"Give back your salary and go."
That was the angry cry from fans that echoed during the return of Hong Myung-bo's squad, which suffered a bitter failure at the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America.
Coach Hong Myung-bo and nine national football team players returned through Incheon International Airport on Monday morning after completing their World Cup campaign.
South Korea, which had aimed to reach the round of 16 in a second consecutive away World Cup following the 2022 Qatar tournament, recorded one win and two losses for three points in the group stage of this tournament, finishing third in Group A.
In the competition among the 12 third-place teams, South Korea was pushed down to 10th and failed to advance to the round of 32 knockout stage. In this tournament, expanded to 48 participating nations, South Korea's final ranking was 34th — the worst in its World Cup participation history when measured purely by ranking.
Along with Coach Hong, who declared his resignation the previous day at a training ground in Mexico, the players who returned first that day were Cho Hyun-woo (Ulsan), Kim Min-jae (Munich), Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), Paik Seung-ho (Birmingham City), Kim Moon-hwan (Daejeon), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Seol Young-woo (Crvena Zvezda) and Oh Hyeon-gyu (Besiktas).
Although it was dawn, about 50 football fans came to the airport where the national team arrived and shouted at Coach Hong, "Hong Myung-bo, get out" and "Give back your salary and go." The fans even beat drums as they voiced their criticism, but Hong left the arrival hall in silence.
Hong did not give any particular answer to reporters' questions, including "Do you have anything to say to the fans?"
The players left first in cars prepared outside the gate, and the bus carrying association officials departed the airport afterward.
Ahead of the national team's return, posts hinting at threats to Hong's personal safety had appeared online, but no notable physical clashes occurred.
Other players, including Son Heung-min (LAFC), moved separately in groups of a few, and all are scheduled to return by July 1.
Typically, a homecoming event was held at the airport when the squad returned after completing a World Cup finals, but no separate event was held this time.
This is the first time since the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, which South Korea co-hosted, that the national team has returned from an away World Cup without an airport homecoming event.
