Korea set to name Paulo Bento as new nat'l football team head coach

The KFA later announced that Kim Pan-gon, who leads the national team coach selection committee, will hold a press conference on Friday to announce the new national football team head coach. Kim made his second trip to Europe last Wednesday to negotiate with candidates for the coaching job.

Korea have been searching for their new boss after the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where they suffered a group stage exit with one win and two losses.

Bento started his coaching career with Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon in 2004. After winning domestic cup competitions with Sporting, he moved on to coach the Portuguese national team in 2010.

Under Bento's guidance, Portugal reached the semifinals at EURO 2012 and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Bento, however, was sacked in September 2014 after Portugal failed to reach the round of 16 at the World Cup and displayed poor performance in their EURO 2016 qualifying campaign.

Bento then had stints with Brazilian club Cruzeiro and Greek side Olympiakos. He last managed Chinese outfit Chongqing Lifan from December 2017 to July 2018.

Bento will be the second Portuguese to coach Korea after Humberto Coelho, who was at the helm from 2003 to 2004.

A star defensive midfielder in the 1990s, Bento had 35 caps for Portugal. His last match in a Portugal jersey came in June 2002 against Korea at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Bento will make his Korea debut next month when the national team host Costa Rica and Chile for friendly matches at home. (Yonhap)