Chinese football bosses finally confirm sacking after World Cup failure: Ivankovic is out
China’s defeat to Indonesia this month ended any hope the national team had of reaching the 2026 tournament in Canada, Mexico and the US
The Chinese Football Association has finally confirmed what everyone already knew, that head coach Branko Ivankovic had been fired after his side’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
In a statement released on its website, the CFA thanked Ivankovic and said Dejan Djurdjevic, who led China to the quarter-finals of the Under-20 Asian Cup in Shenzhen in February, would take over on a caretaker basis for next month’s East Asian Championship in South Korea, which also includes Hong Kong and Japan.
Ivankovic was removed from his post as a result of China finishing fifth in Group C of the continent’s preliminaries for next year’s 48-team finals, which will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
“The Chinese Football Association expresses gratitude to Mr Branko Ivankovic and his coaching staff for their dedicated efforts during their tenure with the men’s national team and their contributions to Chinese football,” a CFA statement said.
“We wish Mr. Ivankovic all the best in his future work and life.”
The 71-year-old Croatian, who led Iran at the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006, was appointed China’s coach in February 2024, replacing Aleksandar Jankovic. He steered the country into the third phase of Asia’s World Cup qualifying.