Belgrade, July 22 - Ilija Petkovic was named as Yugoslavia's new national team manager to replace Vujadin Boskov.
The Yugoslav Football Federation announced the appointment
of 55-year-old Petkovic, who was assistant to Slobodan Santrac
for two years in Yugoslavia's 1998 World Cup campaign and then
spent a year as coach in Japan.
As a player he won 43 caps and scored six goals for the
national team between 1968 and 1974.
Petkovic is expected to coach Yugoslavia throughout the 2002 World Cup
campaign.
He spent the bulk of his playing career with first division
club OFK Beograd Belgrade, for whom he played more than 500
matches in over 15 years.
During that period he also had a brief spell with Troyes in
France.
After beginning his coaching career with OFK Beograd,
Petkovic went on to win the Swiss championship with Servette and
also worked in Greece.
At the session of the Yugoslav Football Federation it was decided that coach of Yugoslav young team to be Nikola Rakojevic.
It was brought decision about final look of the first league for next season. Sartid from Smederevo will replace Beograd team, which was champion in its group of the second division but because of the financial reasons is giving up from the major league competition. Finally, the fourth group of the second division, in which clubs from Montenegro will fight for the major league, was formed. The league will be composed of 12 members, while the rest three groups with clubs from Serbia will have 18 teams each.
