Former South Korea national football team coach Paulo Bento is set to return to Asia.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Football Association announced on its official website on Tuesday (10 June) that Portugal international Bento has been appointed head coach of the UAE national football team.
The three-year contract runs until the 2026 FIFA Confederations Cup North and Central America.
The UAE Football Association cited Bento’s wealth of coaching experience, including stints with the Portuguese and South Korean national teams, as well as clubs in Portugal, Greece, China and Brazil, as well as his stability and commanding presence as key strengths.
“He will be in charge of the team for three years, bringing stability to the team and creating the right atmosphere to realise its aspirations,” the association said.
“The UAE national team has important events coming up,” said Ventura. The 2026 North and Central American World Cup qualifiers start in November. We also have the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar next January. Our aspirations are very high,” he said.카지노사이트
The federation has given Bento a goal of reaching the semi-finals of the Qatar Asian Cup and qualifying for the North American World Cup. With 48 nations participating in the tournament, it will be a new opportunity for the UAE.
Bento was appointed head coach of the South Korean national football team in August 2018 and has been at the helm for four and a half years. At the 2019 UAE Asian Cup, the team suffered a disappointing quarter-final defeat to Qatar.
Since then, Bento has instilled in his team a style of football that favours ball possession and quick attacking transitions, and in the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he has led South Korea to their 10th consecutive World Cup qualification with a record of seven wins, two draws and one defeat, erasing the jitters of the previous two World Cup qualifiers.
In Qatar, Bento stuck to his style and it worked on the world stage. Drawn in a group with Uruguay, Ghana and Portugal, South Korea won one, drew one and lost one, finishing with four points to leapfrog third-placed Uruguay on goal difference and reach only their second ever away World Cup round of 16.
The referee’s early decision to award a corner in the closing minutes of the 2-3 defeat to Ghana sparked a fierce protest from the South Korean players, with Bento showing leadership in defence of his players when he was sent off for protesting.
Bento watched the final game against Portugal from the stands, but his four-and-a-half years of football helped South Korea complete a dramatic 2-1 comeback to make history.
Bento left South Korea without a new contract and has been on a break ever since. He was linked with other national teams, including Poland and Ecuador, but ultimately chose the UAE.