Kim Pan-gon

While in university, Kim attracted the attention of Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i manager Cha Bum-kun and turned pro with Ulsan Hyundai in 1992. Kim failed to impress, however, and had to undergo seven surgeries due to a shin injury in his third year. He transferred to another K League club Jeonbuk Hyundai Dinos in 1997, but could not overcome the effects of his injury and retired that year. Kim became a high school coach for a while but left for Hong Kong to make a comeback. In 2000, he joined Instant-Dict (renamed Double Flower the next year) in the Hong Kong First Division League. He contributed to a Hong Kong FA Cup title and later moved to Buler Rangers in 2002 to serve as a player-coach for two years.

Busan IPark

Kim returned to South Korea in 2004 and obtained the AFC Professional Football Coaching Diploma, Asia's highest-level coaching license. At that time, only five other South Koreans held the same qualification. In 2005, he became Busan IPark's assistant coach under manager Ian Porterfield. During four years at Busan, Kim helped his team as caretaker manager whenever they had urgent situations. He won Busan's first victory of the 2006 season in his second match as Busan's manager on 8 April 2006 after predecessor Porterfield failed to get a victory in 21 consecutive matches, and achieved four consecutive victories in that month. This sudden change was called the "Pan-gon's Magic" by Korean media. He returned as the assistant coach when André Egli became a replacement for Porterfield in July. However, Egli abruptly announced his resignation while attending field training in the United States in June 2007, and Kim once again managed Busan as caretaker manager for the remainder of the season. Busan quickly recruited Park Sung-hwa as their new manager in July, but Park left for the South Korean Olympic team after just 17 days.

South China and Hong Kong

Kim became the manager of Hong Kong First Division League club South China on 3 December 2008. Under Kim, South China won the 2009 Lunar New Year Cup after defeating league all-star team and Sparta Prague. After contributing to South China's league title in the 2008–09 season, he started to manage Hong…

Kim was born into a family of peasants in Jinju, a small town in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. He was the youngest of five children and his family used to set up stalls to sell food 5 kilometers outside of Jinju every Friday. Kim loved football, but the junior high school he attended did not have a team of its own. In order to play football in high school, he enrolled in Changshin High School in Masan, at an hour's drive from his hometown, and Honam University, a famous non-traditional football school.

Kim obtained Hong Kong permanent residency after living there for seven years. His wife, son and daughter all live in Hong Kong.