Dubai: Al Shabab are expected to unveil Kalba coach Goran Tufegdzic as their new manager on Tuesday, replacing fellow Serbian Miroslav Dukic.
Tufegdzic has just been relegated with Kalba slipping into the relegation zone on the last day of the season following a 2-1 defeat away to Al Ain on Saturday, while Emirates escaped the drop with a 1-0 win at home to Al Nasr.
Despite this, Al Shabab are now entrusting the former Kuwait 2010 Gulf Cup winning coach to turn things around at the Mamza-based club after a torrid season saw them finish eighth in the Arabian Gulf League.
Dutchman Fred Rutten started the season with four straight wins but then got just one more victory in the next eleven matches, before getting sacked in January. Dukic then took over until the end of the season but wasn’t offered a contract extension after managing just one win in eleven.
Al Shabab’s only salvation was a run to the Arabian Gulf Cup final but they lost 2-0 to Al Ghusais neighbours Al Ahli in April.
Tufegdzic took over from Italian Fabio Viviani at Kalba in December but managed just two wins in his 15 games in charge. He is most renowned for his spell in charge of Kuwait from 2009 to 2013 and made headlines in 2012 when he was shot by his neighbour following a land dispute in Serbia, after which he spent a month in a coma. He told Gulf News at the time of this ordeal that his heart had stopped and that he had technically died, adding that the incident had changed his outlook on life and football.
Elsewhere, Uzbek midfielder Azizbek Haydarov has also left Al Shabab for newly promoted Ajman, freeing up room for Australia’s Mark Milligan, who is set to join the Hawks from relegated Bani Yas as the club’s Asian player.
