Stankovic, myth as a footballer and little valued on the bench

Jovan Stankovic, the new Águilas coach, is an illustrious figure in Spanish football. In addition to defending the shirts of Red Star Belgrade, Olympique de Marseille and the Serbia and Montenegro team at Euro 2000, this Serbian born in Pinot, a town in the former Yugoslavia, 50 years ago, made a great career in of our borders. As a left winger, he was an important piece in Mallorca since his arrival in 1995, a club in which he achieved promotion to the First Division, reaching a Copa del Rey final and even a Recopa. He also went through Atlético de Madrid in the Second Division in a historic year.

Later he continued to be linked to the world of football as a representative of footballers, until he decided to prepare to train. He was part of the coaching staff of teams such as Beira Mar in Portugal or Sindjelic, Iskra and Red Star in Belgrade. Until he decided to accept an offer to be head coach at San Fernando in Segunda B, in a campaign where modest Spanish football would undergo a transformation.

meritorious achievement

Stankovic made the cut, putting San Fernando in the First RFEF, an achievement that teams like Real Murcia, Hércules and Córdoba, among other historical ones, did not achieve, but a defeat against Betis Deportivo that prevented him from fighting in the ‘playoff’ for promotion to Second. A ‘playoff’ that Salva Ballesta’s Algeciras did play, his most bitter enemy.

A comparison that cost him his job at San Fernando, despite having another year on his contract: «After having made a balance and as a result of the latest results, the club has decided to make this decision to enter a dynamic corresponding to the current azulina sports vision, ”said the director of the Cadiz team.

However, his 11 wins and 5 draws out of a total of 24 in his debut as coach in Segunda B are a good letter of introduction, although it remains to be seen how he will fit into a club like Águilas, a presidential entity in which the director Deportivo, who is still in office, acted as coach worsening the numbers of his predecessor.