Former South Korean soccer coach Jong-hwan Park, known as ‘Mexico’s quadruple myth,’ has passed away.
Former national team coach Park Jong-hwan, who led South Korea to the quarterfinals of the 1983 World Youth Soccer Championship in Mexico’s, has died. He was 85 years old.
“Park Jong-hwan passed away on Sunday afternoon,” the Korea Football Association said on Monday.
His body was laid to rest at Sunchon Hyangnam University Hospital Funeral Home in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
Park Jong-hwan was born in 1938 in Ongjin, Hwanghae-do, and graduated from Chuncheon High School and Kyung Hee University before playing for Korea National Coal Corporation.
He won the top prize at the 2nd Asian Youth Games in Malaysia in 1960, and after retiring as a player, he worked as a coach and international referee.
Park first made a name for himself as a coach in the mid-1970s when he took the helm of the underdog Jeonnam Mechanical Engineering College and led them to a national championship.
He later coached the Seoul City Hall team to the top of the domestic scene several times.
Jong-hwan also coached the U-20 national team from 1980 to 1983, 바카라사이트 taking them to two World Youth Championships.
In the 1983 tournament in Mexico, the team became the first South Korean team to reach the quarterfinals of a tournament organized by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
Park’s team lost 0-2 to Scotland in their first group game at the 16-team tournament, and their prospects were bleak, but they turned things around with wins over Mexico and Australia (both 2-1) to reach the quarterfinals.
Korea even beat South American powerhouse Uruguay 2-1 to reach the final, but lost 1-2 in the quarterfinals to Brazil, a team that featured the likes of Dunga and Bebetu, to end their ‘whirlwind journey’.
South Korea’s mobility and passing skills at the tournament earned them the nickname “Red Devils” from overseas media, giving rise to the name “Red Devils” for the Korean national team supporters.
Park served as the national team’s head coach several times through the mid-1990s after the top-four myth, but stepped down after a 2-6 loss to Iran at the 1996 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.
In 1989, he became the head coach of the upstart professional team Ilhwa Cheonma, which made waves in the K League, winning three consecutive K League championships starting in 1993.
He served as the first president of the Korean Women’s Football Association in 2001, and was the head coach of Daegu FC in 2002 and Seongnam FC in 2013.