Former South Korea Coach Bento Interested in Second Stint

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- Former South Korean men's national football team head coach Paulo Bento has expressed an interest in a reunion with the Taegeuk Warriors, an official with the sport's national federation said Tuesday.

According to the official at the Korea Football Association (KFA), Bento recently told a KFA employee that he was open to coaching the national team for a second spell.

"We have not yet received any formal application from him," the KFA official said. "However, coach Bento conveyed his interest in the job through an employee that he knows."

Bento previously coached South Korea from August 2018 to December 2022. He was the longest-serving head coach in South Korean national team history, men's or women's.

He guided South Korea to the knockout stage at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Following South Korea's 4-1 loss to Brazil in the round of 16, Bento told reporters that the KFA had offered him a new contract in February 2022 but he had decided to leave the team after the World Cup.

The top South Korean job is vacant after Hong Myung-bo stepped down on June 28 to take the fall for the team's elimination from the group stage at this year's World Cup. Hong had been signed through the 2027 Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup, scheduled from January to February 2027 in Saudi Arabia.

The KFA's National Teams Committee, in charge of the hiring process, had its first meeting since Hong's resignation last Friday.

South Korea had 35 wins, 13 draws and nine losses on Bento's watch. After his South Korea stint, Bento coached the United Arab Emirates men's national team from July 2023 to March 2025.