AFC Asian Cup
With the Continental showpiece fast approaching, the-AFC.com takes a look at the 24 tacticians who will lead Asia’s best in what promises to be another thrilling edition of the AFC Asian Cup.
There will be new faces in charge as several teams, including four of the six Asian teams who featured in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, will have new head coaches.
We continue this series by looking at the head coaches of Groups D, E and F.
Group D
Stability is the name of the game for Japan. The 2019 runners-up are one of only two sides that have kept their head coach since the previous AFC Asian Cup edition, with Hajime Moriyasu entering the fifth year of his tenure in charge of the Samurai Blue.
Stability is the name of the game for Japan. The 2019 runners-up are one of only two sides that have kept their head coach since the previous AFC Asian Cup edition, with Hajime Moriyasu entering the fifth year of his tenure in charge of the Samurai Blue.
The 55-year-old will not be the only AFC Asian Cup veteran in the group, however. In fact, Moriyasu will open his campaign against a coach whom he dreams of emulating. Vietnam head coach Philippe Troussier had led Japan to continental glory in Lebanon 2000. He also led Qatar in the 2004 edition in China PR.
Troussier took charge of Vietnam in March, replacing the nation’s longest-serving coach, Park Hang-seo, who had led them to the quarter-finals in UAE 2019.
And while one Park has departed Vietnam, there will be a representative of Korea Republic in the dugouts of Group D, with Shin Tae-yong having led Indonesia to an AFC Asian Cup return for the first time since co-hosting the tournament in 2007. The 53-year-old has been at the helm since 2020 and will be looking to make his debut in the tournament as a coach, having represented his nation in the 1996 edition as a player.
Rounding off the Group D bosses is Iraq head coach Jesus Casas. The Spaniard was an unknown quantity before taking charge of the Lions of Mesopotamia, having spent his career at the lower divisions of Spanish football or as an assistant, most recently to Spain boss Luis Enrique, but in his 12 months in Iraq, he has so far transformed the look of the national team, brining hopes of a successful campaign for the 2007 Asian champions.
Group E
Korea Republic’s dreams of returning to the summit of Asian football for the third time in their history rest on the shoulders of German legend Jurgen Klinsmann. A World Cup and European champion as a player, Klinsmann is the second German to manage the Taegeuk Warriors after Uli Stielike.
Korea Republic’s dreams of returning to the summit of Asian football for the third time in their history rest on the shoulders of German legend Jurgen Klinsmann. A World Cup and European champion as a player, Klinsmann is the second German to manage the Taegeuk Warriors after Uli Stielike.
Klinsmann replaced Paulo Bento in February 2023 and will be hoping to win a second continental trophy as a manager, having helped the United States lift the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup title a decade ago.
Returning to the tournament for the second time is Bahrain head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi, the Spaniard previously managed Saudi Arabia in the most recent edition of the AFC Asian Cup, where they were eliminated by Japan in the Round of 16. He has only been at the helm for five months, after replacing Helio Sousa in July.
Adding to the contingent of Korean managers in Qatar 2023 is Malaysia boss Kim Pan-gon. The 54-year-old is best known for an extended spell in charge of Hong Kong, where he coached the national team for five years between 2012 and 2017. He arrived in the Harimau Malaya dugout in January 2022, and within half a year, he helped Malaysia qualify for the AFC Asian Cup on merit for the first time since 1980.
The fourth coach of Group E comes from a fourth different nation. Moroccan Hussein Ammouta is the man charged with helping Jordan better their best finishes of reaching the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2011. A former player and coach at Qatari giants Al Sadd, Ammouta’s only international experience as a coach saw him lead his home country to winning the 2020 African Nations Championship, the competition for domestic-based national teams in Africa. He was appointed as Jordan boss in July 2023, replacing Adnan Hamad.
Group F
Three-time Asian champions Saudi Arabia go into Qatar 2023 led by a continental champion in Roberto Mancini. The Italian had led his home country to the Euro 2020 title before resigning and taking up the Green Falcons’ job in August 2023 to become the first Italian to ever manage Saudi Arabia.
Three-time Asian champions Saudi Arabia go into Qatar 2023 led by a continental champion in Roberto Mancini. The Italian had led his home country to the Euro 2020 title before resigning and taking up the Green Falcons’ job in August 2023 to become the first Italian to ever manage Saudi Arabia.
Mancini’s first AFC Asian Cup match will see him come face-to-face with a veteran of the Asian game in Oman’s Branko Ivankovic (pictured below). The Croatian had previously led IR Iran to finishing third in the 2004 edition and has since been a constant presence in Asian football, coaching clubs from China PR to Saudi Arabia to the UAE, most notably leading Iranian giants Persepolis to the AFC Champions League final in 2018.
For the second time in their history, Thailand are led by a Japanese coach. And although the Akira Nishino experiment between 2019 and 2021 was not hugely successful, the War Elephants have put their AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 hopes in the hands of Masatada Ishii, a man who knows Thai football well, having managed Samut Prakan City and Buriram United before taking charge of the national team in November 2023, replacing Alexander Polking.
A new arrival to the Asian scene is Slovak coach Stefan Tarkovic, who will become the second coach to manage the Kyrgyz Republic in an AFC Asian Cup after the long-serving Russian Aleksandr Krestinin whose nine-year stint highlight was helping the nation reach the Round of 16 on their continental debut in the UAE 2019, an achievement the former Slovakia boss will dream to match, albeit in a difficult group against more experienced opponents.
