Michael Müller, chairman of the Power Reinforcement Committee, “Klinsman, a coach who is motivated and can save a star player”

Michael Müller (58), chairman of the Power Reinforcement Committee, explained the background of manager Jurgen Klinsmann (59)’s appointment. 

Michael Müller (58), head of the National Team Strengthening Committee, held a press conference on the appointment of Jurgen Klinsmann as head coach at the Korea Football Association Soccer Hall in Jongno-gu, Seoul at 2:00 pm on the 28th. 

Earlier on the 27th, the Korea Football Association officially announced that “Coach Klinsman has been appointed as the new coach of the national soccer team.” The contract period between coach Klinsman and the association is about 3 years and 5 months from March to the 2026 World Cup finals in North and Central America. The salary was not disclosed according to the agreement of both parties.

Chairman Müller said, “I am happy to announce that coach Jurgen Klinsmann has taken over the leadership of the national team through this event. As I said, I want to bring Klinsmann as soon as possible and greet the day when we can draw a successful future for Korean football.”

The following is a Q&A from Chairman Müller.

-It is known that there was no communication with the committee during the entire process of candidate selection, contact, and director selection. 

Regarding the committee, a meeting was held yesterday (27th) in Gwanghwamun. What I can say with certainty is that all committees responded positively and shared the contents sufficiently. 

– What is the role of the committee in the opinion of the chairperson?

I think it is an organization that can discuss and share this process together and have a meeting together. I always think that a mature attitude is necessary when meeting with these members. Yesterday, we shared the past process and at the end we agreed on everything. 

To add an explanation, it was discussed from the beginning during the process of selecting and contacting candidates at the Power Reinforcement Committee. There may be sensitive things due to the association’s big policy matters. I apologized and agreed. – It is not a decision made by one

person who discussed with other than the Power Reinforcement Committee .

At the first meeting, the procedures, standards and overall ideas were shared with the members as well. It started with everyone agreeing on it. We talked about the five criteria (professionalism, supervisory experience, motivation, teamwork ability, and adaptability to the environment) and everyone agreed.

As I said at the beginning, all the status was returned to blank paper, and there was definitely a place to discuss through these procedures. After that, there was a process of finding and reviewing people who fit and could meet the criteria. Starting with that standard, I was contacted by several people. We had time to talk to the people we thought were suitable, and we also had a process to see if we could meet the criteria we had created.

Through the whole process, we finally selected 5 candidates. We had a priority group and negotiated with Klinsman, who was the first candidate. Everyone agreed, so Klinsman was finally decided. After sufficiently explaining these aspects and obtaining consent, candidates were selected, met with the final five, and negotiations were conducted first. 

-The entire selection process.

As far as I know, Klinsman was also in the candidate list in 2018. Director Klinsman, as far as I know, wanted to live in Korea and he was very interested in Korea. During the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, he visited Korea as a German commentator, and later, at the 2017 U-20 World Cup, Klinsmann’s son played as a player. He had a lot of experience and interest in Korea.

He has the experience of scoring against Korea in the 1994 World Cup. He once said that he experienced a fierce battle with Korea and was impressed with Korea’s fighting spirit. In 2004, he visited Korea as coach of the German national team to play. He has the experience of losing 1-3 to Korea. He said that he changed his mind towards Korean football.

In the last 2022 World Cup, only Klins participated as TSG. At the same time, I know that he evaluated and analyzed every game and approached Korean soccer with particular interest. Cha Du-ri also participated in TSG on the spot. He knows they stayed together in Doha. You can guess that the two of them had a lot of conversation because they stayed at the same hotel and worked on the same project. The topic of conversation would have been football. I know that at the time coach Klinsman asked Coach Doo-Ri Cha about Korean soccer. What I do know is that only Klins expressed interest in Korean soccer during TSG activities.

– Whose recommendations were made.

It started with a blank slate from the beginning. Prepared interviews for each candidate. While preparing for the interview, I looked at the CVs of the candidates, and the big topic was asking for personal thoughts on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In the process, I also checked to see if the Korean team played. He also asked what style of football he would play and what kind of coaching staff he would form if he became a Korean coach. Short-term and long-term goals were identified for each candidate. In the process, there was also time to check what kind of teamwork will be used to lead the national team. For example, it was confirmed that interest in Korea and the policy matters of the Korea Football Association could be helpful for the development of football. We also checked personal motivation and whether they can live and work in Korea. 

Since all candidates have different backgrounds and experiences, there was a process of asking customized questions. Two weeks ago, the final two candidates were selected. Decided 2 weeks ago. Among them, the first preferred negotiator, manager Klinsman, received a positive reply. He was interested in Korean football and was self-motivated, so he thought he was the right person.

The final decision was made on February 27, after obtaining consent through the Power Reinforcement Committee. Prior to that, there was a process of deducing the final candidates, and I met with the final five through an online meeting from January 30th to February 1st. Five were culled on January 26th. For 4 days from January 26th to 30th, there were customized questions and detailed confirmation work. By January 18th, a total of 23 lists were made. On January 12, 61 candidates were formed. 

On January 12, 61 candidates were selected, and from the 18th, 23 contact plans were made. By the 26th, it was compressed to 5 people. An online meeting was held from the 30th to February 1st. Finally, all information was shared with the Power Reinforcement Committee and a director was selected on February 27th.

-How good was Klinsman on the 5 criteria.

He made 5 criteria and thought that the human part should be looked at first before the review. Everyone has a variety of experiences, so I thought we should focus on this part. Then, five criteria were established. It was a standard with the strategy to lead Korean soccer in mind. What was more difficult than creating these 5 criteria and creating a questionnaire for each candidate was to identify the human side. 

I was surprised that more candidates than I thought were interested in the national team. It was confirmed that many candidates met the five criteria, and director Klinsman had many attractive parts. His strong personality came across as attractive. The most obvious thing was that Klinsman really wanted to coach the Korean national team. He confirmed this part and confirmed that he had a strong will to develop with the Football Association and compared to other coaches.

First, he was interested in himself and asked when and with whom he was playing. He confirmed that he was interested. And he confirmed that he has the heart to succeed with his national team. 

Second, I thought he was a great motivator and could play the role of a manager, not just a soccer coach. The part he should have thought of as chairman was ‘who is the most suitable person, who is the best choice’. 

For example, Premier League managers are called ‘Managers’. They don’t just give simple tactical instructions. You can control the situation with the big picture and collaborate with the coaching staff for the big picture. 

-Whether there was a domestic coach among the final five.

There was no Korean director among the five. There were 61 candidates. There was no Korean coach when we matched the number of 5 people. Five of them were capable enough. The original plan was to meet with a Korean coach if there was no suitable person among the five. Even though we were sure about 5 people, we thought that if we approached Koreans because they were Koreans, it would be disrespectful to Koreans. 

-Coach Klinsman has a long gap in his leadership career. There is also an evaluation that he is weak in the tactical part.

Football is not all about tactics. Each player’s personality needs to be preserved, and the way to manage star players is also important. It is a teamwork sport. I thought the tactic wasn’t everything. I thought that the dynamic and mental parts shown in the arena were also important. I thought that performance as a team was demonstrated when these elements were harmonized as a whole. As I said, coach Klinsman experienced the World Cup in Qatar with TSG. He thought he was competent in accessing various data in these areas.

Football faces four phases. It is also important how the player unleashes these aspects on the pitch. Our team has a lot of experience and each player has many strengths. When I thought that coach Klinsman was working with the national team, I thought that I could use Klinsman’s personality and handle star players, including each player, experience, and our results. It’s a bar to look forward to. 

In addition to the tactical aspect, I thought he was the leader because I thought he was motivated by making use of coach Klinsman’s personality and star players. he saw fit. 

– Terms of the contract related to residency in Korea.

It is difficult to say precisely about the terms of the contract. What is certain is that he met all five conditions and had a strong desire to live in Korea.

-Klinsman seems more like a manager than a tactician. 

Director Klinsman also has strengths in the tactical part. He is negotiating and confirming with the head coach and Korean coaches. This is something you need to discuss with your supervisor메이저놀이터. The overall staff composition will be discussed with Klinsman on Thursday. The overall process has not yet been completed, so it is difficult to tell you the details. We will reveal it in due time. Speaking of Korean coaches, we talked about what type of coach would be good to hire.

– Coach Bento’s philosophy produced good results. Will you continue this philosophy?

Each person has a different personality and human aspect. It remains to be seen how it will affect the team. I am looking forward to seeing how he will meet and solve the problems with the players. Korean elements should be considered, not imitating or following someone else’s style. It is difficult to know what kind of results imitating other teams or managers will lead to, and whether synergies can be created. Rather than style, I think it is more important to talk about how to solve these four aspects of modern football, when you have the ball, when you do not have it, and when you switch from attack to defense and from defense to attack. 

-What part of Bento’s contribution to Korean football? What do you expect from director Klinsmann?

After Bento left, I wanted to look ahead and think about the future. Looking forward to the future are more goal chances and more goals. More simply, if you think about Portugal at the World Cup in Qatar, he scored with a counterattack. You can expect more easy, simple and quick scoring.

Another part is switching defensively when we lose the ball. We want to create a more solid defensive block with immediate pressure. 

-Is it the director talking about it or the chairperson alone?

Director Klinsman also has the same part as what I was talking about when looking at the process and style shown in the game. I think you can ask more details at the director’s press conference later. 

-At the FIFA Awards, the chairman took Jude Bellingham as the number one player. The reason is.

I did. I did it because the director left. You’re right about choosing Bellingham. Messi already has too much. Bellingham is 20 years old and he has shown everything a modern footballer has to offer. He is a typical box-to-box midfielder. He creates scoring chances and contributes a lot to the defense in transition. 

-Were there any Korean directors on the list of 23? What was the most lacking item for Korean directors?

I received too many calls during this process. Of course, there were Koreans among the 61 people. Among the overall roster, the Korean coach was also observed. I did not differentiate between foreign and Korean directors. I only considered what kind of director was needed. The five finalists were so good that I didn’t meet the rest of the rankings. What was lacking is difficult to answer. 

How to deal with star players was also an important part. I also focused on whether I had the ability to lead a team through teamwork.