Danish coach emerges as early candidate for Korea job

A relatively unknown Danish football coach has emerged as an early, unlikely candidate for the vacant South Korean national team head coaching position, though the sport’s governing body remains lukewarm about his interest.

The Danish sports paper Tipsbladet reported online on Tuesday that Michael Schjonberg, a 47-year-old assistant coach of the Norwegian club Valerenga, has been approached by South Korea about the top national team position.

Hong Myung-bo resigned as the South Korean bench boss last week in the wake of the country’s winless World Cup in Brazil in June.

The report said both South Korea and Japan, whose previous coach Alberto Zaccheroni also stepped down after a subpar World Cup, are chasing Schjonberg. Japan, however, has reportedly agreed to sign Javier Aguirre as its new coach.

Dennis Murray, Schjonberg’s agent, told the paper that the coach has a good chance of moving to Asia, without confirming if the offers were indeed from South Korea or Japan. Tipsbladet claimed Schjonberg also has an opportunity to coach a South Korean club.

According to the report, Schjonberg is under contract with his current Norwegian club until the end of 2014 but that the team will let him walk if he receives a solid job offer. (Yonhap)