Aleksandar Jankovic is named the manager of the Chinese men's national football team by the Chinese Football Association, February 24, 2023. /CFP
Aleksandar Jankovic of Serbia was named as the new manager of the Chinese men's national football team, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on Friday.
"To prepare for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers, the CFA decided, after the assessment of experts, to hire [Aleksandar] Jankovic as the new manager of China's men's national team," read a CFA statement.
A former assistant manager of Serbia's under-21 team in the 2000s, Jankovic, who also had spells with several European clubs including Serbia's Red Star Belgrade and Belgium's Standard Liege, will make his debut on March 23 when China plays a friendly against New Zealand in Auckland.
Dejan Djurdjevic is named the manager of the Chinese men's national football team by the Chinese Football Association for the Hangzhou Asian Games, February 24, 2023. /CFP
The Serbian first joined China's U19 B team in September 2018 before taking charge of the reformed Chinese U23 squad in preparation for the postponed Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.
He led a mostly U23 squad to the East Asian Football Championship in Japan last July, where his team finished third among four participating teams.
According to the CFA, Jankovic's compatriot Dejan Djurdjevic will take over his position as the manager of the Chinese men's football team for Hangzhou 2022, which to be held in September.