Former Myanmar U23 coach leads Thanh Hoa

Popov has come to Thanh Hoa to sign a contract, and will immediately start recruiting personnel to prepare for the V-League 2023.

According to CEO Cao Hoang Duc, after receiving Thanh Hoa's proposal, Popov immediately agreed and expressed excitement about the opportunity to compete in the V-League. Mr. Duc also said that the club decided to invite the Bulgarian military leader because he appreciated him in the aspect of fiery and enthusiastic direction.

Popov was born in 1976, played professionally for only five years, for Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Herbar Pazardzhik and Spartak Plovdiv. Popov switched to coaching in 2000 and has coached 11 teams.

He is no stranger to Vietnamese football fans by leading Myanmar U23 since 2019. He helped this team win the bronze medal at the 2019 SEA Games, where Vietnam won the first gold medal in 60 years. At the 31st SEA Games, Popov's Myanmar lost to host Vietnam in the group stage in Phu Tho, and could not win tickets to the semi-finals.

Popov's contract with the Myanmar Football Federation expired, so he did not have to compensate when he went to Thanh Hoa. He is expected to help the Thanh team finish the first phase of the V-League 2023 in the top 6 to be in the championship racing group.

V-League 2023 will open on February 3 and end on August 20, 2023. This will be the shortest season in history, since the professional league was born in 2000. The organizers shortened the time to organize the V-League 2023 to prepare for the next season to switch to stone. two years, like the European leagues.

V-League 2023 does not compete in a round-robin two-legged round to select the champion team like this season. Teams will play a round robin in the first stage. After that, the top six teams will kick off the second stage to compete for the championship, and the bottom eight teams will race for relegation. This competition format was applied by VPF in the 2020 and 2021 seasons - the season was canceled after round 12 due to Covid-19.

Previously, Thanh Hoa was led by coach Ljupko Petrovic. But in the middle of last season, the 75-year-old military leader returned to his hometown for medical reasons.