On February 25th in the Beijing time zone, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) delivered the big news that Croatian-born Ivankovic was officially appointed as the new head coach of the Chinese men's soccer team.
Immediately afterward, Ivankovic posted an exciting poster on his personal social media platforms, announcing that he would be taking on a "big new challenge."
Branko Ivankovic, an experienced UEFA professional coach, has been in charge of famous clubs such as Hannover 96, Dinamo Zagreb, and has led the national teams of Iran and Oman, and in 2010 he led Shandong Luneng Taishan to win the Chinese Super League title.
According to the plan, Ivankovic will watch the Shanghai Super Cup "Shanghai Derby" on the 25th and leave for Croatia that night to renew his visa. He is expected to return to China at the beginning of March to join the Chinese Super League campaign. In addition, he will be supported by four Croatian assistant coaches, including Mario Tokizi. Zhang Yu, former Shenhua coach and translator for 1989 Croatia coach Blažević, will also become a full-time translator for the Ivanković national soccer team.
Given that the national soccer team will regroup at the beginning of March, Ivankovic will not be able to get to know each player in detail in just half a month. Therefore, the formation of the new national soccer training squad will rely heavily on the recommendations of the Chinese coaching team, and it is expected that the candidates will be different from the Asian Cup period.
