Former Zambia national team head coach Aljosa Asanovic’s close friend and former workmate Slaven Bilić has been appointed as head coach for the English club, WATFORD FC.
In 2006, Asanovic became assistant manager to Bilić at the Croatia national team until 2012. They both left after Igor Štimac was appointed as the new coach for Croatia.
Asanovic took up another assistant coaching role to Bilić when he was appointed head coach for FC Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia to become his longest workingmate in his coaching career.
Bilić’s appointment at Watford comes barely two days after Asanovic notified the Football Association of Zambia about his resignation from his role as head coach for the Chipolopolo citing unpaid salary arrears amounting to $41,000, a thing that has led to wide speculation that it could be another reason why the Crot left Zambia.
According to a statement by Watford, Bilić’s other staff will be confirmed in due course.
Bilić just like Asanovic, a former Croatia international player recently worked in England at West Bromwich Albion where he guided them to an English Premier League promotion in the 2019/20 season.
The 54-year-old also managed Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia and most recently in China with Beijing Guoan while Asanovic was technical director and later head coach for the Zambia national team.
Some Zambian fans have since started speculating that Asanovic could be reuniting with his long-time friend and workmate at Watford.
FAZ on Monday in a statement said Asanovic who was appointed on January 15, 2022, as Chipolopolo head coach communicated his resignation to the Association “after snubbing all efforts to resolve the matter through a roundtable.”
They said, he has been in his native country since Zambia lost 1-0 at home to Mozambique on July 30 to crash out of the Algeria 2023 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers.
