What is the origin of the new coach of the national football team, Ivankovic, the head coach of Luneng Champion, who once led the Champions League powerhouse to an undefeated double championship in the season
On February 24, Beijing time, the Chinese Football Association officially announced that Ivankovic replaced Jankovic as the new coach of the Chinese men's football team.
The following is the official announcement of the Chinese Football Association:
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, UEFA professional level 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.
Many fans may only know that Ivankovic once led Shandong Luneng Taishan to win the Chinese Super League championship.
Here is a brief introduction to the new coach of the national football team from Croatia.
Ivankovic was born on February 28, 1954, and will celebrate his 70th birthday in a few days.
Ivankovic's coaching career began in his hometown of Varaztin, where he was tepid, with the best result coming in the 92/93 season, when Ivankovic led him to a seventh-place finish in the league and a cup quarter-final.
In 1997, Ivankovic's coaching ability was discovered by the Croatian Football Federation, and he was officially appointed as the right-hand man of the Croatian national team coach Mirosv Blazevic.
In 1998, Ivankovic helped the Plaid Army reach the semi-finals of the '98 World Cup, where they finished third.
In the 99-00 season, due to the lack of national team games, Ivankovic withdrew from the national team and went to Germany alone to coach the German second division team Hannover 96.
In 2001, Ivankovic accepted the invitation of his friend Mirosv Blazevic to serve as his assistant again, that is, the assistant coach of the Iranian national team, due to Iran's elimination in the 2002 World Cup qualifying play-offs, Blazevi announced his resignation, Ivankovic took over the head coach of the Iranian national team, and led the Iranian team to win the West Asian Cup in 2004 and the third place in the Asian Cup.
Ivankovic's pinnacle began in November 2006, when he was officially the head coach of Champions League regulars Dinamo Zagreb.
Dinamo Zagreb was able to do just anything under Ivankovic, never losing a single game and leading Dinamo Zagreb to the league and cup double in the 06-07 season.
In 2010, Ivankovic succeeded Tuba as the head coach of Shandong Luneng Taishan, and led Luneng to win the league championship in the same year.
Then, on May 5, 2011, Ivankovic was late to the head coach of Luneng Club due to personal health reasons.
After leaving China, Ivankovic went to Iran again and led Persepolis FC to win the Iranian league, cup and Super Cup treble for three consecutive years.
It is worth mentioning that the head coach of Persepolis when they finished runners-up in the AFC Champions League in 2018 was none other than Ivankovic.
At that time, the opponent of Persepolis in the final was Kashima Antlers from Japan.
In January 2020, Ivankovic accepted the invitation of the Oman Football Federation to serve as the head coach of the Oman national team until January 31, 2024.