Kim Sang-sik, the new head coach of the Vietnam national soccer team, held his first press conference in Vietnam on June 6 (local time) and expressed his ambition to achieve good results by uniting everyone in the team with a spirit of sacrifice.
“If I had to describe my football life in one word, it would be ‘loyalty,’ and my favorite football saying is ‘no player beats the team,'” Kim said at a press conference held at the Vietnam Football Association in Hanoi.
“I sacrificed and played for the team as a player,” he said, adding, “As a coach, I’ve had my ups and downs, but I’ve managed superstar players and motivated them to perform.”
“Therefore, I think we will get the results we want if all members challenge endlessly with the determination to win and the spirit of sacrifice,” said Kim. “I will do my best as a coach so that all players can become loyal players and show good performances through healthy competition in the 홀덤 Vietnamese national team.”
“I wanted to coach in Southeast Asia after I stopped coaching (K League 1 Jeonbuk Hyundai),” Kim said, explaining why he chose to move to Vietnam. “When I was offered the opportunity to coach the Vietnamese national team, which is not even a club team, I didn’t hesitate and thought it was an honor.”
“He is a hero for Vietnamese soccer fans and people because of his many achievements and accomplishments,” he said, “I always admire him and want to follow the same path as him.”
“I know that it is a long and difficult journey, and there is also pressure on how to follow such achievements,” he said. “If I communicate and prepare well with the players, I think I can get closer to the path that Coach Park has taken.”
“After I was selected as the head coach of Vietnam, Coach Park congratulated and encouraged me and gave me a lot of advice,” Kim said, “Especially, he asked me to embrace the players and build a good team.”
“The Vietnamese people and players are very affectionate, so I want to embrace them and make them good friends. I felt an infinite sense of responsibility when I saw the fans’ support at the airport,” he said, promising to repay them with a good performance.
“I’ve dealt with them as a player, coach, and manager, so I know how passionate they are,” he said of the Vietnamese players, adding, “I’ve been watching a lot of their recent matches and I can see some good things and some things that need to be improved.”
Regarding the Vietnam national team’s recent slump, he said, “They may be in a defeatist mindset because of their poor performance, but we will prepare them to regain their confidence through victory.”
“I think I did a good job communicating with the players as a colleague, coach, and manager at Jeonbuk,” he said, adding, “Coach Park was called ‘Papa’ by the Vietnamese players, but I will try to be called ‘Brother’.”
Kim will take over as head coach of the Vietnam National A and Vietnam U23 teams for two years from this month until March 2026.
He joined Jeonbuk in 2009, becoming a player-coach in 2013 and head coach from 2014-2020 before taking over the reins in 2021.
In his first season in charge of Jeonbuk, he won the K League 1 title, followed by the 2022 Korea Football Association FA Cup (now the Korea Cup) and the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL).
However, he was relieved of his duties in May last year due to poor results and returned to the field as head coach of the Vietnam national team after a year.