China Sacks Coach Branko Ivankovic after not qualifying for FIFA World Cup 2026

The Chinese football club said on Friday that it fired the national coach Branko Ivankovic after the country was not eligible for the World Cup 2026.

The decision followed a series of setbacks in qualifying for China, which only played in a World Cup once.

China lost 1-0 to Indonesia at the beginning of June, a result that has effectively deposited the hope of qualifying the national team.

It finally ended for the most important in his Asian group, with seven defeats in 10 games.

«Because the national team of the Chinese gentlemen was not eligible for the play-off phase, the contract of the coach and his staff is automatically terminated, in accordance with the proposed conditions,» said the Chinese football club on Friday in a statement.

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«Branko Ivankovic will no longer lead the national team,» said it, thanked the Croatian, who coached Dinamo Zagreb and Iran for his «hard work».

The Serbian coach of the Chinese U-19 men’s national team, Dejan Djurdjevic, has been named interim-national coach, said the CFA.

The Chinese team is in 94th place in the world by FIFA and continues a downward slide that started a few years ago.

The side has long been the target of spot by Chinese fans because of the poor results and the multiple corruption scandals that teases the sport.

President Xi Jinping said that one day he wanted China to win the World Cup, but the newest flop means that it only played there once, in 2002, when it was not a point or scored a goal.