Former national team coach Park Jong-hwan, a great player who helped Korea reach the semifinals at the 1983 World Youth Football Championship in Mexico, has passed away.

The Korea Football Association announced, “Former coach Park Jong-hwan passed away on the afternoon of the 7th.” He died at the age of 85.

His funeral was held at the funeral hall of Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The funeral will be held by the President of the Korea Football Association, and the funeral will be held at the Football Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul at 9 am on the 10th.

Former coach Park was born in Ongjin, Hwanghae Province in 1938, graduated from Chuncheon High School and Kyung Hee University, and played for the Korea Coal Corporation. He participated as a representative of Korea in the 2nd Asian Youth Competition held in Malaysia in 1960 and contributed to the victory. After his retirement as a player, he worked as a coach and international referee.

In the mid-1970s, he rose to prominence by leading underdog Jeonnam Mechanical Engineering High School to a national championship. Afterwards, he ascended to the command tower of Seoul City Hall and led the team to the top several times.

From 1980 to 1983, he took charge of the U-20 youth national team and achieved the original ‘four-finals legend’. At the 1983 World Youth Championship in Mexico (now the U-20 World Cup), the national team led by former coach Park lost 0-2 to Scotland in the first group match, but defeated Mexico (2-1), Australia (2-1), and Uruguay (2-1). 2-1) and advanced to the semifinals. This is the first time that Korean soccer has advanced to the semifinals in a competition organized by the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA).레고토토

At the time, the overseas media, impressed by their mobility and agile passing, nicknamed the Korean national team the “Red Devils,” which later became the origin of the Korean national soccer team supporters’ “Red Devils.”

Former coach Park served as the head coach of the national team several times after Mexico’s semifinals until the mid-1990s, but laid down his leadership of the national team after suffering a crushing 2-6 loss to Iran in the 1996 Asian Cup.

In 1989, he took over as coach of Ilhwa Chunma, a new professional team, and led them to win the K League for three consecutive years (1993-1995). He served as the first president of the Women’s Football Federation, which was founded in 2001, and later served as the manager of Daegu FC and Seongnam FC.