Branko Ivankovic satisfied with Persepolis’s La Decima

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Persepolis coach Branko Ivankovic says that he is satisfied with winning the title for the tenth time.

Under leadership of the Croat coach, Persepolis won the Iran Professional League with three games left.

Branko had already inspired Iran football team to win title in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.

He finished in third place with Team Melli in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup and led the team to the 2006 World Cup in the following year.

The 63-year-old has won the title with Iran’s Persepolis as he had won two titles with Croatian Dinamo Zagreb and Chinese Shandong Luneng. Late Tomislav Ivic won titles in five countries.

“I am satisfied because we managed to win La Decima. Persepolis had not won a title since 2008 so you can imagine the fans have been impatiently waiting for this title,” Ivankovic said in an interview with tportal.hr.

Asked whether he would be open to a discussion on extending his contract, which will expire after the upcoming 2017-18 season, Ivankovic said, “The club’s officials have started the negotiation. They are thinking about to sign a five-year contract with me,” Ivankovic said.

“I am satisfied with my condition and it’s a great honor for me to work in a club with 40 million fans. But we will see what happen since I’ve received some offers,” he declared.

Persepolis have two vital games against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Al Wahda of the UAE in the AFC Champions League group stage.
The Iranian team must win the upcoming matches to book a place in the competition’s knockout stage.

“We lost 3-1 to Qatar’s Al Rayyan in Doha last month and failed to beat them in Tehran despite creating 16 goal opportunities. Persepolis have been drawn in Group of Death but we are going to win our matches and qualify for the next stage,” Ivankovic concluded.