After starting their global recruitment process late last year, the Korean Handball Federation (KHF) will close applications for the roles of head coaches for both their women’s and men’s senior national teams at the end of this month.

Welcoming male and female candidates from across the world, should a non-Korean be employed, it will be the first time a foreign coach would have taken over either senior Republic of Korea team at the highest level.

“The KHF wants to reach their goal of winning Olympic Games medals with a different approach,” said John Yoon, responsible for International Affairs in the National Teams and Competitions Department at the KHF, to ihf.info.

“Now, it's time to change. We are looking for coaches who can understand Korean handball and adopt creative and different approaches to the Korean national teams – we want to go with a new concept, to show a new Korean handball style.”

Whomever takes the roles will have busy schedules, with both teams appearing at the prestigious 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in September. 

The women’s team then appear at the 2022 AHF Women’s Asian Championship in December, while the men have the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship to look forward to next January. 

Their COVID-19-depleted squad managed to secure their place at Poland/Sweden 2023 thanks to a fifth-placed rank at the 2022 AHF Men’s Asian Championship, which took place in Saudi Arabia last month.

“Based on the evaluation of the performances of the men’s team up to and including their 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship appearance and the women’s team up to and including their 2022 AHF Women’s Asian Championship appearance, contracts will then be renewed up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris,” explained Yoon. 

“We want our women's team to return to the mainstream of world handball and the men's team to join the top teams in Asian handball.”

Since 2009, the men’s teams have had eight different coaches, with five taking the reins of the women’s side, most recently Jang In-ik, who stepped in as interim coach for the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship in Spain. 

Historically, the Korea women’s team have been one of the best in the world, winning medals at seven of the first eight Olympic Games in which women’s handball appeared and becoming the first non-European side to win an IHF Women’s World Championship. 

The women are also completely dominant in their continent, medalling at every single senior Asian Games and Asian Handball Championship they have appeared in and having a perfect record at youth and junior continental championship level – winning gold at every edition ever held.

While the men cannot echo that success, they have an Olympic silver to their name and numerous continental titles, although the emergence of teams in the Middle East in recent years has ended that regional power, with Bahrain and Qatar taking top spot on the podium.

Between their two senior teams, Korea can boast four IHF World Handball Player of the Year Awards, with the Asian nation holding both the men’s and women’s awards in 1989.

Currently, Korea’s women can boast a global superstar in Gyor’s Ryu Eun-Hee and other key players, such as Migyeong Lee, with a number of younger-age category World Championship medallists coming through, while the men’s side have had a disrupted past few years due to COVID-19 and its related restrictions and conditions, narrowly missing out on qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“The KHF is ready to support the national teams and coaches in the best conditions,” explained Yoon about the roles, which will see full-time Korean translators provided if needed. “Our players are humble, dedicated and work well with good leaders. This means that only well-prepared coaches will get good results with the team and achieve their – and our – goals.”

Both national team coaching roles will see the composition of assistant coaches negotiated with the KHF, accommodation and car provided and a bonus to be paid for championship results, according to KHF regulations.

The KHF is welcoming all applications until the end of February with potential applicants asked to email their CV and application to [email protected], the same email for any further queries.
 
For more information on handball in Korea, visit handballkorea.com.