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The Serbian press reported that former Spanish national team coach Javier Clemente is ready to take over as head coach of the Serbian national team following the resignation of Ilja Petkovič after the World Cup.
One Serbian football magazine reports that J. Clemente is expected to sign a two-year contract worth 1.4 million euros on Friday, with the goal of reaching the final stage of the 2008 European Championship. It is also added that the 56-year-old coach accepted the offer after a conversation with the President of the Serbian Football Federation (FSS) Zvezdan Terzić.
"Clemente is our new coach," - reads the headline on the front page of the magazine.
The FSS is refraining from comments for now.
56-year-old J. Clemente led "Athletic Bilbao" to two Spanish championships, and from 1992 to 1998 under his leadership, the Spanish national team did not lose any of the 31 matches played. The coach has also worked with several other clubs in the country - he has managed Barcelona's "Espanyol", Madrid's "Atletico", Seville's "Betis", "Tenerife", and during the 2000/01 season, the Spaniard coached the French "Marseille".
If J. Clemente agrees, he will be the first foreign coach of the Serbian national team. His first match would be a friendly against the Czech national team on August 16.
Serbia, which recently separated from Montenegro, will face Armenia, Portugal, Poland, Belgium, Finland, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan in the qualifying stage for the 2008 European Championship.
