Robert Moreno Named South Korea Interim Manager – Everything You Need To Know

I was going to get more into the new managerial selection process in Part 3 of my Post-World Cup series, but the news broke first so here I am updating the Tavern:

Why are we getting an interim manager?

This is the first question lots of people are asking me. The short answer: the KFA has been (and still is) such a massive shitshow and with the September FIFA friendly window approaching, had to act.

The long answer: the KFA has currently without a head coach and a president after Chung Mong Gyu (finally) and Hong Myung Bo stepped down. Controversy swept the KFA and its leadership, with the National Assembly Inquiry initiated by the South Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; followed by allegations of the KFA providing sexual favors to referees; followed by more KFA cockroaches (my term for the old guard who ruined Korean football and stubbornly refuse to leave) openly blasting the reform-minded new guard of Korean football leaders such as Park Ji Sung. During all this time the Ministry, alongside Park Ji Sung, spearheaded a “Korean Football Innovation Committee” with other notable board members including Park Joo Ho and Lee Young Pyo. The initial tasks for the committee: help find an interim manager, and reform the KFA election process – one previously plagued with bribery, buying votes, the usual.

All this craziness has led to FIFA sending the KFA a formal letter asking for documents and to explain what’s going on. FIFA does not look kindly upon government meddling in footballing affairs. And Infantino is buddy-buddy with Chung Mong Gyu (to literally nobody’s surprise…). To protect the Innovation Committee from accusations of conflict of interest or direct operational meddling – especially with FIFA watching – the committee was tasked with designing the structural framework and selection criteria of finding a new manager, while the actual interviewing/vetting was executed by the KFA’s Technical/National Teams Committee working group. But we will get into this, the implications, and the behind-the-scenes shitshow in a different post.

Because this total administrative reset is taking place while the September friendlies were just a month away, we had no choice but to go for an interim manager. Hiring a permanent manager on a multi-year contract requires 3–6 months of contract negotiations, back-and-forth on salary/housing, and long-term staff hiring. Going with an interim manager was the only physically possible option to have a bench boss ready in time for the September friendlies without rushing a 4-year contract under an interim administration. Thus, plan was that an interim manager would take charge of the September-November friendlies (6 matches), and in the meantime we would set things straight at the KFA. Once things were straightened out, we would then pick a full time manager; OR, if the interim manager did well, they could extend until the Asian Cup; then after THAT we’d decide whether to open applications for a new full time manager or continue with the interim manager until the World Cup. The Korean media called this an “audition model” that would give the incoming KFA leadership (whoever gets elected in late 2026 under the new election rules) complete contractual flexibility; the new leadership won’t be stuck with a costly, unfireable permanent manager they didn’t pick (unlike the Klinsmann disaster).

EVERY OTHER MANAGER SELECTION CYCLE in the past essentially boiled down to “hey I know this guy let’s pick him” or “I’ve heard of this guy let’s go with him” – a process with ZERO long term vision and ZERO planning on whether the coach fit the bill for Korean football (perfect examples being Klinsmann and HMB). So this time, even with an interim manager selection, we had to go through an extremely rigorous and TRANSPARENT process – one that almost doesn’t make sense for selecting an interim manager for six games. But we have no choice but to do all these shenanigans even for an interim manager because of the absolute shitshow that was created by prior KFA leadership. The decision to run an open, application-driven interim search rather than a top-down appointment was additionally a direct effort to demonstrate procedural transparency to FIFA, proving the selection was based on merit/applications rather than government coercion. And I should ALSO mention that it was decided from the get-go we’d only go foreign managers because of the immense controversy with Hong Myung Bo, who to be fair was considered the best domestic coach in the K League in 2024.

Of note Paulo Bento had always expressed his interest in re-coaching the KNT after the 2026 World Cup disaster. But he publicly stated that he would apply to the KNT position when the full time job rolled around in November-December – not this time around for the interim role.

The process went something like this:

• KFA opened applications around 3 weeks ago from today
• Various coaches applied; requirements were to submit a resume and a PowerPoint presentation in which they would outline their vision for Korean football, how they would utilize the players at our disposal, how they would set up tactically, etc.
• The Committee would then rank 5 managers in a shortlist based on certain criteria: strength of the resume, strength of the proposed coaching staff, whether the coach’s vision fits with Korean football and our assets; etc.
• They would then enter negotiations starting with their top choice and working their way down if needed

Should discuss Gus Poyet here for a bit. Poyet applied to the KNT job in 2024 and when it was inexplicably handed to Hong Myung Bo, he became manager of a struggling Jeonbuk Hyundai and won the K League. He was head and shoulders above the rest – by far the best in the K League. He stepped down after one season due to controversies with one of his coaches but stayed involved in Korean football, providing a lot of commentary during the failed 2026 campaign. In this interim managerial selection process, he was very vocal about how much he wanted the job, even downloading Kakaotalk reportedly. Around two weeks ago, when the shortlist was announced, it was revealed that Gus was not selected in the five-man shortlist. It was theorized that it may have been due to a problematic coaching staff member from the Jeonbuk days; opting for Lee Dong Gook in the coaching staff; or whether his relatively simple (but effective in the K League) tactics didn’t fit us. Because the KFA set up a strict, rubric-based evaluation system to prevent administrative favoritism, the strength and qualifications of a candidate’s assistant coaches carry significant weight, and reportedly Gus did not fit the bill.

Four managers were confirmed to be on the shortlist: Robert Moreno, Jesus Casas, Domenec Torrent, and Erwin Koeman. Dragan Stojkovic was rumored as the fifth candidate, but not confirmed.

Underwhelmed Koreans

Some Korean fans were expressing that they were underwhelmed by the managerial shortlist. Moreno was an understudy to Luis Enrique (a very hated man in Korean circles) and didn’t do so well in his club stints, as well renowned as he was and still is as a tactical analyst. Casas was also an assistant coach under Lucho, while Domenec Torrent was Pep Guardiola’s right hand man at Barca, Bayern, and City for 10 years, but after he became a head coach himself, did not have great results. Erwin Koeman similarly has not had a great managerial career yet.

But this is the reality of an interim coach job and the reality of supporting the KNT which underwhelmed horrifically in 2026. The job is only guaranteed for 2 months. The only people applying to this will be those hoping to turn their careers around with a few games for the rightful top Asian side. I’ve read that usually, when going for a national team managers, scouts reach out to agents and potential managers, going to their games, and offering concrete terms (where they’ll live, salary, etc.) Because this was an interim job, we couldn’t do any of that.

Who is Robert Moreno?

Robert Moreno applied to the KNT position back in 2024. He was born in and spent most of his life in Catalonia, and although he lacked a top-flight professional playing career, he earned his UEFA Pro Licence in his twenties and quickly built a reputation as a meticulous tactical analyst and scout. A pioneer in video performance analysis, Moreno published the well-regarded coaching book “Mi ‘receta’ del 4-4-2” (My 4-4-2 Recipe) in 2013, focusing on structured positional play, defensive compactness, and counter-pressing mechanisms.

Moreno’s rise began when he joined Luis Enrique’s staff as a video analyst for Barcelona B in 2010. Over nearly a decade, he served as Enrique’s trusted right-hand assistant:

• AS Roma & Celta Vigo (2011–2014): Transitioned from video analysis to key tactical assistant.
• FC Barcelona (2014–2017): Served as assistant coach during Barça’s iconic 2014–15 Treble-winning campaign (La Liga, Copa del Rey, and UEFA Champions League).
• Spain National Team (2018–2019): Joined Enrique as assistant coach. When Enrique stepped down due to personal tragedy in 2019, Moreno took over as head coach for 10 matches, guiding Spain through an unbeaten Euro 2020 qualifying run (7 wins, 3 draws) before stepping aside upon Enrique’s return.

According to the BBC, the relationship between the two soured greatly in 2020, with Lucho personally firing Moreno from his coaching staff and called him “disloyal” and “over ambitious” for wanting to manage Spain at the Euros.

So the newly independent Robert Moreno became senior head coach of several teams… with mixed results. In his last stint at Sochi (yes that Sochi from the Olympics) there were even reports of him using ChatGPT for player selections/tactics – maybe his presentation to the KFA Committee also came from AI?

• AS Monaco (2019–2020): Lasted just 13 matches during a turbulent, COVID-interrupted Ligue 1 campaign.
• Granada CF (2021–2022): Managed 29 La Liga fixtures before parting ways mid-season.
• PFC Sochi (2023–2025): Experienced a roller-coaster spell in Russia – suffering relegation, rebuilding the squad to win promotion back via the playoffs, but ultimately being relieved of his duties 7 matches into the subsequent season.

The new coaching staff has been announced as follows and maybe this is where Moreno picked up a lot of points – many of these guys have experience on the staff of La Liga squads:

Thoughts:

This is the FIRST and perhaps ONLY time we had such a rigorous and transparent process in selecting the NT manager. Maybe we finally got something right this time. Maybe Moreno will be surprisingly better than expected. I’ve learned not to expect too much when it comes to the KNT though, so I guess only the next two months will tell.