Less than five months before the World Cup, Iran sacked Croatian national team coach Dragan Skocic on Monday, the official Irna agency said.
“The technical committee of the Football Federation has dismissed the coach of the national football team, Dragan Skocic,” Irna said.
Skocic, 53, was appointed in early February 2020 to replace Belgian Marc Wilmots, who left in December 2019, three matches into the second round of Asian World Cup qualifying, in a dispute with the federation after two consecutive defeats.
Skocic guided Iran to first place in their groups in both that stage and the final one, to take Iran to their sixth World Cup. He won 15 of his 18 games in charge
Skocic arrived in Iran in 2013 and has previously coached four Iranian top flight teams.
In Qatar, Iran kick off their World Cup campaign against England on November 21. The United States and Wales are also in their group.
