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COACH OF AL-FAISALY SC NEBOJŠA JOVOVIĆ: We can win the trophy, otherwise I would not have embarked on this adventure
Nebojša Jovović has signed a contract for coaching engagement of Jordanian football club Al-Faisaly SC on March 23rd. Faisaly is one of the biggest clubs in the Middle East with great ambitions and an army of passionate fans who, he says, held him a reception to remember when he arrived in Amman. After ten days of living and working in Jordan, he shares his impressions for MNE magazin. He says he is still adjusting to the new environment, but also points out that he enjoys his job. He gets the biggest support even now from his family, wife Aleksandra, daughter Nataša and sons Luka and Vuk who root for him from Podgorica.
– The job of the coach, amongst all, requires quick response to the new surroundings. That is how I am adjusting – quickly. For the time being, I spend my time between stadium and the hotel because of my obligations and the need to know the players and the league in as shortest period of time as possible. I had found the existing playing squad. The club before me in this season was led by three coaches and my predecessor was Bane Smiljanić, at one time also coach of Sutjeska. Players are Jordanians and among them are four standard A national team players. As for the international players, we have one Libyan and one Pole. Football in Jordan is at a high level and their A team players are mostly based here. Faisaly is one of the biggest clubs in the Middle East with tradition, great ambitions and an army of passionate fans – says Nebojša for MNE magazin.
He says that the goal of the club is trophy and that they have a chance to win it through two competitions.
– If I did not think that we can win the trophy, I would not have embarked on this adventure – says Jovović.
Asked how different football in Jordan is from the one in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, our interviewee believes that it is hard to compare football from different destinations.
– In Arabia there are teams that have a budget of 100 million dollars. For me, it is important that I can enjoy my job and it is such here for now. The most deserving people for that are fantastic fans who gave me a phenomenal welcome – says Jovović.
He has been in the coaching business for ten years. When asked who the most talented player he had coached is and what his greatest challenge in this work is, he emphasized that working with players represents joy to him.
– I look for the best in every player and try to build him. Working with players represents joy to me, especially when you see the progress. It was such joy working with Điđo Vukčević, who is now an A team player, because of his elegance and creativity in the game. It was easy to spot class in him, as well as in Savić from whom we coaches could learn a lot even then. It was a period of youth national team where I worked as assistant coach of Miodrag Radulović for two years. Working with Riyadh Al-Ibrahim was specific. I joined him in from the youth to the senior team. The club sold him after a year and achieved a million dollar transfer. He was very closed, and because of him I began to make sentences in Arabic – says our interviewee, adding:
– The challenge in this work for me is the trail that a coach leaves behind!
With wife and children
And the trail, among others, he had left as a coach at Podgorica’s city stadium Pod Goricom.
– In Budućnost, I was a player who scored goals Pod Goricom to both Partizan and Crvena zvezda (Red star), a coach of its youth team and its sports director. The emotions of all those who wore the jersey of Budućnost’s senior team are unbreakable and these are the feelings known only to those who experienced it. Savo Rogošić, the coach who produced many generations, often knew to remind us of this – our interviewee recalls.
In the end of the conversation, Jovović says that he is grateful to his family on unconditional support and understanding. His wife Aleksandra and his children remain in Podgorica. Daughter Nataša is attending the first grade of Gymnasium in Podgorica, elder son Luka attends the seventh grade of the Elementary school and Vuk will start going to the first grade of Elementary school this fall.
– If I did not have the support of my family, I would not be doing this job. Luka is training and loves soccer so much, while younger Vuk is for the time being impressed by judges. The boys are now starting with serious training in football too early. The game and the joy of it is something I wish to preserve in the dry professionalism even here in the Middle East – says Jovović.
Mn.M.
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