Dejan Stankovic officially named new Red Star Belgrade head coach

BELGRADE - Serbian football coach Dejan Stankovic was officially named new Red Star Belgrade head coach on Monday.

Stankovic, 47, succeeds Vladan Milojevic, whose contract with the club was terminated by mutual agreement on Sunday.

Stankovic, who has signed a deal until June 2028, has already coached Red Star from January 2019 to August 2022, winning three Serbian Superliga titles and two national cups.

After Red Star, he coached Sampdoria, Ferencvaros and Spartak Moscow.

"We reached an agreement in a minute, I did not think about anything. When Red Star come calling, there is nothing to think about," Stankovic said after being unveiled as new head coach.

Thanking Milojevic for everything he has given to the club, Red Star Director General Zvezdan Terzic said the former coach had left "temporarily".

"Red Star's doors will always remain open to him and he will certainly return one day," he said.

Terzic said the Belgrade Red-and-Whites had had a "turbulent" first half of the season after failing to qualify for the UEFA Champions League in the summer and dropping too many points in the Serbian league.

Red Star are a point adrift of arch-rivals Partizan.