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
최강희
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
Club information
Current team
 Shanghai Shenhua (manager)
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– 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 Kang-hee had play in the Korean Semi-professional League with Hanil Bank and the army football team, ROK Army FC. With the formation of the K League and professionalism in 1983 he would start his professional career with Pohang Steelworks before joining Hyundai Horang-i where he spent nine seasons with the club until he retired at the end of the 1992 league season after having a disagreement with the club's manager Cha Bum-kun about his training methods.[1]

International career

Choi would be called up to the South Korea national team to take part in the 1988 Summer Olympics where he played in all three games as South Korea were knocked out in the group stages.[2] He would be 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 would also participate in the 1990 FIFA World Cup as South Korea exited the tournament in the group stages.[4]

Managerial career

The following year after Choi retired from playing as a footballer he would begin his coaching career when he went to Leverkusen and Cologne in Germany to study the necessary training and management courses.[5] By 1996 he would become a trainer at Suwon Samsung Bluewings and then an assistant to Kim Ho as the club won the 2000–01 Asian Club Championship.[6] He would be an assistant for the South Korea U23 and then South Korea senior team under Humberto Coelho.

Choi's first stint managing K League 1 side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors lasted for 6 years from 2005 to 2011. He focused on pursuing offensive tactics and transformed the team into one of the strongest sides 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 a 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. However, after being repeatedly offered the job, he finally accepted the coaching offer on 21 December 2011. Choi, a former player himself, firmly insisted that his reign would only last until the end of World Cup qualifiers. He stated, "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 does not accept this, I won't sign the contract".

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

Prior to the final World Cup qualification match against Iran, Choi Kang-Hee, then coach of South Korea, complained that Iran did not provide adequate training facilities during Korea's away qualification match against Iran on 17 October 2012. The manager of Iran, Carlos Queiroz showed anger at this statement by claiming that Choi humiliated Iranian people and demanded an immediate apology. Instead, Choi stated that Iran seemed to be afraid enough to make unnecessary provocations and the team would have to watch the world cup from TV. In revenge, Queiroz pinned the sad face of Choi on his black polo shirt and mocked him. Queiroz also offered to send Choi the jersey of Uzbekistan national football team as Choi stated he would defeat Iran to rather qualify for the World Cup finals with Uzbekistan.[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 their 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. 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.
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