According to a survey from Hankook Research, the majority of South Koreans believe that the next head coach of the national football team should be chosen based on ability instead of nationality. However, the approval rating for a foreign coach increased sharply after the disappointing FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign of the home team.
The survey was conducted from July 10 to 13 on 1,000 adults aged 18 and over nationwide. With a reliable addition and subtraction error of 95%, 57% of participants said that nationality is not important when choosing the next captain.
Another 23% believe that this position should belong to a foreigner, while only 8% prioritize choosing a domestic coach. 12% said they are unsure.
Compared to the survey conducted immediately after the AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Qatar, the percentage of people who believe that nationality is not important only slightly increased from 56% to 57% and remained almost unchanged.
However, support specifically for hiring foreign teachers has skyrocketed by 17 percentage points (from 6% to 23%), while support for domestic teachers decreased by 19 percentage points (from 27% to 8%).
The survey also showed widespread dissatisfaction with the performance of the Korean national team at the recent World Cup.
81% said the campaign in North America did not meet expectations.
When asked about the reason why South Korea could not qualify for the round of 32, 80% blamed the weakness in the capacity of the head coach and coaching staff. Another 8% targeted the players, while 3% only pointed out difficult group stage draw results or unfavorable brackets.
Regarding the voluntary resignation of former coach Hong Myung-bo, 78% answered that they agreed with this decision.
Mr. Park Hang-seo later also left his position as Vice Chairman of KFA.
Public opinion is divided about the contract term of the next coach.
38% believe that the new captain should be re-evaluated based on the team's achievements at the AFC Asian Cup 2027.
31% answered that the contract should be guaranteed throughout until the next World Cup.
This result shows different perspectives on whether the Asian Cup should be used as a milestone to evaluate coaches or just a part of the long-term preparation process for the next World Cup.
The survey also pointed out that this year's tournament does not bring the effect of national pride as much as the previous World Cup:
Only 20% said that the World Cup made them feel proud to be Korean (compared to 73% after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar).
26% said the tournament increased their affection for the country (compared to 67% in 2022).
34% answered that the 2026 World Cup increases their emotional connection to the national anthem and flag.
The broad consensus that nationality is not important remains unchanged, but we also see a clear shift towards prioritizing a coach with a different nationality from his predecessor," said Lee Dong-han, senior researcher at Hankook Research.
Unlike previous international tournaments, this World Cup has also failed to create a significant boost for national pride and social unity.
The Korean national team has had 9 generations of foreign coaches, including Guus Hiddink leading at the 2002 World Cup and Paulo Bento leading the team at the 2022 World Cup.
