Petkovic's decision to take the helm of the Algerian team not only marks the end of his relationship with the new coach candidate of the Chinese team, but also opens the door for the Chinese Football Association to re-select the candidates. Recently, Ivankovic, whose contract with the Oman team has expired, has once again entered the field of vision of the Chinese Football Association. According to reliable sources, Ivankovic has set foot in China and is likely to start final interviews and negotiations with the Chinese Football Association.
Before Petkovic, Ivankovic and Queiroz were seen as the best candidates to coach the Chinese team. Their extensive experience in Asian football adds weight to their candidacy, with Ivankovic having managed Iran, Shandong Luneng and Oman, while Queiroz has coached Iran and Qatar.
It is worth mentioning that the Algerian Football Federation also regarded Queiroz and Ivankovic as key considerations before "cutting off" Petkovic. Among them, Queiroz is quite high in the rankings, but Ivankovic politely declined the invitation of the Algerian Football Federation. Relatively speaking, Ivankovic ranks relatively low among the more than 20 candidate coaches of the Algerian Football Federation.
In an interview in early February, Ivankovic revealed that his contract with Oman expired on February 1 and that he is currently in a free agency. He admitted that he has received inquiries from a number of Asian teams, and said that his next step is to coach the national team.
Under Ivankovic's guidance, the Oman team has made significant progress. He brought this team, which could only be regarded as second- or third-rate in Asia, into the top 12 of the Asian zone of the Qatar World Cup qualifiers, and even successfully defeated the Japanese team. In the warm-up match before this year's Asian Cup, the Oman team also defeated the Chinese team and showed strong strength. However, in the group stage of the Asian Cup, Oman suffered some setbacks. Despite dominating the game, they were held to draws by Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Kyrgyzstan respectively, missing out on the chance to qualify from the group. As a result, the Omani Football Federation decided not to renew Ivankovic's contract.
Ivankovic helped Shandong Luneng win the Chinese Super League title and significantly improved the strength of the Oman team. These brilliant resumes make him perfectly in line with the requirements of the Chinese Football Association for the new coach of the national football team, that is, "familiar with Asian football" and "have a certain understanding of Chinese football". Moreover, it is reported that Ivankovic's annual salary is expected to be around 1.5 million euros, which is in line with the expectations of the Chinese Football Association (Jankovic's annual salary is 1.2 million euros). Therefore, the call for Ivankovic to coach the national football team was once quite high.
However, the "Football" newspaper has reported that the Chinese Football Association prefers to introduce excellent coaches to coach in Europe to bring more advanced tactics and playing styles to the national football team, so it is more inclined to Petkovic. Now, with Petkovic being preempted by the Algerian Football Federation, it is also logical for the Chinese Football Association to reconsider Ivankovic.
On March 21 and March 26, the Chinese men's football team will usher in two back-to-back world preliminary matches with Singapore, with a tight schedule and tight time. In order to better prepare for the battle, the new coach needs to assemble the team and train in advance. Therefore, the Chinese Football Association has not officially announced the new coach, which has aroused questions and criticism from some fans. It has been revealed that the new coach of the national football team will be announced before or after the Chinese Super Cup on February 25. Judging from the timing, the candidate for the new commander should have arrived in the country to begin the final negotiations. Otherwise, it will be difficult to work around the two World Preliminary Tournaments in March.