JoernAndersen says that he has been able to fulfil his long-standing ambition of becoming a coach in Asia as he took over at North Korea recently.
The Norwegian, however, says that he would have never imagined that the possibility of being in charge of one of the most unique countries in the world. The 54-year-old surprised the world when he took charge of North Korea, and he is the first foreign coach for the national team in more than 25 years. Now, Andersen has set his sights upon getting the national team into the World Cup finals for a third time.
He has revealed about the situations that led to his appointment as the North Korean national team manager. The country made headlines when they reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup 1966 which was held in England. However, they have not been able to make much of an impact at the international scene since then.
The team did qualify for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. North Korea has often been regarded as a secretive nation which does not try to expose most of its talent, and this led to the national team being protected by the local coaches in a huge manner.
Andersen appears to be extremely happy at North Korea, as he has now signed a contract extension that will keep him in the job until the Asian cup 2019.“I came last May to Pyongyang and I’m living there and I work with the national team like a club team every day and I’m very satisfied with the situation.At the end of 2015, I was coaching at Austria Salzburg and a businessman from Germany called me to find out if I was interested to be a national team trainer in Asia, in North Korea.At first I was very surprised about the question, but after thinking about it and speaking many times with the DPR Korea FA, I took the decision to go there,” saidAndersen.