Yet another former international player has completed the transformation into the role of coach: Korea Republic idol Hwang Seon-hong is now in charge of Busan I’Park in the K-League. Hwang scored 50 goals in 103 international appearances, took part in all four FIFA World Cup™ final competitions between 1990 and 2002 and spent most of his playing career abroad. Now he is hoping to groom Busan for glory. “I regard this job as an honour,” commented the 39-year-old after his appointment. “I am still young but I’ll do my best and I promise never to give up.”

Marcel Desailly, a former French international with Ghanaian roots, has very firm ideas about his future. “Currently I am travelling around the world for UNICEF because children need my help,” declared the 39-year-old 1998 world champion and 2000 EURO champion to Equipe-TV. In time he would like to coach the Ghanaian national team. The former defender claims, “Ghana is brimming with up-and-coming talent,” pointing out that current coach Frenchman Claude Leroy is working wonders. “But when he steps down, my time will have come,” adds Desailly.

For years, Hakan Sukur was an object of veneration in Turkey until German coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp banished the aging Galatasaray star to the sidelines. The club suggested the 36-year-old should call time on his career at the end of the season. “We are building a new team,” announced Galatasaray Vice-President Adnan Polat, “so there is no room for him. He should stop playing at the end of the season or else we’ll have to go our separate ways.” Sukur is anything but willing to hang up his boots. “I want to play for another two years,” insisted the striker nicknamed “The Bull from the Bosporus” and he is willing to move to another club to achieve his goal. The striker holds the all-time goalscoring record for Turkey with 51 goals in 109 international appearances. He also holds the record for the fastest goal at a FIFA World Cup™ when he took just eleven seconds to find the back of the net in Turkey’s 3-2 win over Korea Republic in the play-off for third place in 2002.