FC Pune City announced the appointment of Ranko Popovic as their new head coach for the 2017-18 season of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL). The 50-year-old Serbian will make his managerial debut in the ISL succeeding Spaniard Antonio Habas, the league’s longest-serving coach.Having made his professional debut in 1988, Popovic has nearly three decades of experience as a player and coach. The former defender has made several appearances in Serbian football and leagues across Europe, including Greece, Spain and Austria.His coaching career began in 2001 at the last team he played for, TuS FC Arnfels, followed by a spell at another Austrian club, FC Pachern, from 2004 to 2006. His first taste of coaching outside Europe came when he spent a season at Japanese club Sanfrecce Hiroshima, after which he returned to Serbia to coach FC Spartak Subotica in the Serbian SuperLiga until 2009.Returning to Japan, Popovic went on to coach Oita Trinita. Over the next five years, he was also appointed at the helm of Machida Zelvia, FC Tokyo and Cerezo Osaka. While at Cerezo Osaka, the club signed Uruguayan star Diego Forlan with Popovic promoting several promising younger players who went on to play for the national team.Popovic then travelled to Spain to coach Segunda Division club Real Zaragoza (2014-15), leading the team to the finals of the LaLiga play-offs. After his stint with Zaragoza, Popovic took over the reins at Buriram United FC, winning the Thai League Cup and Mekong Club Championship.A delighted Gaurav Modwel, CEO of FC Pune City, welcomed the new head coach saying, “In Ranko, we have a manager with a distinguished coaching career spanning 15 years. His successful stints in different leagues, vastly differing in cultural environment and football ecosystems, especially in Asia, makes him very relevant for a club like ours. Ranko is multilingual and believes strongly in developing youth players.”“Spending time with him (Popovic) in Pune, I was impressed with his depth of knowledge of the game, motivation to succeed and ability to seamlessly work with our Indian staff,” Modwel added.“I am delighted to be joining FC Pune City. The people at the club, their vision, and their values, together with the opportunity to develop and build this team to its full potential, made this an offer that was difficult to turn down. I can’t wait to get started,” said Ranko Popovic.The new head coach has a challenging season ahead and will be hoping to take FC Pune City to their first big milestone: the ISL 2017-18 semi-finals (and beyond). Popovic’s Stallions will kick off their campaign at home at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium on November 22 against Delhi Dynamos FC.