page_title: Branko Ivanković
section_title: Iran national team
hierarchical_section_title: Branko Ivanković / Managerial career / Iran national team
caption_attribution_description: English: Branko Ivanković in friendly against Paykan
context_page_description: Branko Ivanković is a Croatian former footballer who played as a midfielder, and the current manager of the Oman national team. After a 12-year playing career at Varteks Varaždin, Ivanković started his coaching career at the same club in 1991. He led the Iran national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
context_section_description: Ivanković was appointed to the head of the Iranian team on 29 January 2002. Under Ivanković, Iran's U23 football team won the 2002 Asian Games in Pusan. He remained the coach of the national team until the end of 2002, when he was replaced by Homayun Shahrokhi.
  Ivanković had become very popular in Iran and the public media demanded a contract renewal, but the Football Federation was initially reluctant to appoint him as the head coach. Finally after a period of negotiations he was reappointed as the head coach of Iran on 3 October 2003.
  Ivanković led Iran to 2004 AFC Asian Cup third place. 
  Ivanković also led Iran to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, the third time in the country's history (they had previously been eliminated in the first round in 1978 and 1998).
  Despite him being the most successful coach of the Iran national team in terms of winning percentage, Ivanković was not liked by the Iranian government who deliberately tried to replace him with a native coach. The Organization for Physical Education which is a governmental watchdog on sports, tried to replace the coach before the World Cup in Germany, however the Iranian Football Federation resisted the pressure and kept Ivanković for the 2006 World Cup.
caption: Branko Ivanković during a Persepolis match
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)"}