Shin Tae-yong

Shin Tae-yong (신태용, Hanja: 申台龍; born on 30 May 1970) is a South Korean former professional footballer and manager who is currently coaching the Indonesia national football team.

He won the K League Young Player of the Year Award in 1992, the first year of his professional career.

He was a key player for Ilhwa Chunma when they won the K League for three consecutive years from 1993 to 1995.

He is the first man to win the Asian Club Championship/AFC Champions League as both player and manager, having won the 1995 Asian Club Championship and the 2010 AFC Champions League with Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.

After graduating from Yeungnam University, Shin spent 12 seasons playing for Ilhwa Chunma.

Especially in 1995, he became the Most Valuable Player of the K League, and also won the Asian Club Championship in the end of the year.

Afterwards, Ilhwa Chunma faltered for a while, but they succeeded in conquering the league again under Shin's contribution.

He played 23 international matches including at the 1996 AFC Asian Cup for the South Korea national team.

As a player, he was an attacking midfielder.

He earned the nickname "Fox of the Ground" by clearly distinguishing when passing and dribbling with sensual and intelligent play.

They once again won the league for three consecutive years from 2001 to 2003, and he also won his second MVP Award in 2001.

He scored 99 goals and provided 68 assists in 401 matches in the K League, as well as the Korean League Cup.

Shin retired in September 2005 due to an ongoing ankle issue that would have required surgery.

He accepted an assistant coaching role at the club, assisting Miron Bleiberg primarily with technical skills.

In 2009, Shin became the caretaker manager of Seongnam, leading the team to second place in both the 2009 K League and the 2009 Korean FA Cup, though suffered from a lack of funds.

He signed a permanent contract the next year and immediately brought success, winning the 2010 AFC Champions League and the 2011 Korean FA Cup.

He became the first man to win the AFC Champions League as both player and manager.

However, the team's performance declined in the 2012 season, aggravated by the death of Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church which owned the club, in the middle of the season.

He eventually resigned from Seongnam after finishing the season.

Shin is regarded as one of the greatest K League players of all time, and was selected for the K League 30th Anniversary Best XI in 2013.

He could have become a one-club man, but finished his playing career in Australia with the Queensland Roar in the A-League.

In August 2014, he became the assistant coach of the South Korea national team.

Under Shin, South Korea reached the Asian Cup final for the first time in 27 years.

South Korea's manager at that time was Uli Stielike, but the actual coaching role was performed by Shin, who took charge of the tactics and training of the team.

Shin also managed the South Korea under-23 team at the same time and participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

South Korea won their group by acquiring 7 points against Germany, Mexico, and Fiji, but they were surprisingly elimininated by Honduras in the quarter-finals.

On 22 November 2016, Shin was appointed manager of the South Korea under-20 team to prepare for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup on home soil.

Therefore, he left the senior team to concentrate on the under-20 team.

At the World Cup, South Korea finished second in their group with 6 points and advanced to the knockout stage, but lost to Portugal in the round of 16.

On 4 July 2017, Shin became the manager of the senior team to replace Stielike.

In December, he won the 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship, beating arch-rivals Japan in the final fixture 4-1.

After Shin left the South Korean senior team, Stielike made poor results in qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and was eventually fired by the Korea Football Association.

Despite two goalless draws, South Korea under Shin also obtained qualification to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

They were drawn in the same group against Sweden, Mexico and defending champions Germany.

South Korea lost 0–1 to Sweden and 1–2 to Mexico, but surprised everyone by defeating Germany 2–0.

On 28 December 2019, the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) confirmed the appointment of Shin as the Indonesian national team's manager, replacing Simon McMenemy.

He was handed a 4-year contract.

After a bad start to his tenure in the second round of 2022 World Cup qualification, he led Indonesia with an average squad age of 23.8 years to the final of the 2020 AFF Championship.

In June 2022, he led Indonesia to qualify for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, ending Indonesia's 16-year absence from the competition, following a 2–1 win against Kuwait and a thumping 7–0 victory against Nepal on the final matchday to clinch qualification.

Prior to 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup which scheduled to be held in March 2023, Shin's request to take a number of Persija Jakarta and Persib Bandung players was rejected by its head coaches, Thomas Doll and Luis Milla.