Beijing Renhe officially announced signing Aleksandar Stanojevic, who used to coach Dalian Aerbin, Beijing Guoan, Beijing Enterprises, as the team's head coach on Tuesday, and the Serbian showed up with the new identity for the first time in Beijing Fengtai Sports Center on Wednesday.
The 45-year-old started his coaching career in 2000 at OFK Beograd's youth team, and he used to be the main coach of the Serbian first division' FK Srem Sremska Mitrovica and FK Partizan Belgrade. He led Serbia national U-19 team to win the third place of the 2009 European Under-19 Championship in Ukraine.
Stanojevic's most successful experience was during 2010-2012, where he helped Partizan to win twice at the Serbian SuperLiga's champions as the youngest coach in the team's history. And for season 2010-11, he guided Partizan to enter the play-off round in UEFA Champions League, becoming the first native coach to achieve this attainment and also the best coach of Serbia for 2011.
Beijing Renhe's new coach Aleksandar Stanojevic of Serbia shows up in Beijing Fengtai Sports Center, Beijing, China, December 19, 2019. /VCG Photo
Having already coached three different Chinese clubs during the past six years, Stanojevic has rich experience in communicating with Chinese players and team staff.
The first club that Stanojevic served was Dalian Aerbin, the predecessor of Dalian Yifang who was just promoted to Chinese Super League (CSL). With efficient direction from Stanojevic, Aerbin ranked fifth place for their first season in CSL in 2012. For CSL season 2013, Stanojevic went to Beijing Guoan and handed a decent third-place result.
Before this time, he coached Israel's Maccabi Haifa, China's Beijing Enterprises, Greece's PAOK Salonika and Saudi Arabia's Al Qadisiyah during 2014-18.
Aleksandar Stanojevic visits Beijing Renhe's Honors Room, Beijing, China, December 19, 2019. /VCG Photo
He told Xinhua News Agency that, "Arriving Beijing is just like back home." He even told journalist that he would like to practice Mandarin as he wants to communicate with Chinese people in Mandarin in six months time.
For the aim of Renhe, Stanojevic suggested the first goal is to stay in the CSL. He also expressed, "I profoundly understand my team's feature and ability, we have a good base and the squad won't be changed too much. If we want to upgrade details, personally, I would like to add a forward. But that should refer to the relative policy and be decided after discussing with our team."
(With inputs from Xinhua News Agency)