The new coach of the national football team has been finalized! The old acquaintance Ivankovic took office, and Jankovic automatically terminated the contract
On the morning of February 24, Beijing time, the Chinese Football Association issued two announcements on the official website, and the head coach of the Chinese men's football team was also decided: Jankovic automatically terminated his contract because he failed to lead the team to the Asian Cup, and his successor was Ivankovic, a Croatian who had coached in Shandong Taishan.
After missing the group qualification for the Asian Cup, the relevant parties of the Football Association had preliminary communication with Jankovic, and Jankovic did not choose to return to China with the team, but boarded a flight back to his hometown Belgrade in Qatar, and now, the Chinese Football Association has officially announced his departure.
As for the new coach Ivankovic, he coached Shandong Luneng from 2010 to 2011 and has been coaching almost all since then. He took charge of the Oman national team at the beginning of 2020 and started his game in March 2021 with only one defeat in nine games, including a historic 1-0 win over Japan in the round of 12, and then a draw against Australia, one win and one draw against the national football team. The Oman team has participated in the World Preliminary Tournament nine times, and Ivankovic has created the best result in the team's history.
At the end of 2021, Oman reached the top 8 of the FIFA Arab Cup, also creating the best results. At the beginning of last year, the Gulf Cup group stage drew with the host Iraq, defeated Saudi Arabia to reach the final, and unfortunately lost to Iraq in overtime and was relegated to the runner-up. Oman also lost 0-1 to Germany in the warm-up match, and was invited to participate in the Central Asian Cup last summer and won the third place. Before the Asian Cup, Oman also won consecutive victories against the national football team and the United Arab Emirates, but it was forced to draw by Kyrgyzstan at the last minute of the third game of the group stage and lost the right to qualify, and Ivankovic resigned.
The Oman team did not recruit naturalized players like other countries in the Middle East, and relied on local players trained in the local semi-professional leagues, and a very small number of foreign players were only able to gain a foothold in the secondary leagues of Bahrain and Qatar under the promotion of Ivankovic in recent years. Oman has a population of only 4.5 million and cannot even participate in the AFC Champions League in the semi-professional league. With such a narrow selection of materials, it is rare for Ivankovic to bring the team to such heights. During his four years in charge, Oman rose from 82nd to 74th in the world rankings and from 11th to 10th in Asia. Ivankovic's success is even more impressive than in other countries with a larger population base.