Former Henan Songshan Dragons coach Antonio Gomez will be the new coach of the Qingdao Sea Bulls, according to Sports Weekly on February 13th. Previously, Kim Byung-soo and Stano have been on the coaching list of Qingdao Hainiu team.
In fact, before Antonio was confirmed, former Gangwon FC head coach Kim Byung-soo and Stano, who has coached in a number of Chinese Super League teams, entered the picture. Kim Byung-soo is known as the "K-League Guardiola" in South Korea. He is said to have wanted to coach in China at the end of last year, and was once close to Manatee. However, the contact with Kim Byung-soo has since disappeared. But what is certain is that he is indeed one of the candidates for the Manatees.
The other is the old man of the Chinese Super League in former Dalian Albin, Beijing Guoan, Beijing Beijin and Beijing Renhe head coach Stano. Stano has been idle at home since his dismissal from Belgrade Partisans in 2022. He was said to be planning to go back to China to coach last year, but just when various options and being selected, Aniaspor from the Turkish Super League threw him an olive branch. It is understood that this Turkish Super League can provide Stano treatment conditions far more than the period of coaching guerrilla, extremely rare in Europe. Finally, Stano decided to go to Turkey.
Antonio Gomez is now infinitely closer to Qingdao, having previously coached the Henan Songshan Dragons on his own.In October 2021, Antonio was the coach of the Henan Songshan Dragons U21 youth team as Javier left for La Liga. He also has credits to his name in terms of leading the team's performance. For example, he led Henan to a historic run to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup, and at one point led the team to a seven-game unbeaten run in the league, with only two goals scored by their opponents. Before coming to Henan in November 2020, he also had the experience of assisting Stielike at Tianjin Teda.
Qingdao has made him their top target this time around, and one theory is that he also favors his familiarity with Chinese soccer, especially in terms of tapping into players' potential. At the moment, Antonio is essentially on the verge of a break from coaching the Manatees. Speaking of building the coaching staff, sources say that former Shandong soccer player Su Maozhen is expected to return.
