BEVERLY HILLS, May 26, (THEWILL) – Zoran Filipovic, the Montenegrin coach of the Libyan Football Federation, has been fired for what his employers called poor results from the half-a-year performance that the 68-year-old put into the job.
As reported by THEWILL, Filipovic was appointed just before Christmas last year and expressed his happiness to be given this challenging experience. This was because he decided to work from within Libya after years of foreign coaches guiding the national team from outside the country as a result of her internal situation.
He believed working within the country was going to afford him the chance to follow all age groups as well as participating clubs in continental challenges such as CAF Interclub competitions, as well as the domestic tournaments which were suspended because of coronavirus precautions.
However, his desires did not immediately translate to results. Libya lost their final two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers as a 5-2 defeat at home to Tunisia was followed by a lone goal loss to Tanzania. It meant they failed to qualify for next year’s finals and finished Group J at rock bottom.
Things did not pan out for Filipovic as Libya’s home-based national side also lost all three of their group games at the African Nations Chmapionship (CHAN) tournament in Cameroon which held in January this year.
Ahead of Libya’s next competitive match on June 19, the Federation will seek to find Filipovic’s replacement before they clash with Sudan in Qatar in a one-leg qualifier for the 2021 Arab Nations Cup slated for November.
Whoever they settle for will take them to engage Group F teams in their 2022 World Cup campaign, which begins in September with games at home to Gabon, followed by a trip to face Angola before back-to-back ties against Egypt, home and away.
Filipovic had previously managed the Montenegrin and Serbian national teams plus various European and Asian clubs.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
