On February 24, the Chinese Football Association officially announced: Jankovic, the coach of the Chinese men's national football team, stepped down, and Croatian coach Ivankovic became the new coach.
The announcement of the Chinese Football Association said that after the end of the Asian Cup in Qatar, because the Chinese men's football team failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the Asian Cup, the coaching contract of the head coach and coaching team has been automatically terminated according to the agreement, and Jankovic will no longer serve as the head coach.
In order to further prepare for the 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the Chinese Football Association decided to appoint Ivankovic as the head coach of the national football team after the review of the expert review panel.
The 69-year-old is a UEFA professional coach who has served as an assistant coach for Blazevic in the Croatian national team, and has also coached Hannover 96, Iran national team, Dinamo Zagreb, Shandong Taishan, Dammam Cooperation, Abu Dhabi United, Persepolis, Jeddah National, Oman national team. Ivankovic became the coach of Shandong Taishan at the end of 2009 and led the team to the 2010 Chinese Super League championship.
Ivankovic was appointed head coach of the Oman national team in 2020 and under his coaching, the Omani national team has made significant progress. Qatar World Cup Qualifiers Asian Zone Top 12 can be called Ivankovic's masterpiece in the past two years, he led the Oman national team to defeat Japan 1-0 away from home, facing the Chinese men's football team to achieve a record of 1 win and 1 draw, in this year's Qatar Asian Cup before the warm-up match, the Oman team also defeated the Chinese men's football team 2-0 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In the Qatar Asian Cup, the Oman team failed to qualify for the group stage with 2 draws and 1 loss, and finally the Oman Football Association parted ways with Ivankovic.
Text reporter Chai Zhi.