“Esteghlal deserves to win title” – Igor Stima

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Igor Stimac, who is the main candidate to coach Esteghlal football club, believes the Blues giant should be a title contender in the next season’s Iran Professional League.

“I know that Esteghlal has more than twenty million fans and I believe these fans deserve to have a strong team who fights for the title.”

“Esteghlal should be a title contender next season.” the Croatian tactician told the reporters.

It seems that the 47-year-old coach, who arrived in Tehran in the early hours of Friday, has reached an initial agreement with Esteghlal officials.

Stimac was a former Croatian international winning 53 caps and scoring two goals. He was a member of Croatia squad that won the bronze medal at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

On 5 July 2012, Stimac was appointed the new Croatia national football team coach, after the departure of his former national team teammate Slaven Bilic. Despite getting good result, Stimac resigned from his post in October 2013 due to unpopularity among the fans.