A legend replaces another legend. That's the best way to describe the change in the position of national team director. Sasha Ciric, the retired striker who scored 91 goals in his career in Germany playing for the likes of Nürnberg, TeBe Berlin, Eintracht Frankfurt and Kickers Offenbach, was officially confirmed as the new national team director. The former Macedonian First League top goalscorer also left a huge impact on the senior national team, scoring 8 goals in his 26 appearances. A real recognition for his contribution at Nürnberg was when the club celebrated its 110th anniversary, Ciric was voted by the fans among the best starting 11 in the team's history.
The 47-year-old Ciric takes the place of Ilija Najdoski, the former left-back of the Yugoslav national team who played at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy and later for the first Macedonian team after its independence. Najdoski was the first to resign after Macedonia's loss in the EURO 2016 qualifier against Belarus. Najdoski took accountability and decided to hand in his resignation, while manager Boshko Gjurovski would later be dismissed.
This move was expected since Ljubinko Drulović already revealed at a humanitarian match last month that Ciric was the new national team director. Them, new goalkeeping coach Oka Nikolov announced that he got a call from Ciric about his interest in serving on the coaching staff. He immediately expected. So, Ciric has been serving in this role for weeks before it was officially announced by the Macedonian federation.
