Former Al Wahda manager Branko Ivankovic has been appointed the new boss of Dinamo Zagreb, the third time he has held the post at the Croatian club.
Ivankovic spent less than a season at Al Wahda, succeeding Josef Hickersberger at the Abu Dhabi club before getting the sack at the end of April following a disappointing league defeat to Ajman.
At the time of Ivankovic’s dismissal, Al Wahda were seventh in the Pro League table and they managed to retain that place following his departure.
The 59-year-old first joined Dinamo in 2006 and led the club to a league and cup double in his first season in charge, remaining unbeaten in the process.
“I’m proud and happy that I have returned to Dinamo. We have good quality players and I believe that we will play good football and achieve results that will satisfy our fans,” Ivankovic said in a statement.
Ivankovic first quit Dinamo in January 2008 after a fall-out with Vice-president Zdravko Mamic, but was reappointed five months later before heading to Chinese Super League club Shandong Luneng in December 2009.
In July 2011, Ivankovic was appointed manager of Saudi Arabian club Ettifaq, who he led to the 2011/12 league title, but he received the sack the following May after finishing fourth in the league.
Ivankovic then moved to Al Wahda the same month, but he struggled to revive a club that has ambitions of returning to their title-winning glory days of 2005 and 2010.
Prior to his first move to Dinamo, Ivankovic was spent five years with the Iran national team from 2001, firstly as assistant for one year before taking on the managerial post.
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