KBS News quoted an official familiar with the Southeast Asian football market saying Kim recently met with leaders of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and sign a contract to coach the Vietnamese team.

Kim has concluded negotiations with VFF and the contract would last for two years until March 2026, said the official.

The news was also confirmed by other Korean media outlets.

A VFF representative refused to comment on the news, saying VFF would make an official announcement on May 3 at the latest.

Kim’s decision to go to Vietnam was greatly influenced by his successor Park Hang-seo, who had achieved the greatest results in Vietnam’s football history.

During his five-year career in Vietnam, Park led Vietnam to second place in the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Asian Cup, first place of the 2018 ASEAN Football Confederation (AFF) Cup, quarterfinals of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, and champions of the 2019 and 2021 Southeast Asian Games.

Park also led Vietnam to the final qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar World Cup for the first time in history.

According to the Korean press, VFF’s decision to select Kim Sang-ik is considered a reasonable step, after the failure of coach Philippe Troussier’s reign.

When Park Hang-seo concluded his contract with VFF, Philippe Troussier was appointed in January 2023, and under his reign Vietnamese football fell into its worst slump. They suffered 10 losses out of 11 matches, including seven consecutive losses in official matches. Vietnam also dropped out of the top 100 on the FIFA rankings.

Following Vietnam’s poor showing, especially[P1]  their elimination from the second qualifying round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, VFF eventually fired Troussier and began to look for a chief coach.

Also according to Korean media outlets, the reasons behind the VFF pick are that Kim had reaped success by winning the K-League and advancing to the AFC Champion League semifinals, even though his coaching experience was shorter than that of other candidates. In addition, his contributions to Jeonbuk were evaluated positively.

 VOV