Unbeaten in 9 Matches With Spain, 1 Draw and 6 Losses at Sochi… Moreno's A-Match Schedule Opens With Ecuador on the 24th

Interim head coach Roberto Moreno will make his debut against Ecuador in Suwon at 8 p.m. on the 24th. The domestic four-match A-match series, 4 matches in 13 days through the October 6 match against Uzbekistan, is about to begin.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

Three-Line Summary

The Moreno-era four-match series runs for 13 days at 4 stadiums, from the September 24 match against Ecuador to the October 6 match against Uzbekistan.
The opponents' FIFA rankings, as of the KFA announcement, are Uruguay 20th, Ecuador 25th, Venezuela 47th and Uzbekistan 60th.
Moreno, born in 1977, went unbeaten in 9 matches with the Spanish national team, and was dismissed from Sochi after 1 draw and 6 losses in the first 7 matches of the season.

77.8% and 33.9%. Two numbers sit side by side on the résumé of head coach Roberto Moreno (49). Leading the Spanish national team in 2019, he went unbeaten in 9 matches (a 77.8% win rate). At his most recent club, PFC Sochi, his win rate over 62 matches was 33.9%. That coach will make his debut with the Korean national team in Suwon at 8 p.m. on the 24th.

Korea Football Association appointed Moreno as interim head coach of the men's national team on September 1. He is the first national team head coach the association has chosen through open recruitment. The contract runs through November 27, and he will take charge of 6 A-matches in total. Four of them are packed into this domestic four-match series.

Moreno-Era A-Match Schedule: 4 Matches at 4 Stadiums in 13 Days

The series is officially titled the "Hana Bank Invitational Korea National Team Friendlies," and all four matches are held in Korea. Yonhap News reported the first match as the Ecuador match at Suwon World Cup Stadium on the 24th. Dong-A Ilbo reported that the other three matches also kick off at 8 p.m.

Four-Match Schedule and Opponents' FIFA Rankings

Match	Date and Kickoff (KST)	Opponent	Stadium	FIFA Ranking (at KFA Announcement)
1	September 24, 8 p.m.	Ecuador	Suwon World Cup Stadium	25th (as of 2026.08.05)
2	September 28, 8 p.m.	Uruguay	Seoul World Cup Stadium	20th (as of 2026.08.05)
3	October 2, 8 p.m.	Venezuela	Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium	47th (as of 2026.07.28)
4	October 6, 8 p.m.	Uzbekistan	Yongin Mir Stadium	60th (as of 2026.07.28)

Lining up the opponents by the rankings the KFA gave when it announced them reveals a pattern. Uruguay at 20th and Ecuador at 25th come first, followed by Venezuela at 47th and Uzbekistan at 60th. The average ranking of the first two opponents is 22.5th, and of the last two it is 53.5th. All are figures from the time of the announcement, not the latest rankings as of today. Two teams ranked in the 20s at the time of the announcement come first, then a match every 4 days over 13 days. That is the four-match series boiled down to a single line.

Moreno's Age Is 49, From Unbeaten With Spain to Dismissal at Sochi

Moreno was born in Spain on September 19, 1977, and is 49 years old. After becoming head coach of PB Colblanc in 2003, he went on to Castelldefels and CF Damm. From 2014 to 2017 he served as assistant coach at FC Barcelona. He joined the Spanish national team as assistant coach in 2018 and took over as head coach the following year.

In 2019, Moreno led Spain in 9 matches. His own official press kit lists 7 wins, 2 draws and no losses. The Spanish outlet AS, in its September 1 report, counted one more match, with 10 matches and 8 wins and 2 draws. This article follows his own materials, updated on September 5. Either way, he did not lose a match. The problem came after he left the national team.

Moreno's Record by Major Team (Compiled From Wikipedia)

Team	Period	Matches	W-D-L	Win Rate
Spain national team	2019	9	7-2-0	77.8%
AS Monaco	2019~2020	13	5-3-5	38.5%
Granada CF	2021~2022	29	6-10-13	20.7%
PFC Sochi	2023~2025	62	21-21-20	33.9%

At Monaco, he managed only a 38.5% win rate over 13 matches. At Granada, he recorded 6 wins, 10 draws and 13 losses in 29 matches and was dismissed midseason in March 2022. At Sochi, there was a turnaround too. On May 31, 2025, he won the promotion-relegation playoff 4-3 on aggregate, returning the team to the Russian Premier League. But after recording 1 draw and 6 losses in the first 7 matches of the new season, he was dismissed.

Points to Watch Against Ecuador, and What Has Been Confirmed as of Now

Match information can be checked on the Korea Football Association's official match schedule page. The association's schedule is updated frequently and does not show a posting date, so it is best to check once more before kickoff.

The first thing to watch in Moreno's debut is his player selection against Ecuador. The match itself and its result are not yet available. 4 days after the Ecuador match, he faces Uruguay in Seoul, the highest-ranked of this series' opponents. How the first match's selections connect to the second match is also worth watching.

Moreno takes the field for his first match carrying a drop of 43.9 percentage points between Spain's 77.8% and Sochi's 33.9%. The exam paper he has been handed is 6 A-matches through November 27. Four of them will be done within 13 days starting on the 24th.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the A-match schedule for the Moreno era?

In order: Ecuador on September 24 (Suwon), Uruguay on September 28 (Seoul), Venezuela on October 2 (Ulsan) and Uzbekistan on October 6 (Yongin). All four matches kick off at 8 p.m. Korean time.

Q. How old is head coach Moreno?

Born on September 19, 1977, he is 49 years old as of September 24, 2026. He is Spanish and was appointed interim head coach of the national team on September 1, 2026.

Q. What is Ecuador's FIFA ranking?

The ranking the Korea Football Association gave when it announced the opponents on August 5, 2026, is 25th. It is not a figure rechecked against the latest ranking table. Venezuela appeared as 41st in some news headlines, but the official KFA announcement that same day said 47th.

Related Official Sites

Korea Football Association — You can check national team news and official announcements
Korea Football Association Official Match Schedule — The four-match schedule and match information are updated frequently
FIFA Men's World Ranking — You can directly check the opponents' latest FIFA rankings

Featured image · Archive photo · Not a photo from the match covered in this article · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (ypa.ir), CC BY 4.0