Incheon United’s secret card, which faced the biggest ordeal in the club’s history of relegation, was coach Yoon Jung-hwan.
“Yoon Jung-hwan will be appointed as Incheon’s new coach,” a source familiar with K-League affairs said on Sunday. “Incheon made an offer to Yoon, and I made a decision after much consideration. I will sign the team on Tuesday.”
Incheon finished the season 12th in the 2024 season, facing the challenge of being demoted to the K League 2 for the first time in the club’s history. CEO Jeon Dae-soo stepped down after taking responsibility for the downgrade. Immediately, an emergency innovation committee was formed to prepare for promotion to the next season. The committee was launched with Choi Dae-hyuk, head of Sogang University’s Future Innovation Research Institute and vice chairman of the Korea Football Association’s ethics committee. Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok also said, “I don’t think financial issues should be a barrier (to Incheon United’s promotion),” adding, “There will be no budget cut for the club to advance to the next season.”
Incheon, which seeks promotion in just one season along with maintaining its budget, has named several coaches, but it took time to appoint a coach. Through meticulous procedures at the Emergency Innovation Committee, the committee discussed mid- to long-term strategic plans, club management evaluation items, supervisory evaluation items, orientation goals, club organization evaluation and improvement plans, and through this, it also established the criteria for selecting a coach. Incheon, which aims to promote within one year, advance to the top split within two years, and advance to the Asian Football Confederation-hosted club competition within three years, has sought a coach to lead the team. It sent a love call to Yoon, who was deemed a suitable candidate.
Yoon held Incheon’s hand. Shim Chan-gu, interim chief of staff, held the coach’s heart through direct negotiations. As a team of provincial residents, he accepted a great sense of responsibility to immediately promote Incheon, which had consistently maintained a position in the K-League 1.
This is bound to be a difficult challenge. K-League 2 is a war. Suwon Samsung, which immediately sought promotion after being demoted to the lower level in the 2023 season, also struggled and failed to advance to the playoffs. It is not easy to advance to the upper level playoff. Unlike Anyang, which directly advanced to the K-League 1 by winning the K-League 2 championship, Asan in South Chungcheong Province and Seoul E-Land, which sought promotion through the playoffs this season, suffered a setback after losing to Daegu and Jeonbuk, respectively.
Yoon has DNA to be promoted. Yoon has experience as a strong team representing the league, including Ulsan and Cerezo Osaka, but he led the team to its first promotion when Sagan Tosu was in charge. In 2011, he won the runner-up prize in the J2 (second division) at Sagan Tosu, and achieved tremendous results in promotion for the first time in the team’s history in the first year after taking the helm. Incheon was in desperate need of this position at the risk of being the first team’s demotion in the team’s history.
As a player, Yoon showed good performances in both the K-League and the J-League. After joining the pro league in 1995, he became the ace player in the team along with the nickname “Kkidori,” a top technician. Immediately, he successfully advanced to Japan. He also played in the J-League while wearing the Cerezo Osaka uniform, upgrading the status of Korean soccer. After playing in Seongnam and Jeonbuk, he announced his retirement from the pro league after spending two seasons with Sagan Dos.
Soon after, he began to lead the team 안전놀이터. After coaching the Sagan Tosu youth team, he became the coach of Sagan Tosu in 2011. Leading the first promotion in the team’s history, Yoon has been recognized for his leadership. He led Ulsan in 2015 in the K-League. Returning to the J-League in 2017 while taking the helm of Cerezo Osaka, he succeeded in winning the League Cup, and also won the Japanese King’s Cup, receiving the J-League Coach Award. After playing for Muangtong United in Thailand and Jeff United in J-League 2, he took a break.
The team that called in Yoon, who had returned to the Korean soccer community as a commentator for the K-League, was Gangwon FC. Gangwon appointed Yoon to the vacant managerial post after breaking up with Choi Yong-soo in June in the middle of the season. He took the helm in the middle of the 2023 season and led his team to a dramatic stay despite difficulties leading up to the promotion and playoffs. In the 2024 season, he became the runner-up in the K-League 1 along with performances by Yang Min-hyuk, Hwang Moon-ki, and Lee Sang-hun. He became the first Korean to win the J-League and K-League awards, winning the Coach of the Year award.
After the end of the season, the renewal negotiations with Gangwon failed and left the team. The popularity was hot, including being named as a candidate for the next coach of Jeonbuk Hyundai.
The answer Yoon chose was Incheon. Immediately after Gangwon, he decided to appoint a second provincial team. Yoon, who is already considered one of the best coaches in the K-League through various experiences, is a top choice for Incheon, which wants to be promoted.
Yoon, who will take the helm of Incheon, is expected to start his career in earnest when the Incheon national team returns from vacation on Wednesday. He will leave for off-season training in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and start preparing for the season in earnest from January 2.
