Coach Park Hang-seo (62), who has developed the Vietnamese national soccer team with ‘Park Hang-seo Magic’, will also participate in ‘Last Dance’.

The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Mitsubishi Electric Cup, dubbed the “Southeast Asian World Cup,” opens on the 20th.

In this tournament, the 10 member countries of the AFF are divided into two groups, and after a group stage, the first and second places in each group advance to the tournament to determine the winner.

The finals will be held on January 13 (first leg) and 16 (second leg), 2023.

Group A included the “defending champions” Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Brunei. In Group B, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar and Laos compete.

Head coach Park Hang-seo puts down the baton of the Vietnamese national team after this tournament.

Coach Park, who took office in 2017, will expire on January 31 next year. Manager Park decided not to extend his contract.

Director Park is known as ‘Vietnam’s Hiddink’. In October 2017, he changed the history of Vietnamese football after taking the helm of the Vietnam A national team and the U-23 national team at the same time.

Team A won the 2018 Suzuki Cup 토토 (now the Mitsubishi Electric Cup) in 10 years and reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.

Then, at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Vietnam advanced to the Asian final qualifier for the first time in the history of football. Entering the top 100 in the FIFA rankings is also an achievement of coach Park.

In the U-23 national team, he succeeded in becoming runner-up in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship and advancing to the semifinals of the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games in the same year.

Coach Park, who missed two consecutive victories in the previous competition, is determined to finish the ‘Last Dance’ with a win in the last competition with the Vietnamese national team.

In Vietnam, director Park is also looking forward to a beautiful finish.

Recently, VN Express, a Vietnamese media outlet, said, “I hope that Vietnamese players present coach Park with the last championship. Coach Park deserves it.”

In the Mitsubishi Electric Cup, coach Park, coach Shin Tae-yong’s Indonesia, and coach Kim Pan-gon’s Malaysia participate, drawing attention to the confrontation between Korean coaches.

Coach Shin Tae-yong, who finished runner-up in the last tournament, is also aiming for the championship.

Indonesia has been runner-up six times without winning the AFF Championship. Coach Shin writes a new history when he stands at the top of this tournament.

Head coach Kim Pan-gon, who was in charge of the Malaysian national team earlier this year, also dreams of a change.

Manager Kim’s Malaysia will face Coach Park’s Vietnam on the 27th.

Established in 1996, the AFF Championship is held every two years.

This tournament, which is held as a home-and-away match, only Brunei’s home matches will be held in Malaysia