A surprising ending. Everything was set to appoint Mladen Perica as new coach of Croatia, since the March 2009 resignation of former trainer Mico Martic (after that Croatia just took part in the Borsodi Futsal Cup with Perica as head coach)

The futsal committee of the Croatian FA had introduced Mladen Perica as new coach, a decision presented to the FA executive committee that usually merely approves it. After working as Martic's assistant and taking the Under 21 team to the final tournament stage in St. Petersburg, Perica was ready to take the A team in charge, having won the competition of the portuguese coach Tiago Polido and of the national legend Robert Grdovic.

But the "soccer surprise" came when the Croatian FA Executive Committee, following the proposal of Zdravko Mamic ( member of Dinamo Zagreb football club) voted the name of Tiago Polido, already in the country as head coach of Nacional Zagreb. In that moment all decisions taken before about the appointment of Perica were surprisingly "forgotten", even by Boris Durlen who lead the futsal committee.

A betrayal to futsal people which denies every meaning to exist for the Croatian Futsal Committee, not even able to defend its own decision towards the soccer community. A decision which is also seen as consequence of the high croatian chances to obtain the Euro 2012 Futsal Champs organization. According to some "rumors" there is also the chance for Croatia to follow the continental trend to naturalize brazilian players for the national team, something not yet confirmed anyway. We just want to underline that we're not discussing the value of Tiago Polido as a coach (we know him very well) but the role of Futsal Committees inside National FAs. They must hear our voice and knowledge, or let futsal live under other organizations and entities.

Croatia will now move to Hungary for a double friendly game on December 15th and 16th, under the guide of Alen Delpont and Marinko Mavrovic (assistant coaches of Mladen Perica in the Under 21 squad), since the Polido contract (2 years agreement) starts on January 1st 2010. According to our information Mladen Perica should keep on working with the Under 21 team.









Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com