This Year's PonyJeong Innovation Award Winner is Former Vietnam Coach Park Hang-seo

The Ponyjeong Foundation has selected former Vietnam men's national football team coach Park Hang-seo, who contributed to enhancing friendly relations between Korea and Vietnam through football diplomacy, as the recipient of the 17th 'Ponyjeong Innovation Award.'

On the 3rd, Chung Mong-gyu, chairman of the Ponyjeong Foundation, stated, "Coach Park Hang-seo, after taking charge of the Vietnam men's national football team, achieved the best results in history and served as a bridge to strengthen the friendly relations between the two countries," explaining the reason for his selection.

Born in 1959, Coach Park served as the head coach during South Korea's advance to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup. He managed domestic professional teams such as Gyeongnam, Jeonnam, Sangju, and Changwon before taking over as the head coach of the Vietnam men's national football team in 2017.

Since his appointment, he led the team to the first Asian Games semifinals, won the Suzuki Cup for the first time in 10 years, reached the Asian Cup quarterfinals for the first time, secured back-to-back victories at the Southeast Asian Games, and qualified for the World Cup final qualifiers for the first time. In January of this year, after five years as Vietnam's national team coach, Coach Park announced his intention to continue his career as a coach.

The Ponyjeong Foundation plans to hold the award ceremony on May 26 at the I'Park Tower in Samseong-dong, Seoul.

Meanwhile, the Ponyjeong Innovation Award was established in 2006, named after the late Chung Se-young, founder of Hyundai Motor Company and honorary chairman of HDC Group (formerly Hyundai Development Company), whose nickname was 'PONY 鄭 (Ponyjeong).' The award honors individuals or organizations that have brought positive change to society through innovative thinking, granting a prize of 200 million won and a trophy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.