The Chinese Football Association officially announced: Jankovic stepped down, and Ivankovic served as the head coach of the Chinese team
On February 24, Beijing time, the Chinese Football Association officially announced: Jankovic will no longer serve as the coach of the Chinese men's national football team, and the former coach of Shandong Luneng and Oman national teams Ivankovic will take office.
The announcement of the Football Association wrote: In order to further prepare for the 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the Chinese Football Association decided to appoint Blanco Ivankovic as the head coach of the Chinese national men's football team after the review of the expert review panel.
Blanco Ivankovic is a UEFA professional coach. He has coached many teams such as Hannover 96 (Germany), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Iran national men's football team, Oman national men's football team, etc. In 2010, Ivankovic led Shandong Luneng Taishan team to win the Chinese Super League championship. (End of announcement)
At the same time, the Football Association also announced the announcement of Jankovic's departure, saying that his coaching contract has been automatically terminated according to the agreement due to the failure to lead the team to the knockout stage of the Asian Cup.
According to the data, the 69-year-old Croatian coach Ivankovic has coached club teams such as Hannover 96, Dinamo Zagreb, Shandong Luneng, Dammam Cooperation, Abu Dhabi United, Persepolis and Jeddah National, as well as Iran and Oman national teams. Among them, during his tenure at Shandong Luneng, he led the team to win the 2010 Chinese Super League championship. During his time in charge of the Oman national team, he led the team to the World Cup qualifiers round of 12, during which time he led the team to victories over Japan and China. During the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup, the team did not taste victory in the group stage with 2 draws and 1 loss, and missed the knockout round. Since then, Ivankovic's contract with the Oman team has expired, and the two sides have not renewed it.
According to previous reports, Ivankovic's annual salary from the Chinese Football Association is 1.5 million euros, slightly higher than Jankovic's 1.2 million euros, but it is still within the expected range of the Chinese Football Association.
During the international break in late March, the national football team will play Singapore in the round of 36 of the World Cup qualifiers, and the away game on March 21 will also be the first official game in charge of the national football team.