Kim Pan-gon

Kim Pan-gon (, born 1 May 1969) is a South Korean football manager and former player who played as a winger.

He is the current manager of the Malaysia national football team.

Kim was born into a family of peasants in Jinju, a small town in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.

He was the youngest of five children and his family used to set up stalls to sell food 5 kilometers outside of Jinju every Friday.

Kim loved football, but the junior high school he attended did not have a team of its own.

In order to play football in high school, he enrolled in Changshin High School in Masan, at an hour's drive from his hometown, and Honam University, a famous non-traditional football school.

While in university, Kim attracted the attention of Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i manager Cha Bum-kun and turned pro with Ulsan Hyundai in 1992.

Kim failed to impress, however, and had to undergo seven surgeries due to a shin injury in his third year.

He transferred to another K League club Jeonbuk Hyundai Dinos in 1997, but could not overcome the effects of his injury and retired that year.

Kim became a high school coach for a while but left for Hong Kong to make a comeback.

In 2000, he joined Instant-Dict (renamed Double Flower the next year) in the Hong Kong First Division League.

He contributed to a Hong Kong FA Cup title and later moved to Buler Rangers in 2002 to serve as a player-coach for two years.

On 11 December 2002, after a 3–4 defeat to Kitchee, Kim Pan-gon resigned from the post of South China team manager, citing health reasons that required him to recuperate back in South Korea.

Kim returned to South Korea in 2004 and obtained the AFC Professional Football Coaching Diploma, Asia's highest-level coaching license.

At that time, only five other South Koreans held the same qualification.

In 2005, he became Busan IPark's assistant coach under manager Ian Porterfield.

During four years at Busan, Kim helped his team as caretaker manager whenever they had urgent situations.

He won Busan's first victory of the 2006 season in his second match as Busan's manager on 8 April 2006 after predecessor Porterfield failed to get a victory in 21 consecutive matches, and achieved four consecutive victories in that month.

This sudden change was called the "Pan-gon's Magic" by Korean media.

He returned as the assistant coach when André Egli became a replacement for Porterfield in July.

However, Egli abruptly announced his resignation while attending field training in the United States in June 2007, and Kim once again managed Busan as caretaker manager for the remainder of the season.

Busan quickly recruited Park Sung-hwa as their new manager in July, but Park left for the South Korean Olympic team after just 17 days.

Kim became the manager of Hong Kong First Division League club South China in November 2008.

After contributing to South China's league title in the 2008–09 season, he started to manage Hong Kong national teams at the same time.

Under Kim, South China won the 2009 Lunar New Year Cup after defeating league all-star team and Sparta Prague.

Kim and South China also won 2–0 over Tottenham Hotspur in a pre-season friendly, and advanced to the semi-finals in the 2009 AFC Cup.

He finished his best year by leading Hong Kong national under-23 team to an East Asian Games title.

On 26 November 2010, Kim was transferred position from manager to physical fitness consultant of South China, and he will return to South Korea later to serve as a tactical consultant for K League side Gyeongnam FC.

Kim told the media that due to minor heart and liver problems, it is not suitable for him to be the manager of South China.

It is convenient to stay in South Korea for medical treatment.

Earlier, he was invited by Gyeongnam to be the manager, but Kim only agreed to serve as a tactical consultant, and his family would continue to stay in Hong Kong.

However, due to the health of his wife living in Hong Kong, he returned to Hong Kong after one season.

Kim suddenly appeared in Hong Kong on 5 October 2011, claiming to the media that his health has recovered and he has applied last week to the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) to be the new Hong Kong national team coach.

He also confirmed that his contract with Gyeongnam FC still has one year to run, but he will be released if he is appointed by the HKFA.

Kim was appointed as National Academy coach by the HKFA on 22 December 2011.

He was wholly responsible for the identification, development and coaching of all players aged 18 and below.

He took up the position of acting manager of Hong Kong national football team in November 2012 following the resignation of former manager Ernie Merrick.

Afterwards, the HKFA confirmed Kim as the permanent manager of the Hong Kong national football team on 28 May 2013.

He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the HKFA.

According to Kim, most of the Hong Kongese players do not have an environment where they can comfortably focus on football, where most of the players are semi-professionals.