Coach Kim overcomes doubts to lead Ulsan to K-League title

Ulsan HD’s Kim Pan-gon said he was relieved to have led the club to their third K-League title in a row after overcoming doubts about taking on the head coach role midway through the season.
Kim’s side defeated nearest challengers Gangwon FC 2-1 on Friday to secure the club’s fifth league title and the first since the former Malaysia national team head coach replaced Hong Myung-bo at the helm in late July.
“I was so honoured to have a chance to work with such great players, and I knew I absolutely had to win a title here,” said Kim, who spent five seasons with Ulsan as a player before starting his coaching career in Hong Kong in 2002.
“There was a lot of pressure to extend the championship-winning streak. I am really happy to get it done.”
Kim took over when Hong, who guided Ulsan to back-to-back championship wins in 2022 and 2023, quit the club to become the long-term replacement for Juergen Klinsmann as South Korea national team boss.
Ulsan has lost only once in the K-League following Kim’s arrival, and the victory over Gangwon, which came through goals from Gustav Ludwigson and Joo Min-kyu, was the club’s eighth in 11 league matches since Hong’s departure.
That run of results came despite Kim privately questioning whether he had made the right decision to move back to South Korea to become a K-League head coach for the first time in his career.
“For the past month or so, I kept wondering if I hadn’t made the wrong choice to take this job at all,” he said.
“But I had to overcome those challenges on my own. Crying in self-pity wasn’t going to solve anything.
“Ultimately, having my players trust in me and follow my lead was the biggest reason that we won.”