“Please, win”.
“In the two matches against Singapore in the second round of the A-Match World Cup qualifiers in March, China must secure two wins in a row, even if it is not a high-scoring affair,” China’s Zibo.com reported on Feb. 13.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on Feb. 24 that it has decided to appoint Ivankovic as the head coach of the men’s national football team. The decision was made after a review by a panel of experts to better prepare for the Asian qualifiers for the 스포츠토토 2026 North American World Cup.”
“A UEFA professional coach, Ivankovic has coached Hannover (Germany), Zagreb Dinamo (Croatia), the Iranian national team and the Omani national team, among others. He also led Shandong Luneng to the 2010 Chinese Super League title,” the CFA noted.
This marks the departure of Aleksandar Jankovic, who previously led the Chinese national team. The CFA decided not to continue with him after his contract expired. The team’s first Asian Cup group stage exit in 13 years was decisive. China left the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar with an abysmal record of two draws and one loss without scoring a single goal.
It was the first time in the history of Chinese soccer that the team finished three Asian Cup group games with zero goals and zero wins. China had several candidates in mind, including Shandong Taishan coach Choi Kang-hee and Chengdu Rongcheng coach Seo Won-jung. There was even talk of Jürgen Klinsmann, who was fired by South Korea.
The CFA had Swiss coach Vladimir Petkovic at the top of its list, but he reportedly lost out to the Algerian national team.In the end, China relented and opted for Ivankovic.
The new coach is a veteran of the game who will soon turn 70 years old. The Croatian-born coach has experience in Asian soccer, having coached the Iranian national team (2002-2006), Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli (2019), and Oman’s national team (2020-2024). He has also been involved with Chinese soccer, coaching Shandong from 2009 to 2011.
His most recent experience is with the Oman national team. Ivankovic led Oman to the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar, where they narrowly missed out on a spot in the round of 16 before stepping down. Prior to the tournament, the team defeated China 2-0 in a closed-door exhibition match.
“China’s new coach Ivankovic is going straight into the Singapore game with no time to settle in,” said Zbo.com. He doesn’t have much time in charge of the team or know the Super League very well, so there are many concerns,” said Zvo.com, “but we still need to get the three points.”
For China, they need a must-win 6 points against Singapore, who are bottom of the group. The pressure is also on them to travel to South Korea, as they lost to South Korea at home by a large margin.
“China must get all six points against Singapore,” the outlet said. Honestly, they need to score a lot of goals, but just win 1-0,” emphasizing, “If they get six points, they can advance to the top round with 10 points.
“Of course, a win and a draw against Singapore is enough to qualify for the third round. However, if we don’t win against Singapore, the national team will be greatly shaken.”