GNK DINAMO BREAKED, CANNAVARO IS NO LONGER THE COACH

tsg_news April 9, 2025

GNK Dinamo Zagreb has officially confirmed that Fabio Cannavaro is no longer the coach of the club. This decision was made on Wednesday morning, after the club management decided to terminate cooperation with the Italian coach, despite Velimir Zajec’s previous statements that Cannavaro will remain on the bench at least until the match against Osijek. According to available information, Cannavaro wanted to stay on the bench until the end of the season, but a series of bad results, including a heavy defeat against Istria in Pula (0-3), decided his tenure.

Cannavaro spent 100 days in charge of Dinamo, during which he led the team in 14 games, achieving seven wins and five losses. His tenure was marked by a win over Milan, but also a series of failures in the domestic championship (SHNL). The decision on his successor has not yet been made, and it is expected that the long-term decision will be in the hands of the new sports director, whose appointment should follow shortly. Until then, the team will most likely be managed by Cannavaro’s assistant Sandro Perkovic, although that is not certain at the moment either.

Sandro Perković is an experienced Dinamo assistant coach who has already proven himself through independent coaching engagements in Latvia and Cyprus. In Dinamo, he took part in winning several championships and cups and has a UEFA Pro license. His ability to lead the team in turbulent situations could be crucial until the final decision on a new head coach is made.

GNK Dinamo’s press release:

The Italian strategist Fabio Cannavaro is no longer the coach of the Dinamo first team as of this Wednesday. He stayed on the bench of the Maksimir club for a little longer than three months and led the Blues in 14 competitive and three preparatory games.

The former celebrated Italian national team player, winner of the Ballon d’Or, took over the coaching role in Dinamo on December 29 last year, replacing Nenad Bjelica. In 10 championship games, he recorded five wins, two draws and three losses, whereby Dinamo remained in third place in the league table, while in the cup competition in extremely difficult conditions and on a waterlogged pitch in Maksimir, they were stopped in the quarter-finals where Osijek was better with 1:0. In his Zagreb opus, the great victory against Milan with 2:1, which increased Dinamo’s performance in the Champions League to a record 11 points, shines in particular, and only an incredible set of circumstances and the outcome of the other matches left the Blues below the line on the way to the knockout phase.

We thank coach Cannavar from the bottom of our hearts for his great effort, commitment and friendliness and we wish him all the luck in his further sports and life journey.

In the rest of the season, the team will be temporarily taken over by the current assistant coach, Sandro Perković.

Who will be the new coach?

Dynamo has no easy task. It is necessary to determine who will be the new coach who will know how to make the right moves because the players need a leader. In the last few days, we have been reading and hearing how Dinamo was in contact with various coaching names.

Gonzalo Garcia, who is currently in Istra 1961, Silvijo Čabraja, Mario Kovačević or Albert Reira – are potential coaching names that are associated with Dinamo.

Whether it will be a foreigner or a local man, in any case, it will not be an easy task to get the team in some sort of order. Whoever gets the position of coach in Dinaml, good luck to him.

In the end…

It’s not easy for Dinamo these days. However, there have been problems since the beginning of September, but it is not a problem with the coaches. Cannavaro was already the third coach in the club and the same mistakes happened again.

You need to think about what to do and who to bring to the club. If you ask us, it is necessary to concentrate on going to the UEFA Conference League and getting there as far as possible.

Players do not have to be sold. The backbone of the team should be brought in, compatible players who will not make mistakes and who will be able to move around the field should be brought to the defense.