China have appointed former Yugoslavia international Vladimir Petrovic as their national coach until after next year’s Olympics.
The Serbian’s appointment came on the recommendation of compatriot Ratomir Dujkovic, who last year was made coach of China’s Olympic team and is expected to take over the remainder of the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup.
Petrovic signed a one-year contract to replace Zhu Guanghu, who was sacked last month after failing to get China beyond the group stage at the Asian Cup.
“This is a highlight of my career as the coach of the Chinese national team,” Petrovic told the Xinhua news agency.
“I’m looking forward to working with Dujkovic to form up the national team.”
Next month, China face Myanmar over two legs in the preliminary round of Asian qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
Petrovic was coach of Serbia and Montenegro’s Under-21 team before taking over at Dalian in December 2004. He guided the Liaoning Province club to their eighth league title and the China FA Cup the following year.
