Ranko Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ранко Поповић; born 26 June 1967) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Kashima Antlers.
In 1992,[6] Popović switched to Spartak Subotica.[2] He spent two and a half years there, before moving abroad to Greece and joining Ethnikos Piraeus in the summer of 1994.[2] Six months later, Popović returned to Spartak Subotica until the end of the season.[2]
After playing for two years at Segunda División club Almería, Popović joined Austrian side Sturm Graz in the summer of 1997, aged 30. He spent the next four seasons with the club, winning back-to-back championships in 1998 and 1999. In addition, Popović made 11 appearances in the UEFA Champions League.
Managerial career
Austria and Japan
Between 2002 and 2006, Popović served as player-manager of Austrian lower league sides TuS FC Arnfels and SV Pachern.[3] He subsequently moved to Japan in the summer of 2006, assisting his compatriot Mihailo Petrović at Sanfrecce Hiroshima for over a year.[3]
In July 2009, Popović accepted an offer to coach J League club Oita Trinita, which had experienced 14 consecutive defeats in the season. In his first six matches, the team only won once, but in the last 10 matches of the season, it did not lose once (five wins and five draws). This result earned him an offer to coach the team for the next season, but the team nearly went bankrupt and his contract had to be canceled.
In December 2010, Popović was appointed manager of Machida Zelvia. He subsequently went on to become manager of some of the most recognized clubs in Japan, including FC Tokyo and Cerezo Osaka.
In August 2016, Thai League club Buriram United appointed Popović as the club manager to fill the vacant role after the dismissal of Afshin Ghotbi.[11] He left the position in June 2017 after receiving a three-month ban by the Thai FA (FAT) for slapping his team's physio after a league game earlier that month.[12]