[FM22] FK Voždovac - Part 0: The journey begins

A Serbian top-flight club decided to appoint a university student with no prior experience to lead the team in the 2021/22 season. What can go wrong?

Belgrade has always been Serbia’s biggest city in terms of football. The likes of Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan have been the trailblazers for Serbia in the continental competitions and have always been the best clubs in the domestic league. But in their shadows is a club looking to modernise itself and waiting for the opportunity to take down the big guns. Besides from being one of the only European clubs whose home stadium is a rooftop stadium, FK Voždovac have also made a very interesting decision regarding the person who will be leading them into the 2021/22 season. Let me tell you the story of Voždovac’s latest manager, Anthony Dao.

Growing up in Australia to Vietnamese parents, Anthony has been fascinated with the idea of discovering the world beyond where he was living. After graduating from high school, he wanted to find an opportunity to study abroad and allowed him to fulfil his life-long dream of travelling the world. That was when Serbia came calling. Rather than moving to English-speaking countries or major European cities, where he would have been able to adapt easier, Anthony chose to go to a university in Serbia to pursue a degree in data science. He loves a challenge and moving to Belgrade was something that he was willing to try.

At first, things were tough. But after a year in Belgrade, Anthony started to adapt to the environment around him and things felt easier. On a Saturday night, he visited a restaurant at the Stadion Shopping Centre after a long day of university work. While enjoying his dinner and working on a side project, someone approached Anthony and asked to have a chat. He introduced himself as one of the board members of Voždovac and he just finished a meeting with the board and supporters’ club about the plans for the 2021/22 season. Usually, Anthony would have doubted the words of this stranger, but his doubts begun to fade away as he spotted the club’s logo on this man’s suit and happened to know via one of his friends (who is a member of the supporters’ club) that there was a club meeting today.

Anthony asked why he chose to approach him out of the blue. The man said he saw Anthony was working on some data visualisations and that reminded him of the work of a person that he saw on social media and he wanted to ask if Anthony knew anything about the person doing all of those visualisations. When the man showed Anthony the social media account, Anthony immediately recognised that it was his account that the man was following. He then said to the man, he is a football fan who had an interest in learning about the intricacies of the sport and he was doing the visualisations to accompany the degree that he was pursuing. They talked for a long time about Anthony’s story, about Voždovac, and about life in Serbia.

Then, the man asked something that Anthony did not expect. He wanted to know if Anthony was interested to become their head coach for the 2021/22 season. Anthony was surprised with the man’s question. He never had any prior experience in coaching besides from taking a coaching class to receive a C-level certificate back when he was a high school student in Australia. He also never played football professionally as he only occasionally played with a few friends after they finished their university classes. So, why did the man want Anthony to be the head coach for a top-flight club?

Still surprised, Anthony asked the man for any particular reason why he wanted Anthony to be the head coach. He said they were looking for a new manager for the club after the previous manager left the role due to personal reasons. The board wanted to continue modernising the club and finding a young manager to lead the club into the next few years was one of the visions that they had and the man was tasked to find that person. Seeing Anthony’s work reminded him of the story of Rene Marić and Will Still, and even though it might took a bit of convincing, he wanted Anthony to lead the team because he was impressed with Anthony’s work. He also wanted an answer within that day as he needed to prepare the case to the board.

Anthony needed a bit of time to think and asked to give his answer back later that night. The man agreed, knowing that this was a significant decision to make for Anthony, and he also gave Anthony the assurance that he would convince the board to back him if things were not going well. The two ended the conversation in a happy mood and bade farewell as Anthony headed home to think about the decision. On his way home, he thought about his dream of becoming a head coach when he was young and his willingness to take on a challenge. He did not want to make a fool of himself, but he also knew that he needed to learn and win the players’ trust quickly to avoid spiralling down a tunnel that he and his team would not be able to get out of. Even though he was nervous, he felt he was ready to say ‘yes’ to the decision. Later that night, he gave the man a call and confirmed his commitment to the club.

Fast forward to mid-June of 2021, Voždovac’s appointment shock the footballing world. Many fans, including the club’s fans, express their scepticism and both the board and Anthony expect this. But internally, the board are ready to back Anthony through every decisions that he made after he and the man convinced them that they have a plan to help improving the club. It is up to Anthony now to win over the trust of the players and the staff.

The board gave Anthony a one-year contract as they are still not confident to hand the club’s long-term future in his hand. They also expect a strong showing from the club this season, a challenge that might be too much in Anthony’s first season as a manager. But he understands the decision since the board want improvement from the club rather than seeing the club finishing in the bottom half of the table every season.

A club that only managed to win the third tier of Serbia twice in their history, last won a trophy in 2012, and only narrowly avoided relegation in the 2020/21 season. It is clear that the board want to see the club improve and challenge the likes of Red Star or Partizan, who are the biggest teams in Belgrade and Serbia. They have good training facilities and youth facilities, which is something that attracts Anthony to make the final decision as he wants to secure the long-term future of the club while also making short-term improvements. A big challenge awaits Anthony at Voždovac.

To be continued…