Former Algeria manager Vahid Halilhodzic is set to be named as Japan’s head coach succeeding Mexican Javier Aguirre, a Japan Football Association (JFA) official said yesterday. Aguirre was sacked last month after fears his alleged involvement in a match-fixing case in Spain could hinder Japan’s World Cup qualifying bid.
JFA technical director Masahiro Shimoda said the 62-year-old Bosnian was “satisfied” with the terms offered to him. “The (JFA) technical committee has decided that it wants to hire former Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic and will recommend him to the executive board on March 12,” Shimoda was quoted as saying by the Kyodo news agency. “He is basically satisfied with the details (of the terms). Once the recommendation has been approved by the executive board on the 12th an official appointment will be announced.”
Former Yugoslavia striker Halilhodzic has been out of work since quitting Turkish side Trabzonspor in November following a poor run and cited a difference of opinion with the club’s board only months after taking over. His availability to meet Japan’s self-imposed March deadline to appoint Aguirre’s successor seems to have been a deciding factor over other shortlisted candidates Michael Laudrup and Oswaldo Oliveira who are under contract elsewhere. Halilhodzic left as coach of Dinamo Zagreb in 2011 after a heated row with the club’s president, and quit Algeria last year despite pleas for him to stay from the country’s president following the extra-time exit to eventual winners Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup.