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Robert Moreno, interim head coach of South Korea's national football team, answers reporters' questions during a press conference announcing the squad for November's Middle East away friendlies at Korea Football Park in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, on Oct. 29. /Yonhap News Agency

With the AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, originally scheduled to kick off on Jan. 7 next year, postponed by nearly a year, South Korea's national football team is expected to enter a period of transition earlier than anticipated. As the future of interim head coach Robert Moreno (49, Spain) becomes uncertain, an era of open competition aimed at a generational transition is expected to begin.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced on Nov. 3 that the opening date of the Asian Cup had been postponed to Dec. 23, 2027, leaving South Korea to play its two November international friendlies without a clear objective. The team had chosen Doha, Qatar, as the venue for the matches and selected Saudi Arabia and Qatar as opponents in preparation for the Asian Cup, but the postponement has diminished the significance of those arrangements.

For Moreno in particular, the change has made it difficult to accurately assess his coaching abilities regardless of the results. Moreno opted for stability by retaining most of the existing squad for the upcoming international friendlies, but the objective he had been working toward has now disappeared. With his contract set to expire on Nov. 27 and the Korea Football Association (KFA) presidential election provisionally scheduled for Dec. 18, he could find himself in limbo, uncertain whether his contract will be extended or whether he will be appointed permanent head coach until the election results are announced and a new leadership team is formed. Under the current FIFA calendar, South Korea's next international matches are scheduled for March next year, giving the country's football authorities more time to look for a new coach.

Regardless of who takes over as permanent head coach, significant changes are expected in the national team squad. Under interim coach Moreno, the plan had been to enter the tournament while dealing with internal discord, including the recent retirement controversy involving the so-called "96-line" players. However, the postponement has made it possible to rebuild the squad starting with the March international matches.

In particular, it has become difficult to predict whether Son Heung-min (LAFC), who will turn 35 next July, will be able to compete in what could be the final Asian Cup of his career. Amid criticism that the automatic selection of core players such as Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), who is the same age as Son, Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Hwang In-beom (Porto) and Hwang Hee-chan (Schalke 04) needs to change, some argue that the time has come for a deliberate shake-up similar to the fierce competition for places ahead of the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

South Korean football also faces the limitation that few players, whether among the gold medalists from the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games or across the K League, appear capable of challenging the established national team players. The country therefore appears to need time to develop its senior national team.

Through December next year, the national team is expected to undergo a generational transition while pursuing its first Asian Cup title in 67 years, since 1960.

                                                                                                            Lee Jang-won