Dutch coach Guus Hiddink is considered a legend of Korean football, after he led the Korean team to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup on home soil.

However, according to statistics, Coach Hiddink's winning rate when he was in charge of the Korean team more than 20 years ago was not high.

Among the 9 foreign coaches who have led the Korean team, Mr. Guus Hiddink only ranked 8th in terms of winning rate. Specifically, during the time he led the team known as the "Asian tiger" from 2001 - 2002, Coach Guus Hiddink led a total of 37 matches, including 14 wins, 12 draws and 11 losses.

Coach Guus Hiddink's winning percentage is only 37.84%. This percentage of the Dutch coach is only higher than that of coach Pim Furbeek (who led the Korean team from 2006 - 2007, with a winning percentage of 35.29%). Mr. Pim Furbeek is a compatriot of coach Guus Hiddink, but in the professional coaching world, he is quite unknown.

Meanwhile, the winning percentage of coach Jurgen Klinsmann (German) with the Korean team, until he was fired on February 16, was 47.05%. This percentage of coach Klinsmann is much higher than coach Guus Hiddink. Mr. Klinsmann is ranked 5th in the list of 9 foreign coaches who have led the "Asian tigers", calculated by winning percentage.

Specifically, coach Klinsmann has a total of 17 matches leading the Korean team, from February 2023 to February 2024, including 8 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses.

Coach Klinsmann had a rough start with the Korean national team, going through 5 consecutive matches without a win when he first took charge of the team. However, all 5 matches mentioned above were only friendly matches, including 2 matches with 2 opponents that were very strong compared to Korean football: Uruguay (lost 1-2) and Colombia (drawn 2-2).

After that, Coach Klinsmann's Korean team improved their performance and played better. At the 2023 Asian Cup, Korea only lost 1 match, but it was a match that should not have been lost: a 0-2 defeat to Jordan in the semi-finals. Because of this loss, combined with Coach Klinsmann's poor relationship with the media and experts in Korea before that, Coach Klinsmann was under great pressure and was fired.

Right above Coach Klinsmann in terms of winning percentage with the Korean team is Coach Dick Advocaat (Netherlands). He came to Korea with the expectation of doing the same thing that Coach Guus Hiddink did at the 2002 World Cup, but was unsuccessful. Coach Advocaat's winning percentage when he was in charge of the Korean team from 2005 - 2006 was 47.37%.

Klinsmann’s predecessor, Paulo Bento (Portugal), ranked second on the list, with a winning percentage of 61.40%. Leading the list is Uli Stielike (Germany), who led the Korean team from 2014 to 2017, with a winning percentage of 68.42%.

Another notable detail is that, except for coaches Uli Stielike (working for 3 years) and Paulo Bento (about 4 years in charge, from 2018 - 2022), other foreign coaches have had a very short working time with the Korean team.

For example, coach Klinsmann only lasted 1 year, coaches Humberto Choelho (Portugal, from 2004 - 2005), Dick Advocaat, Anatoly Bishovets (Russia, from 1994 - 1995), Anatoly Bishovets (Netherlands, from 2004 - 2005), Guud Hiddink and Pim Furbeek were not much better.

This shows that impatience with foreign coaches has been a "tradition" of the Korean team, and this impatience did not only appear under coach Klinsmann.