Official: Dani Poyatos, Tokushima Vortis Japan coach

The Spanish coach Dani Poyatos has been announced this Thursday as the new coach of Tokushima Vortis, a club recently promoted to the highest category of football in Japan and replacing the also Spanish Ricardo Rodríguez.

Poyatos, 42, who has previously managed Greek Panathinaikos and the lower categories of Real Madrid, among other teams, will occupy the Japanese club's bench for the start of the 2021 season.

“I will do my best so that the team achieves its goals and that the fans enjoy it,” said the new Vortis coach in a statement published by the club.

The Barcelona coach will fill the position left vacant by Rodríguez, who has been signed by Urawa Reds of the Japanese first division after achieving promotion with the Tokushima team.

Rodríguez, however, will continue to coach Vortis until the end of the Japanese Emperor's Cup, a competition in which his team will face first-class runners-up Gamba Osaka in the semifinals this Sunday.