Choi Kang-hee (photo, 64), former head coach of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, took the helm of Shandong Taishan, a Chinese professional soccer team that has been in the throes of a match-fixing incident. Shandong is the team belonging to Korean national team midfielder Son Jun-ho, who is currently in ‘criminal detention’ by Chinese police.
The Shandong club announced on its homepage on the 16th that it had signed a contract with coach Choi Kang-hee. Details such as the duration of the contract were not disclosed.
Regarding coach Choi, the Shandong club said, “He has served as manager for the Korean national team, Jeonbuk Hyundai, Dalian Yifang, and Shanghai Shenhua, and has won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League and K League 1 several times.” He also won the Best Director Award.”
Coach Choi, who started his leadership career at Suwon Samsung in 1995, took the helm of Jeonbuk in 2005. After taking over as coach of the Korean national team in 2011, he rose to the command tower of Jeonbuk again from 2013 to 2018 and developed Jeonbuk into the strongest team in the K-League. He then continued his coaching career in China, with Shandong being his fourth Chinese team.
Shandong is causing a stir recently when its players were involved in match-fixing. Coach Hao Wei was arrested by the Chinese police and was under investigation, so head coach Fabio took over as acting manager and led the team. With 1 win, 4 draws and 2 losses (7 points) this season, they are in 9th place among 16 teams in the first division.
Son Jun-ho, the team’s key midfielder, is also being detained by the public security and is being investigated. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed through a briefing on the 16th that Son Jun-ho was “criminally detained in a criminal agency in Liaoning Province on charges of accepting bribes for (non-state) personnel.” Bribery charges for non-state agents are bribery charges applied to civilians.먹튀검증
In this regard, the Korea Football Association has contacted the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Asian Football Federation through various channels to find out the exact truth.
Director Choi is in charge of handling this chaotic crisis in Shandong and putting it back on the right track.