Persepolis bring Croat Ivankovic back to Iran

Tehran soccer giants Persepolis named former national handler Croat Branko Ivankovic as head coach on Tuesday, after firing Hamid Derakshan due to a string of poor results. Runners-up last season, Persepolis currently languish in ninth in the 16-team Iranian league, 23 games into the season. The 61-year-old signed an 18-month contract, and previously led Iran's national team to the Germany World Cup finals in 2006 after a memorable three-year spell in charge. To clinch the deal club and coach agreed to pay outstanding taxes and penalty fines of around $85,000 (at official exchange rate) from the late payment thereof from his years as national coach. The debts were "actually the responsibility of the country's football federation, but Mr. Branko, in a gesture of good will and to end the issue, has accepted to pay the tax while the club will pay the fines", Persepolis vice president Mohammad Hossein Nejad-Fallah told the club's website. "I'm happy to be back in Iran, we're going to try to make happy the huge fan base of Persepolis," the Croat said. Ivankovic first cut his teeth as assistant coach of Croatia when they ran to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup in France. Ivankovic's first game in charge could be against Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr in the Asian Champions League on Wednesday. in another goodwill gesture Nejad-Fallah told fans they could come to the Al-Nassr game without paying as the club has "bought all the tickets for the fans to watch the game for free".