Pune, Sep 25 (IANS): FC Pune City on Monday announced Serbian Ranko Popovic as their new head coach for the upcoming fourth edition of the Indian Super League (ISL), starting November 3.
Popovic began his managerial career in 2001 with Austrian club TuS FC Arnfels followed by a stint with another Austrian club FC Pachern from 2004-2006.
In 2006, he took the reins of Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the J1 league for a year before returning to his country coaching FC Spartak Subotica in the Serbian SuperLiga until 2009.
Popovic returned to Japan managing Oita Trinita, FC Machida Zelvia, FC Tokyo eventually climbing the progress ladder to manage Cerezo Osaka, one of the strongest teams in Japanese league football.
Commenting on his new assignment, the Serbian said: "I am delighted to be joining FC Pune City. The people at the club, their vision and their values together with the opportunity to develop and build this team to its full potential made this an offer that was difficult to turn down.
"I can't wait to get started," he added.
Gaurav Modwel, CEO of FC Pune City, said: "In Ranko, we have a manager with distinguished coaching career spanning 15 years. His successful stints in different leagues vastly differing in cultural environment and football ecosystem, especially in Asia, makes him very relevant for a club like ours."
"Ranko is multilingual and believes strongly in developing youth players," he added.