Park Sung-hwa (; born 7 May 1955) is a South Korean football manager and a former player. He is a gold medalist of the 1978 Asian Games.

Playing career Park played Handball until he attended middle school, but started playing football at Dongnae High School. His jumping ability made him a notable youth footballer. He was called up to the South Korea national youth team, but could not play as a youth international due to the refusal of his school.

After entering Korea University, Park played for the university's football team at the 1974 Korean President's Cup. He successfully overwhelmed 1.9-m-tall forward Kim Jae-han in a 1–0 win over Korea Housing Bank despite his 1.77-m height, receiving attention again from the Korea Football Association. That year, he was selected for the national B team, playing Merdeka Tournament matches.

Park played for the senior national team in the qualifiers of the 1976 Summer Olympics and the 1978 FIFA World Cup, but failed to qualify for both tournaments. Instead, he won a gold medal at the 1978 Asian Games after South Korea drew with North Korea without a goal in the final. China mostly attempted aerial duels against South Korea in the second group stage before medal matches, and this tactical decision was unsuccessful due to Park's existence.

When K League's inaugural season was held in 1983, Park received the Most Valuable Player award with his team Hallelujah FC winning the league title.

Managerial career Yukong Elephants After retiring as a player at the end of the 1987 season, Park worked as a coach at K League club Hyundai Horang-i from 1989 to 1991. He moved to the same league's Yukong Elephants prior to the 1992 season, and was appointed their caretaker manager in May when predecessor Kim Jung-nam resigned for poor results. At the end of the season, Yukong finished bottom of the league, but signed a permanent contract with Park. In September 1994, he left the club, being replaced by Valery Nepomnyashchy.

Pohang Steelers Park managed Pohang Steelers from 1996 to 2000 after studying in England for a year. He led Pohang to win two consecutive Asian Club Championship titles in the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons.

South Korea U20 Park became the manager of the South Korea under-20 team in November 2001, and led them to win two successive AFC Youth Championship titles in 2002 and 2004. In contrast with the results in Asia, his team had difficulty dominating opposing teams at the FIFA World Youth Championship, being eliminated in the round of 16 and the group stage at the 2003 and 2005 tournaments respectively.

South Korea U23 Park signed for K League side Busan IPark in July 2007, but left for the South Korea under-23 team 17 days after the signing. His team succeeded in qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics by finishing first in their group of the qualifying tournament, but was criticised for scoring only four goals in six matches. During the Olympics, his team finished third with four points in the Group D, where they drew 1–1 with Cameroon, lost 3–0 to Italy and defeated Honduras 1–0.

Myanmar Park managed Chinese Super League club Dalian Shide since June 2010, but was sacked for earning only eight points in nine matches during the 2011 season. His next destination was Myanmar where he was in charge of their senior and under-23 teams until 2013. He was sacked for his fatal illusion at the 2013 SEA Games. He was mistaken about the tournament's tiebreaker, giving the main players a break in the last group stage match against Indonesia, which was three points and a large goal difference behind Myanmar. However, the tournament priortised head-to-head record, and a 1–0 defeat to Indonesia made them go out of the tournament. The tournament was held by Myanmar, but he did not know the fact.

Career statistics International Results list South Korea's goal tally first. +List of international goals scored by Park Sung-hwaNo. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition1 29 July 1975 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3–0 3–1 1975 Pestabola Merdeka2 11 August 1975 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 5–0 5–1 1975 Pestabola Merdeka3 15 August 1975 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2–0 4–0 1975 Pestabola Merdeka43–05 17 December 1976 Bangkok, Thailand 2–0 4–0 1976 King's Cup63–074–08 19 July 1978 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3–0 4–0 1978 Pestabola Merdeka9 27 July 1978 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1–0 2–0 1978 Pestabola Merdeka102–011 14 December 1978 Bangkok, Thailand 2–0 3–1 1978 Asian Games12 27 December 1978 Manila, Philippines 3–0 5–0 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualification13 16 June 1979 Seoul, South Korea 1–0 4–1 Friendly142–0153–116 8 September 1979 Seoul, South Korea 1–0 8–0 1979 Korea Cup175–018 14 September 1979 Seoul, South Korea 1–0 5–1 1979 Korea Cup19 16 September 1979 Incheon, South Korea 2–0 9–0 1979 Korea Cup203–021 10 October 1984 Calcutta, India ?–0 6–0 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualification22?–023?–024?–025 13 October 1984 Calcutta, India ?–0 6–0 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualification26?–0

Honours Player Korea University Korean National Championship: 1974, 1976 Korean President's Cup runner-up: 1976

ROK Army Korean National Semipro League (Spring): 1980 Korean President's Cup runner-up: 1980

Hallelujah FC K League 1: 1983

POSCO Atoms K League 1: 1986

South Korea Asian Games: 1978

Individual Korean National Championship Best Player: 1976 Korean FA Best XI: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984 Korean President's Cup top goalscorer: 1977 Korean FA Most Valuable Player: 1979 K League 1 Most Valuable Player: 1983 K League 1 Best XI: 1983, 1984 AFC Asian All-Star: 1985 K League '80s All-Star Team: 2003

Manager Yukong Elephants Korean League Cup: 1994

Pohang Steelers Korean FA Cup: 1996 Korean League Cup runner-up: 1996, 1997+ Asian Club Championship: 1996–97, 1997–98

South Korea U20 AFC Youth Championship: 2002, 2004

Individual AFC Coach of the Month: February 1998, April 1998

See also List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps

References

External links

Park Sung-hwa – National team stats at KFA