Jovović's six World Cup stories

The 23rd World Cup begins tomorrow, and Montenegrin coach Nebojša Jovović is the Arab record holder - he has worked in six of the eight countries from the Middle East and North Africa that will participate in the World Cup.

His list includes Saudi Arabia (Hajar), Egypt (Zamalek), Jordan (Faisaliyah), Iraq (Shorta), Tunisia (Sfaxien) and Qatar (Al Ahli).

His record was "spoiled" by the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait - countries that failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Every World Cup is special, and for Jovović, the most trophy-winning Montenegrin coach, this one is even more special.

"A specific World Cup for me, many players I worked with in the Middle East and Africa, many coaches my teams played against will be there. Every World Cup also brings new trends, practically guidelines in which direction football will develop," Jovović told Meridiansport.

Really, in which direction is football going? Jovović makes a comparison:

"When the last World Cup was played in Qatar, I was a coach in that very country, in Al Ahli. Their football federation hired all the best analysts and assigned them to follow one national team each. At the end of the World Cup, we had an introduction to trends. And each of the last few World Cups was won by the national team that had the smallest average distance between defense and attack during the game. The national team that knew how to defend 30 to 40 meters from its goal, and also to quickly transform and attack from that zone. It is clear that something like that requires fast players and fast play. That is just one of the trends that will continue at this World Cup," explains Jovović.

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"France has played in the last two World Cup finals, won one, lost the other, they are so strong that I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the final for the third time. They also have an experienced coach, he has been on the bench for a long time. England, the Netherlands and Portugal are national teams that can go far, Brazil with Ancelotti is gaining special sympathy, and world champion Argentina has an incredible cult of the national team. I will be especially emotional when the teams from the region, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, play, but also the teams from Africa and the Middle East that I have worked with and with whom I have a special connection."

Jovović began his coaching career in Asia in 2011, when he sat on the bench of Hajjar from Saudi Arabia.

"This is the team that is coming to the World Cup probably the most confident of all from the Arab region - it is a regular participant in the World Cup, it defeated the world champion Argentina in the last one, and it has a league that is among the top 10 in the world. They expect to get through the group and go to the second phase, but it will not be easy for them. The unlimited influx of foreigners has meant that their players do not have as much space to express themselves in the domestic league, we will see if and to what extent this will affect the national team."

From Saudi Arabia, Jovović moved to Jordan - on the bench of Faisaliah, he won the treble in 2017 and was named coach of the year in the country, which is participating in the World Cup for the first time.

"They are making their World Cup debut and it is a huge, timeless event there. This is a country that has a lot of coaching talent and that has sent players to Europe for extra training. Moussa Tameri from Montpellier is their Messi, and I am very sorry that Jazam Naimat, who I coached at Al Ahly and who is their number one striker, is not playing due to injury. They are weakened, but they will do everything to show themselves in the best possible light."

Between two terms in Jordan, Jovović sat on the bench of Zamalek - the Egyptian giant, one of the biggest clubs in Africa.

"It's been a long time, almost a decade, but there are still footballers who played in the domestic league back then. Coach Hossam Hassan was then sitting on the bench of Al Masry, Zamalek's rivals. This is a country crazy about football, it's literally a religion - and imagine the shock it was four years ago when they didn't qualify for the World Cup in Qatar. They still can't forgive themselves and regret it. They have Spartan discipline in their game and Salah is inspired to show his mettle at what is probably his last World Cup."

Jovović then moved to Iraq - with Short he won the title in the 2018/19 season, and was named coach of the season.

"If they are crazy about football in Egypt, then I don't know how to describe the situation in Iraq... A country that has returned to the World Cup after 40 years or more, which is no surprise to me. They are brought enormous energy by their coach, the Australian Graham Arnold, whom I followed four years ago in Qatar when he sat on the bench of his Australia, took them to the round of 16 and made Argentina suffer terribly there. I think Iraq has a better team than Australia had in 2022. The draw with Spain in a friendly match a few days ago is no coincidence."

The Arab coaching route then led Jovović to Tunisia, where he won the national Cup with Sfaxien in 2019.

"Tunisia is a regular participant in the World Cup, they hope to finally get through the group. They are very disciplined and play hard – something similar to Italy. I know well both the coach who took them to the World Cup and the coach who will lead them to the World Cup, Sabri Lamoussi. They draw hope for success from the continuity of participation in the World Cup, but also from experience."

From Tunisia, Jovović went to Qatar in 2019 - he sat on the bench of Al Ahli for four full years.

"Qatar is a completely different story. It is a country similar in size and population to Montenegro, a country with a small pool of football players but with the best academy in the world. It is no coincidence that they won the Asian Championship twice in a row, ahead of Japan, Korea, Australia... Before the last World Cup, they made a big mistake, they took all the national team players to Spain for a six-month training camp, those players did not play in the domestic league. They fell out of the competitive rhythm and looked very bad at the championship, including their best player Afif, a great master who recently won the title with Mancini in Al Sadd. Qatar will not make the same mistake now and I expect that with Lopetegui they will look better than at the last World Cup," concludes Jovović, who has already won an incredible 11 trophies while working in Arab countries, six of which were in Kuwait.

Emirates, Kuwait - countries where Jovović also worked, and still work, did not qualify for the World Cup, but perhaps in four years this list will be even longer.