Former teacher Hwang Hee-chan, now Lopetegui, who won the opponent's Europa in Asia, leads Qatar for the second consecutive Cup...West Ham return four months after being replaced

May 02, 2025

Former teacher Hwang Hee-chan, now Lopetegui, who won the opponent's Europa in Asia, leads Qatar for the second consecutive Cup...West Ham return four months after being replaced
Qatar Football Association SNS



Former teacher Hwang Hee-chan, now Lopetegui, who won the opponent's Europa in Asia, leads Qatar for the second consecutive Cup...West Ham return four months after being replaced
Qatar Football Association SNS
Qatar, which was pushed to the brink in the 2026 North-China World Cup qualifying round, has appointed head coach Julen Lopetegui, Hwang Hee-chan's Wolverhampton-era teacher as the new head coach.

The Qatar Football Association announced on the 2nd (Korea time) that it has appointed Lopetegui as the new coach of the A national team. The contract period is until the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia. The Qatar Football Association officially announced its separation from its predecessor Luis Garcia on the 30th.

Lopetegui, a Spanish coach, is a big-boned coach in the European big leagues. He began his leadership career at Rayo Bayecano, where he coached Real Madrid B and Spanish age groups and built his leadership career.




Afterwards, he played for Portugal's prestigious Porto and Spain's national team and led Real Madrid and Sevilla. During his time as coach of Sevilla, he succeeded in reaching the top of the Europa League in the 2019-2020 season and was recognized for his leadership.

Recently, he played in the English Premier League (EPL). Lopetegui was joined by Hwang Hee-chan as Wolverhampton head coach from November 2022 to August 2023. He successfully led Wolverhampton, who had been on the verge of relegation for about nine months.

In particular, Hwang Hee-chan groaned due to a hamstring (back muscle of the thigh) injury at the time, but showed full trust. Lopetegui broke up after a disagreement over Wolverhampton's financial problems.




Former teacher Hwang Hee-chan, now Lopetegui, who won the opponent's Europa in Asia, leads Qatar for the second consecutive Cup...West Ham return four months after being replaced
Qatar Football Association SNS
Former teacher Hwang Hee-chan, now Lopetegui, who won the opponent's Europa in Asia, leads Qatar for the second consecutive Cup...West Ham return four months after being replaced
Reuters Yonhap News
In the 2024-2025 season, he replaced manager David Moyes as West Ham's coach. He began accompanying him on July 1 after the official announcement was made in May last year. The contract period took two years and a one-year option. However, he left in January this year after six months due to poor grades.

Coach Lopetegui's biggest pending issue, which is taking on a new challenge in Qatar, is advancing to the 2026 North Korea-China World Cup finals. Qatar won two consecutive Asian Cups in 2019 and last year, but has rarely found a way out of the World Cup qualifiers.

Qatar ranked fourth (10 points) in Group A in the third qualifying round, following Iran (20 points), Uzbekistan (17 points), and the United Arab Emirates (13 points). In the third qualifying round, the first and second places in each group will win a ticket to the World Cup finals. The third and fourth places will go to the fourth qualifying round, while the fifth and sixth places will be eliminated.




The third qualifying round will end with two consecutive games in June. Qatar's only hope is to advance to the fourth qualifying round. With the elimination of North Korea (2 points), the lowest in Group A, the fifth-ranked Kyrgyzstan (6 points) is seeking to turn the tables.

Qatar will play against Uzbekistan on June 6 (Korean time) following Iran on June 10. Lopetegui will make his debut against Iran.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.