South Korean coach ousted from Vietnamese club

The change in coaching staff was announced to CAHN players on Saturday evening, one day after a 2-1 defeat to Khanh Hoa FC.

The club said Gong and his team will “take a break until after the match against Becamex Binh Duong on Dec. 26”, and the club “will be managed by another coaching team” without further specific details being given.

The head coach position will return to Tran Tien Dai, who coached CAHN before the club signed a contract with Gong.

Gong made his breakthrough after taking Vietnam to the quarterfinals of the 2022 U23 Asian Cup. At that tournament, he left a strong impression as he encouraged young players to play attacking football with confidence. However, that was not the case when Gong became CAHN head coach in mid-November.

After debuting with a victory over HAGL in the National Cup, the South Korean coach failed to get CAHN a win in four consecutive V. League matches. They suffered two defeats against Hai Phong FC and Khanh Hoa FC, along with two draws with Nam Dinh FC and Quang Nam FC. After that CAHN fell to eighth with nine points, seven behind the top spot.

Dai used to be the technical director of CAHN, but switched to being the club’s head coach before the penultimate round of V. League last season, when this team won the championship. He took the helm in the first three rounds of the new season, winning two wins and one draw before leaving the position for coach Gong.

Dai left the coaching staff but was still registered as technical director.

After retiring as a player, Dai became one of the first football agents in Vietnam. He then started a business and ventured into sports management. He worked as executive director of Ninh Binh FC in 2010 and Xuan Thanh Saigon in 2012-2013.

In 2018, he became chairman of Saigon FC, but left after only a few months. All three clubs are no longer active.

CAHN’s next opponent Binh Duong are second in the league.