Durakovic to stay with Perak for another season

KUALA LUMPUR: Perak head coach, Mehmet Durakovic has confirmed that he will continue to guide the ‘Bos Gaurus’ squad for the 2019 Malaysian League.

The 53-year-old Australian revealed that the Raja Muda of Selangor Tengku Amir Shah, who is also the Football Association of Selangor (FAS) president, had expressed interest to rope him in for the Selangor Super League side next season.

“I want to thank His Royal Highness the Raja Muda of Selangor. I had to a good chat with him after the Malaysia Cup fina, and told him I would like to come to Selangor but after explaining about my family situation, he gave me his blessings to stay on with Perak and I would like to thank him very much,” Durakovic told reporters when met after the 2018 National Football Awards here Monday night.

He was named as the Best Coach during the ceremony.

“I have been with Selangor football for 25 years and they are my family and Insya-Allah (God willing), one day I will back to Selangor,” he added.

Durakovic is not an unfamiliar name with Selangor, having won the Malaysia Cup thrice as a player – 1995, 1996 and 1997 and also as coach in 2015.

On another note, Durakovic noted that Perak are set to face a mammoth task in the 2019 Asian Champions League (ACL) qualifying round, but was confident the players would give their best in the tournament.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has decided to give the 2019 ACL qualifying slot to Perak after Pahang failed to file in their appeal after being handed a two-year ban for disobeying FAM’s order to take part in the AFC Cup, prior to this.