MUSCAT: As Oman Football Association (OFA) has come to an agreement with Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic, not everyone in the country know about the 65-year-old experienced football manager who guided Iran to the 2006 World Cup.
On Sunday, OFA signed a two-year contract with Ivankovic to train its national football team after the governing body sacked Dutchman Erwin Koeman following Oman’s disastrous Gulf Cup campaign in Qatar in November.
Who is Branko Ivankovic?
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Ivankovic started his football career as a player with his home club Varteks Varaždin. He spent his entire 12-season playing career for the club, appearing in a total of 263 matches and scoring 31 goals. He then continued to work at the club by first being their secretary and then starting his coaching career in 1991. After his five-year stint, Ivanković then became the assistant coach to Ćiro Blažević, who led the Croatian national team to a sensational third-place finish at the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France.
Ivankovic was hugely popular in Iran after he led the national team to the 2006 World Cup. He was first appointed as the coach of Iran’s U-23 team in 2002 where he led the team to win the Asian Games in Pusan, following which he was promoted as the head coach of Iran in 2002. Ivankovic is a known-face in the region after he coached Saudi club Al Ahli and Ettifaq and UAE club Al Wahda for a brief time.
Big challenge for Ivankovic
Ivankovic will begin his stint with Oman next month when he will prepare the team for the rest of the games in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Oman will face Afghanistan in an away match and they will conclude their second round of qualifiers in Group E with a match against Bangladesh in Dhaka on June 9 before taking on Asian champions Qatar in Muscat on June 4 in a heavy-weight clash. The ‘Red Warriors’ now have 12 points from five games while Qatar are leading the group by 13 points from the same number of matches.
Ivankovic is not new to challenges, however, the experienced football manager will have to unite a team that was following Dutch style football for the last few years.
