The CSKA Moscow football club officially announced on Tuesday the hiring of former Croatian footballer Ivica Olic (who played for Bayern and CSKA itself, among other teams) as coach, a position in which he takes over from Belarusian Viktor Gancharenko.
“The CSKA club and Ivica Olic reached an agreement for him to occupy the position of head coach. Ivica will start working today, March 23, when he will be introduced to the team and will conduct his first training session,” reported CSKA.
The club recalled on its website that Olic played a total of 116 games for the rojiazul team between 2003 and 2006, and scored 44 goals for the team.
“As a player Ivica won three championships with CSKA, two Russian Cups, two Super Cups, and one UEFA Cup. We wish him great success as a coach as well,” CSKA added in their statement.
CSKA President Evgueni Guiner welcomed the Croatian, and celebrated that he fulfilled “his promise to one day return to our club.”
“Ivica can count on the coaching team, and the club management will also support him. I am sure the fans will warmly welcome Olic's return,” he added.
The arrival of the Croatian takes place at difficult moments for the team, which has lost several games, and the most recent setback, a 2: 3 loss to Zenit, placed him in fifth place in the Russian league and converted the previous one technical chief, Gancharenko under fire.
Gancharenko, who coached CSKA from December 2016 until Monday, when his resignation was made official, achieved 82 victories in 167 games at the helm of the Moscow team, won the 2018 Super Cup, two silver in the Russian championships and reached the quarterfinals in the Europa League 2017-2018.