How this former PSV success coach became immensely popular and had the stadium named after him

Due to time differences with North America, many matches during the World Cup will also be played in the middle of the night. This also applies, for example, to the match South Korea - Czechia, where PSV goalkeeper Matej Kovar is under the bar.

South Korea also has a rich World Cup history, with a few former PSV players in the ranks, such as footballers Ji-Sung Park and Lee Young-Pyo. But most likely, Guus Hiddink is the most popular former PSV player in South Korea.

This has to do with the fact that Hiddink, as the head coach of South Korea, managed to surprise the world during the 2002 World Cup, which was hosted by South Korea together with Japan. In January 2001, the native Varssevelder was appointed as national team coach, and little was expected from South Korea since the country had never won a World Cup match and was eliminated during the group stage of the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup.

During the 2002 World Cup it was, however, completely different and Hiddink’s team managed to finish first in Group D thanks to wins over Poland (2-0) and Portugal (1-0) and a draw against the United States (1-1). In the round of 16, Italy (2-1) was then dealt with after extra time, and in the quarterfinals Spain was the opponent.

After 90 minutes it was still 0-0, which meant extra time had to be brought into play. During that extra time, it seemed Spain had scored the 0-1 and thus the golden goal, but this goal was wrongly disallowed by the referee because the ball had not fully gone over the back line.

Ultimately, the penalty shootout had to decide and it was the South Korea of Guus Hiddink that managed to win 5-3 and, against all expectations, became the first Asian country ever to qualify for the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup. After the match against the Spaniards, the Gwangju World Cup Stadium was renamed Guus Hiddink Stadium.

Ultimately, the semi-final would have been the end of the road for Hiddink’s men, since Germany managed to win 0-1 against the Korean shock team thanks to Michael Ballack. The match for third place was also lost 2-3 to Turkey, but despite that, Hiddink became wildly popular in South Korea and to this day the former coach of PSV is still not forgotten in the Asian country.