Red Star to appoint new coach by Friday; club elections set for December

Chaos at Red Star Belgrade followed the club's elimination from the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds after last night's defeat in Belgrade to a Maccabi side from Israel in the third qualifying round, and it has already produced immediate managerial consequences.

Dejan Stanković resigned as head coach after the match. The club's board confirmed his resignation at a meeting the next day, and the club's chief executive, Zvezdan Terzić, held a press conference to outline what would happen next.

Terzić sets a tight deadline and announces internal elections

At the press conference Terzić did not hide his disappointment and criticised the team's performance and Stanković's conduct. He said: "The worst performance by Red Star since 1977, since I started coming to the stadium. Dejan Stanković must not allow such behaviour that resulted in this performance by the team, the elimination, and for not coming to the post-match press conference, because he had already submitted his resignation earlier. By Friday Red Star will have a new coach, because that is the final UEFA deadline to register the head of the coaching staff before we continue in Europe. In December there will be elections for a new board of the club, and I call on anyone who believes they have the capacity to lead it to register and take part in them," Terzić said, among other things.

Terzić stressed that a replacement must be named quickly because UEFA requires clubs to register their head coach by a fixed deadline in order to proceed with European competition registration. The club consequently set Friday of the same week as the deadline to announce a new manager.

Alongside the coaching change and the scheduled December vote for a new board, the club faces questions about how to stabilise the squad and staff after a result that ended their European ambitions this summer.

Short notes: Stefan Jevtoski was earlier announced as promoted to PSM Makassar. Separately, Sarajevo officially thanked Stefan Ristovski for his services.

Photo: press material from the event