On February 24, Beijing time, the Chinese Football Association announced that Jankovic, the former Asian Games men's football coach, replaced Li Xiaopeng as the new coach of the national football team. Also after Lippi, the national football team hired a foreign coach again after 3 years. Since the World Qualifiers will only be played at the end of this year, and the next Asian Cup will only be played at the beginning of 2024, leaving Jankovic with half a year to prepare, it is not a rush to take office.
In March 2022, after the national football team was eliminated from the round of 12, the issue of Li Xiaopeng's departure has been plaguing the media and fans, and there have been various theories such as Li Xiaopeng's retention, Li Xiaopeng's dismissal, and Li Xiaopeng's assistance to Jankovic. But it was not until the end of 2022 that the Chinese Football Association was in earnest to select the coach.
Of course, during this period, although Li Xiaopeng did not lead the national football team to appear again, he was under great pressure, after all, he replaced Li Tie as the national football manager, but the team in the last 4 rounds of the round of 12 did not improve at all. Li Xiaopeng has not been harshly criticized by the outside world, of course, Li Xiaopeng's pot is also "not in vain".
As the Chinese Football Association officially announced Kovic as the national football manager, Li Xiaopeng's 11-month pot was finally unloaded. Previously, some analysts believed that the national football team did not organize training for a long time, which would have a huge impact on the team, but with the Asian Cup postponed from this summer to the beginning of 2024, the World Preliminary Round will start at the end of this year, leaving the national football team with half a year of preparation time, which is enough time for Jankovic.
In March, the national football team and New Zealand will play 2 warm-up matches, according to FIFA's schedule, the national football team can arrange at least 6-8 warm-up matches this year, plus after the end of the 2023 season of the Chinese Super League, there is still enough time to prepare for the World Preliminary Round and the Asian Cup, so it is worth looking forward to whether Jankovic can lead the national football team to a qualitative change.