou, had to be dissolved under financial problems, Yanbian were allowed to stay in League One. Given the reprieve, Yanbian won the second division league with 17 wins, 10 draws and three losses in 2015, and earned a promotion to the Chinese Super League for next year.

For his first season in the top division, Park will receive a South Korean reinforcement in the form of midfielder Kim Seung-dae.

Park said Yanbian and Kim's current South Korean club, Pohang Steelers, have agreed to the terms of the transfer, and the two sides are working on final details.

Once the deal is complete, Kim, a crafty midfielder with 18 goals the past two K League Classic seasons, will join South Korean striker Ha Tae-goon on Yanbian's offense.

"Kim Seung-dae can really give defenders headaches," Park said. "And in terms of his ability to penetrate and break down defenses, he's at the top level in the K League Classic."

A KFA official said Chinese teams see South Korean coaches as a more cost-effective choice than other foreign coaches who are more established.

"Big names from Europe will cost a fortune but from the Chinese clubs' perspectives, South Korean coaches can accomplish a great deal without costing as much," the official said. "And I think they recognize the excellence of South Korean football in general."

Shin Moon-sun, a former TV analyst, noted that while the Chinese clubs are hiring South Korean coaches, they have also embraced the youth development system employed in Japan.

"Compared to the late 1990s, there will be more opportunities for our coaches here to move to China," said Shin, who now teaches sports statistics analysis in the Graduate School of Archival Sciences at Myongji University in Seoul. "It will also provide a much-needed boost to the stagnant football industry here." (Yonhap)