Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Seoul: AFC Champions League 2016 quarter-finalists FC Seoul have announced that head coach Choi Yong-soo has left the club to join Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning.
Choi has accepted a two-and-a-half year deal with Jiangsu, who failed in their attempts to sign the former Korea Republic international last year, and will oversee his last match with FC Seoul on Wednesday before Hwang Sun-hong takes over the reins after the Korean FA Cup match against Ansan Mugunghwa.
Choi joined the managerial ranks of FC Seoul in 2006 as an assistant coach, graduating to head coach in 2012 and leading the side to that year’s K-League title and a runners-up finish in the 2013 AFC Champions League, an achievement that earned him the AFC Coach of the Year award.
The 42-year-old added the 2015 Korean FA Cup to the FC Seoul trophy cabinet and leaves to replace former Romania international Dan Petrescu at 2016 ACL participants Jiangsu with the club second in the current K League Classic standings and through to the last eight of Asia’s premier club competition.
Choi led FC Seoul to top spot in Group F of this year’s ACL before edging former champions Urawa Reds 7-6 on penalties to set up a quarter-final clash with group stage opponents Shandong Luneng, who they defeated 4-1 in China before being held to a goalless draw at home in the return fixture.
FC Seoul will host Shandong Luneng at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in the first leg of their 2016 AFC Champions League quarter-final on August 24 before the action shifts to China for the decisive encounter at the Jinan Olympic Centre on September 14.
Photo: Lagardère Sports