Shin Tae-yong returns to South Korea vowing to revitalise champions Ulsan HD
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Shin Tae-yong has been appointed the new coach of Ulsan HD following his exit from the Indonesia national team.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL – Former South Korea boss Shin Tae-yong has vowed to restore Ulsan HD to their former glory, after making his return to coaching with the K League 1 champions seven months after being unceremoniously dumped by Indonesia.
The 54-year-old has walked into a club attempting a rapid turnaround in the aftermath of a disappointing 12-month spell under predecessor Kim Pan-gon that has seen Ulsan surrender their status as the kings of South Korean football.
But Shin, a former midfielder in his playing days, is confident that he can revitalise a club that have won the last three consecutive K League 1 titles.
“Ulsan HD have been a powerhouse in the K League for a long time,” he said. “I will try to rebuild the dynasty here with everything I can.”
Ulsan’s form has plummeted since Hong Myung-bo, who led his team to the league title in 2022 and 2023, left in July 2024 to take charge of the South Korea national team.
His successor Kim, Malaysia’s former national coach, managed to retain the league title only to oversee an embarrassingly early exit from the AFC Champions League Elite, a poor performance by a side that had reached the semi-finals in March 2024.
The team’s disappointing form carried into the new K League 1 season and, by the time of Kim’s departure on Aug 2, seventh-place Ulsan were 23 points adrift of leaders Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors with their title defence in tatters.
It is that gulf which Shin will be expected to bridge as he returns to club football in South Korea for the first time in 13 years.
During his previous spell in the K League, he led Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma to the AFC Champions League title in 2010 and the Korean FA Cup a year later.
He moved on from Seongnam to work with the national team, first as Uli Stielike’s assistant before taking on the full-time role in 2017, when he won the East Asian Championship.
In 2018, he led his country to the World Cup Finals, where they handed champions Germany a 2-0 defeat that eliminated Joachim Low’s side from the competition.
Shin took his services to Indonesia in 2020 and, in a four-year spell, led the South-east Asian nation to the knockout rounds of the Asian Cup for the first time as well as to the third phase of the continent’s 2026 World Cup preliminaries.
And while he was cast aside by the Indonesians in January to make way for Patrick Kluivert, Shin retains the faith of enough decision-makers within the South Korean game to be given the opportunity to revitalise Ulsan.
“We have a great team here and if fans can just trust me and wait a bit patiently, I will put this team back in title contention,” he added.
REUTERS
