AFC - AFC Champions League
quarter-finalists Saipa formalised a deal with former World Cup winner
Pierre Littbarski to coach the side on Friday.
The 48-year-old German, who was recently sacked by Japanese second division
side Avispa Fukuoka, signed a one-year contract with the Karaj-based outfit
in Turkey where the team is training to prepare for the new season of the
Iran Pro League beginning on August 5.
A Saipa official told Iranian news agency Isna that Littbarski’s vast
experience of Japanese and Australian teams would come in handy during their
AFC Champions League campaign.
“He is a good coach for our team. He is familiar with Japanese and
Australian football,” he said.
“He immediately started working with the team and this will help the
players.”
Littbarski, who was part of the West German team which won the 1990 World
Cup, steps into the shoes of popular Iranian legend Ali Daei who resigned
from his position to concentrate on his national team job but not before
leading Saipa to the last eight of the continental club showpiece.
Littbarski started his coaching career with J-League club Yokohama FC in
1999 before moving to Bayer Leverkusen and MSV Duisburg for short stints,
eventually returning to Yokohama in 2003.
The 1982 and 1986 World Cup runner-up then took up the reins of Sydney FC
and steered them to the inaugural A-League title in 2005 before quitting to
return to Japan the next year, this time as the boss of Avispa who had been
newly demoted to the second division. He was given the boot early this month
with Avispa slipping fast down the ladder.
Saipa host Uzbekistan’s Kuruvchi in the first leg of their AFC Champions
League quarter-finals on September 17.
