"Korea's Mourinho" Lee Jung-hyo has the same story... "On the topic of a translator" Kim ⇒ "The one who used to lay a cone under me."
"Korea's Mourinho" Lee Jung-hyo has the same story... "On the topic of a translator" Kim ⇒ "The one who used to lay a cone under me."
Blog Article
"Korea Mourinho." It's the fate of a minor to a major.
Coach Lee Jung-hyo, who took office in Gwangju in 2022, showed off impressive performances by leading the team to the K League 2 title as soon as he assumed the leadership. Gwangju continued its strides by ranking third in the K League 1 in 2023. As a team of provincial residents, the team has advanced to the Asian Champions League.
The craze for Lee Jung-hyo is not over. He led Gwangju to the quarterfinals at the Asian Champions League this season. With champion Ulsan and Pohang, a traditional powerhouse, also eliminated, Gwangju became the first team that advanced to the quarterfinals as a provincial and provincial team. At this point, Gwangju is the only Korean team that survives and plays against the strongest teams in Asia.
Gwangju's opponent in the quarterfinals is Al Hilal, a prestigious Saudi club. It paid Neymar an annual salary of 283.8 billion won (approx. An Al Hilal player surpasses the size of Gwangju FC, which did not even have a proper training ground until last season.
In a way, the growth story of coach Lee Jung-hyo and the civic club itself is amazing. It is all the more encouraging considering that coach Lee Jung-hyo is relatively minor in the Korean soccer community. Career is very important among Korean leaders when they are active.
Director Lee Jung-hyo's active days were also quite impressive. He was a fullback and played as a legend for Busan Daewoo Royals throughout Ajou University. However, he did not finish well. He was appointed captain under Hwang Sun-hong in 2008, but had to retire due to injury.
He is also a one-club man who played 222 games in the K-League and the League Cup in Busan and experienced the days of Daewoo-Icons-Ipark. However, he started out as a head coach at Ajou University, his alma mater, rather than Busan, where he played as a one-club man, and showed good performance as a coach.
In professional baseball, he has consistently made achievements as a member of the division that he will remain as a coach for the Dragons. It was not easy to take the helm of the K-League. After coach Park Jin-seop's departure in 2020, Lee Jung-hyo was mentioned as a candidate, but he had to drink water once.
However, when Gwangju was demoted and failed to appoint a top candidate, Lee Jung-hyo, who had experience in Gwangju, took the helm as a head coach under Nam Ki-il. There was a small episode to share with director Lee Jung-hyo, who did not only take the elite route in many ways. Lee Jung-hyo's anecdote was revealed in the documentary "Yellow Spirit 2024," which reveals the back of Gwangju.
Ahead of the match against Ulsan on August 25, 2024, Lee Jung-hyo told the players in the locker room, "I became a coach after coaching. I've grown up and moved up, and the title (when the opponent calls me) needs to be changed. Then (the opposing coach) said, "The guy who played with the cone under me has grown a lot."
The incumbent leader openly disregarded Lee by citing his past experiences. Regardless of his career and age, this is not a courtesy to the incumbent K League 1 coach. There is no leader in the Korean soccer community who has achieved more achievements than Lee Jung-hyo. "Why should I be told this?" Lee asked back.
Citing the reason why he respects Kim Pan-gon, Lee said, "No matter how much I am a student, the teacher recognizes me as a coach. He is a true adult and a true coach. That's why I respect him." Kim said that he respected Lee Jung-hyo as a leader-to-leader, 안전놀이터 regardless of his past career and age.
Such anecdotes of Lee Jung-hyo remind us of Jose Mourinho Fenerbahce in the past. More than Lee, Mourinho, who lacked a foothold when he was active, retired at age 24. He started as a physical education teacher and had to work as a scout and coach in the lower leagues.