On May 7, news came from Cambodia that Pep, the Spanish coach who had assisted the famous local coach Li Xiaopeng at Shandong Taishan (formerly Luneng) and China, was back in action. This time, his role is a bit unexpected. He will be coaching Cambodian Premier League club Svay Rieng FC.
On the afternoon of May 6, Svay Rieng FC FC hired Pep for a media meeting at Sofitel Svay Rieng Cambodia. Svay Rieng FC is a veteran club in Cambodian soccer, with the team having held the 2013. , 2019 and won the Cambodian Premier League title twice in 2020. , and runner-up in 2021. Last season, as the first place in the regular season, the team ended up finishing third in the league due to a poor playoff performance, which did not satisfy the club's management. As a result, the club decided to hire Pep to take over the team and regain the title.
Pep has reportedly emerged as the coach of Svay Rieng FC after squashing six other candidates. Pep reportedly began his search for a new job this year after the Chinese Football Association (CFA) confirmed that Yankovic had replaced Li Xiaopeng as the new coach of the national soccer team. Pep benefited in part from his brief stint with China. In the last few rounds of the Qatar World Cup Asian Zone 12 matches, Pep served as a "mastermind" to assist Li Xiaopeng in coaching the Chinese team, and Pep was responsible for formulating a plan for the team's technical and tactical training content.
Pep said, "This is an exciting assignment for me because it is the second head coach of my career."
Data shows that Pep was assistant coach of Barcelona U19. and Barcelona B, Qingdao Yellow Sea, and Shandong Taishan (2019 season) more than 10 years ago. Meanwhile, he only served as head coach of Lleida's youth team in 2008. It is understood that Pep will be based in Phnom Penh for a long time and Svay Rieng FC club has found many foreign assistants for him. Among them, the team's sports director is from Scotland. In the coaching team, two assistant coaches are from Northern Ireland and the goalkeeper coach is from Spain.
