Full name Branko Ivankovic Name Branko Ivankovic Role Football player | Years Team Education Faculty of Kinesiology 1979–1990 Varteks Siblings Zlatko Ivankovic | |
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Date of birth (1954-02-28) 28 February 1954 (age 61) Place of birth Cakovec, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
Current team Persepolis (manager) | ||
Saviour Angel of PERSPOLIS IRAN : OUR LOVE : MR BRANKO IVANKOVIC
Branko Ivanković ([ˈbraːŋkɔ ˈiʋaːŋkoʋitɕ]; born 28 February 1954) is a Croatian football manager and former player who currently manages Persepolis in Iran Pro League. After a 12-year playing career at Varteks Varaždin, Ivanković started his coaching career at the same club in 1991. He led the Iranian national football team at the 2006 World Cup.
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Playing career
Ivanković spent his entire 12-season playing career at Varteks Varaždin, 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.
Managing career
He was the head coach of Varteks Varaždin between 1991 and 1995. He then moved for one season to Segesta Sisak, and went on to coach Rijeka in the 1996–97 season.
Croatian national team
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.
In the 1999–2000 season, he coached German club Hannover 96, which was playing in the Second Bundesliga at the time. He briefly returned to the Croatian national team as the assistant to Mirko Jozić during the qualifications for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, before he took over the Iranian national team where he replaced Blažević, who had managed them since 2001.
Iranian national team
Ivanković was appointed to the head of the Iranian team on 29 January 2002. Under Ivanković, Iran's U23 football team won the 2002 Asian Games in Pusan. He remained the coach of the national team until the end of 2002, when he was replaced by Homayun Shahrokhi.
Ivanković had become very popular in Iran and the public media demanded a contract renewal, but the Football Federation was initially reluctant to appoint him as the head coach. Finally after a period of negotiations he was reappointed as the head coach of Iran on 3 October 2003.
Ivankovic led Iran to 2004 AFC Asian Cup third place. They lost only to the hosts, China, via penalties in a very controversial match in which the Chinese somehow avoided multiple red cards.
Ivanković also led Iran to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, the third time in the country's history (they had previously been eliminated in the first round in 1978 and 1998).
Despite him being the most successful coach of the Iranian National Team in terms of winning percentage, Ivankovic was not liked by the Iranian government who deliberately tried to replace him with a native coach. The Organization for Physical Education which is a governmental watchdog on sports, tried to replace the coach before the World cup in Germany, however the Iranian Football Federation resisted the pressure and kept Ivankovic for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
World Cup 2006
Iran, at their opening game at the World Cup, showed a scintillating first half performance against Mexico, but conceded two goals. The second match against Portugal was not successful either, with Iran conceding two late goals to lose 2–0 and being left without any chances of advancing to the second stage of the tournament, as Mexico drew against Angola on the previous evening and left Iran unreachable four points behind. So, the third group match against Angola became insignificant for Iran. Angola put themselves into the lead with the opening goal after one hour of playing. The Iranians managed to equalise fifteen minutes later, eventually scoring their only point at the 2006 World Cup since the match ended in a 1–1 draw. This point was, however, only enough for Iran to occupy the last place in their group.
After the World Cup, MPE removed the Head of the Football federation of Iran, replacing Branko Ivanković with Amir Qalenoei. This in turn resulted a FIFA suspension for Iran's football due to political interference.
Dinamo Zagreb
On 6 November 2006, Ivanković replaced Josip Kuže as the head coach of Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb. He led the club to the Double in 2007 without losing a single competitive match. On 14 January 2008, Branko resigned as a coach of Dinamo mostly due to his differences with the club's executive vice-president Zdravko Mamić.
Ivanković returned as manager of Dinamo Zagreb on 21 May 2008. He is replacing Zvonimir Soldo, who resigned immediately after Dinamo won the domestic double.
In July 2009, Ivankoviće was offered the role of Persepolis F.C. manager in Iran, but he rejected the offer.
Shandong Luneng
On 17 December 2009, Ivanković was appointed as the new head coach of Chinese giant Shandong Luneng. In his first season, he led the team to the 2010 Chinese Super League winners with a record 63 points. The team secured the qualification for 2011 AFC Champions League. But Shandong were eliminated in the first round with 7 points. Due to poor result in the Champions League, he was dismissed on 10 May 2011 seven days before crucial game with Cerezo Osaka 0–4.
Ettifaq
On 22 July 2011, Ivanković signed a one-year contract with Ettifaq FC to lead club in 2011–12 Saudi Professional League and return club to the AFC Champions League. He was sacked on 1 May 2012 after finishing the 2011-12 season in fourth.
Al Wahda
In May 2012, UAE Pro-League side Al-Wahda S.C.C. said it signed a two-year contract with Ivanković and that he would take charge at the club in the 2012-13 season but his contract was terminated on 28 April 2013 after a 3-4 loss to Ajman Club. At the time of his dismissal, Al Wahda was ranked at the 7th place after a run of good results in the starting season.
Return to Dinamo Zagreb
On 2 September 2013, Ivanković returned to Dinamo Zagreb, the club he led from 2006 to 2008. However, he was sacked on 21 October 2013 after just five games.
Persepolis
On 5 April 2015, Ivanković was confirmed as new manager of Persepolis, signing a one-and-a-half-year contract with the club. After good performances with the club, which left the team in third place with six matches remaining, Ivanković extended his contract with Persepolis in April 2016 to the end of the 2017–18 season.