He Vissel Kobe of the Japanese league, where the Spanish plays Andres Iniesta, today announced the appointment of Atsuhiro Miura as a new coach, replacing the German Thorsten Fink, who submitted his resignation from office.
Miura, 46, a former Kobe club player, had served as sports director since 2018, and will take the reins of the team starting this Thursday, club president Yozo Tachibana announced today at a press conference electronically.
After the resignation of the German coach, and before the club announced its new coach, the Spanish Marc Vives provisionally led the team during the match played the day before in Kobe, with a 4-3 victory against Sagan Tosu and a Iniesta's goal.
Vives, who was part of Vissel's technical team, will become assistant coach, while Japanese Kentaro Hayashi, also a former player of the Japanese team, will become assistant coach, according to the new organization chart announced by the club.
Vissel Kobe will play their first match under Miura's baton next Saturday, against Consadole Sapporo.
Fink left the team in 12th place in the J-League standings in 19 rounds played, and after a seven-game winless streak.
The German coach, however, won last January the first title on the Vissel windows, the Emperor's Cup.
This was also the first trophy that Iniesta raised since his arrival at the club in mid-2018, where former Barcelona player Sergi Samper is also a member, and the one that Spanish Juan Manuel Lillo has previously gone through as a coach.