Udinese Appoint Croatian Igor Tudor as New Manager

Igor Tudor (image: Twitter/Galatasary)

Former international Igor Tudor (40) has become the third Croatian to coach in Italy’s Serie A.

Tudor has replaced Massimo Oddo as coach of Udinese after they lost 11 Serie A matches in a row, the club confirmed on Tuesday.

Former Croatia and Juventus defender Tudor has been jobless after being sacked by Turkish club Galatasaray in December.

A warm welcome to our new coach Igor Tudor!

We’ll have live updates from his first press conference as Udinese boss in a few minutes’ time! #BenvenutoIgor pic.twitter.com/HH3h1Npzyb

— Udinese Calcio (@Udinese_1896) April 24, 2018

Andrea Stramaccioni was initially lined-up for the job but after negotiations broke down Tudor was brought in. Udinese has two Croatians in their squad – Andrija Balić and Stipe Perica.

“Udinese is a great club and they have a lot of interesting players. I believe I can achieve good things here,” Tudor said in his first press conference.

Tudor is now the third Croatian to take charge of a Serie A club after Tomislav Ivić (Avellino) and Ivan Jurić (Genoa). Tudor was capped 55 times for Croatia, playing at UEFA Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He missed the 2002 World Cup due to injury.