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The Pohang Steelers signed a two-year contract with Park Tae-ha (55), former chairman of the Korea Professional Football Federation's technical committee, on the 15th.

As a result, Park became the third new coach to be appointed from the K-League 1 this winter. Earlier, Jeju United appointed Kim Hak-bum, 63, former coach of the Olympic team, and FC Seoul signed a contract with Kim Ki-dong, 52.

All the leaders in charge of the new team this winter are veteran coaches. The mood has changed a lot from the past when young leaders were given the baton.

"At one time, young leaders were in the spotlight for their good performances," a club source said. "However, not many of them are successful," adding, "Veterans who have experienced all sorts of mental and physical challenges are preferred, especially since up to three teams in the K League 1 can be demoted to the second division according to regulations."

Coach Park Tae-ha, who became the head of Pohang this time, has never taken the helm in Korea. Park previously coached China's Yanbian Fudder to win the A-League title and lead the promotion to the top division. He then coached the Chinese U19 women's soccer team.

However, while coaching for about seven years, he gained a lot of experience as a leader. He served as a coach for Pohang, a coach for the national soccer team, and a head coach for Seoul. Recently, he served as the chairman of the technical committee of the Korea Professional Football Association and watched the game on the spot.

Kim Hak-beom is a veteran coach in Korea. After starting his career as a coach at Kookmin Bank in 1992, he coached Henan Jenye (China), Gangwon FC, Gwangju FC, Asian Games national team and Olympic team starting with Seongnam Ilhwa (current Seongnam FC) in 2005. He boasts extensive experience in various teams.

Now the head of Seoul, not Pohang, Kim Ki-dong served as the national team coach by age and then Pohang's head coach before starting his coaching job in April 2019. In Pohang, Kim Ki-dong made significant achievements by winning the FA Cup and advancing to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League final.

Coach Kim Ki-dong is in his 10th year as a leader this year, shorter than coach Park Tae-ha and Kim Hak-beom, but he has more than 600 games in the K League.

Chung Jung-yong (54), who led Kim Cheon-sang to the K-League 2 title this year, is also proud of his long career as a coach. Chung has been coaching the Korean national team by age since 2008, and only took over the U20 team in 2017. Chung was also recognized for his leadership when he led Korea to the U20 World Cup final in 2019.

Since then, he has been in charge of the team at Seoul E-Land in the K League 2 for three years, and has been appointed as the head coach of Gimcheon since the middle of this year. He had a lot of regrets during the Seoul E-Land days, but he led Gimcheon to the top with his experience at that time.