Branko Ivanković

Branko Ivanković

220px Branko Ivanković in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Branko Ivanković
Date of birth	(1954-02-28) 28 February 1954
Place of birth	Čakovec, SFR Yugoslavia
Team information
Current team	Persepolis (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1979–1990	Varteks	263	(31)
Managerial career
1991–1995	Varteks
1995–1996	Segesta
1996–1998	Rijeka
1998–1999	Croatia (assistant)
1999–2000	Hannover 96
2001–2002	Iran (assistant)
2002–2003	Iran U23
2002–2006	Iran
2006–2008	Dinamo Zagreb
2009–2011	Shandong Luneng
2011–2012	Ettifaq
2012–2013	Al-Wahda
2013	Dinamo Zagreb
2015–	Persepolis
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Branko Ivanković (pronounced [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.

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 Ministry 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

File:Branko Ivanković in Persepolis training, 3 October 2015.jpg

Ivanković in training with Persepolis at Derafshifar Stadium, 3 October 2015

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.

Statistics

As of 13 May 2016

Nat	Team	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %	GF	GA	+/-
	NK Varaždin	July 1991	June 1995	116	44	34	38	37.93%	153	130	+23
	HNK Rijeka	1996	1997	30	13	7	10	43.33%	44	32	+23
	Hannover 96	July 1999	February 2000	34	12	8	14	35.24%	56	56	0
	Iran	February 2002	September 2002	14	4	8	2	28.50%	16	12	+4
	Iran U-23	September 2002	October 2002	6	4	2	0	66.60%	16	2	+14
	Iran	October 2003	July 2006	42	28	7	7	66.60%	101	40	+61
	Dinamo Zagreb	Nov 2006	Jan 2008	33	30	2	1	90.90%	84	22	+62
	Shandong Luneng	April 2010	July 2011	36	21	10	5	58.30%	67	42	+25
	Ettifaq	July 2011	April 2012	42	18	12	12	42.85%	68	52	+16
	Al-Wahda	July 2012	April 2013	34	18	3	13	52.94%	63	49	+14
	Dinamo Zagreb	September 2013	October 2013	5	2	1	2	40.00%	3	7	–4
	Persepolis	April 2015	Present	45	25	11	9	55.55%	64	45	+19

Honours

As assistant coach

Croatia

• FIFA World Cup Third place (1): 1998

Iran

• WAFF Championship Third place (1): 2002

As head coach

Iran U-23

• Asian Games (1): 2002

Iran

• AFC Asian Cup Third Place (1): 2004
• WAFF Championship (1): 2004
• AFC/OFC Cup Challenge (1): 2003

Dinamo Zagreb

• Prva HNL (2): 2006–07, 2007–08
• Croatian Cup (1): 2006–07
• Croatian Super Cup (1): 2006

Shandong Luneng

• Chinese Super League (1): 2010

Ettifaq

• Saudi Crown Prince Cup Runner-up (1): 2011–12

Persepolis

• Iran Pro League Runner-up (1): 2015–16

Individual

• Croatian Coach of the Year (2): 2007, 2008
• Chinese Football Association Coach of the Year (1): 2010
• Navad Manager of the Season (1): 2015–16
• IFCA Best Manager of the Season (1): 2015–16