Halilhodzic on return to struggling Nantes at 73: 'This is my club'

PARIS (AP) — At the age of 73 and with grandchildren to look after, Vahid Halilhodzic was enjoying his retirement following nearly 50 years in soccer as a player and a coach.

Then a call came in from his old club Nantes, which is once again battling to avoid relegation from the French league.

Halilhodzic accepted the offer — which is until the end of the season — against his better judgement. The lure of saving Nantes proved too strong.

“This is my club. Many people have asked me the question, myself included. When they initially contacted me, it was a no-go. It’s normal to ask the question, I’m 150 years old,” he joked at a news conference Friday. “I’m out of touch, apparently. But it’s a club I love. It took me three days to say yes. My coaching career was over, I came to try and save the club.”

Nicknamed the “Canaries” because of the club’s bright yellow jerseys, eight-time league champion Nantes is one of France’s most storied clubs and long held a reputation for having a superb youth academy.

Nantes won the French Cup four times, and reached the Champions League semifinals in 1996 with a brand of attractive attacking soccer which won admirers among neutrals.

These days the team is sitting 17th in the 18-team league with nine games left.

Halilhodzic is already the third coach of the season. The Bosnian replaced Ahmed Kantari, who was sacked this week after just three months in charge. Kantari was hired in mid-December after Nantes fired Luís Castro, who lasted 15 games.

Nantes is seven points away from safety and two points adrift of 16th spot — which is the promotion-relegation playoff.

“It’s almost mission impossible, I came here to try something extraordinary,” Halilhodzic said. “And I came because every time, there are 30,000 people at the (Stade de la Beaujoire) stadium. The first objective is the playoff spot, the second is to do better.”

Nantes was in the same position five years ago, just staying up by winning a tense playoff under former coach Antoine Kombouaré — who was Halilhodzic’s former Nantes teammate.

But Kombouaré was not available, having recently been hired by struggling Paris FC.

So Nantes owner Waldemar Kita turned to Halilhodzic once again, even though the pair fell out when Halilhodzic was in charge during the 2018-19 season.

Halilhodzic put his differences to one side with Kita, who also fell out with Kombouaré when he was coach.

“I don’t work for them, but for Nantes,” Halilhodzic said, referring to Kita and his son, who is a director at the club. “Nantes belongs to many people. We’re all a little nostalgic.”

Back in the day

Halilhodzic won the French title with Nantes as a burly striker in 1983 and is third on the club’s all-time scorers list with 93 league goals. He scored eight goals for then-Yugoslavia.

His mammoth coaching career started in 1993 and included spells with Lille — where he was named coach of the season — and Paris Saint-Germain, before taking in Ivory Coast Algeria, Japan and Morocco.

He thought it was over in 2022.

But he’s back, and leading by example at training.

“I yelled and they heard me all the way to Paris. I’m cycling, using the treadmill, doing push-ups,” he said. “I’m doing 30, 40 (push-ups); more than the players are.”

And he’s motivating players in his own way.

“I asked (forward) Matthis (Abline) how many goals he had scored. He said four,” Halilhodzic said. “That’s what I used to score in a game. I like to tease.” ___

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