Dejan Stankovic resigned as Red Star Belgrade head coach after his team failed to qualify for the Champions League group stages, the Serbian club announced Friday.
The 43-year-old Serbian football great said the latest unsuccessful bid to qualify for Europe’s most prestigious club competition made him realise it’s time to quit.
“Now, after the third attempt to qualify for the Champions League, I feel completely empty,” Stankovic said, according to the club’s website.
“I can’t go on. I gave my all. Now someone else has to try.”
The former Inter Milan midfielder, who won the double with Red Star last season, saw his team eliminated by Maccabi Haifa on Tuesday after conceding a clumsy last-minute own goal.
The Serbian champions ended up in the second tier Europa League, where they will face AS Monaco, Ferencvaros and Trabzonspor.
Stankovic succeeded Vladan Milojevic at Red Star’s helm in 2019, after the previous coach led the club to the Champions League group stages twice.
