Nikola Popovic was a head coach of the Swope Park Rangers on 2017 (Photo by sportingkc.com)
Nikola Popović spoke to RG about his childhood in Portugal, his tactical influences, and cutting his teeth as an assistant coach in Part One of the interview. In Part Two, he speaks about becoming a head coach for the first time, plying his trade in North America, and his biggest non-negotiables as a manager.
Nikola Popović was 31 when he received his first job in football as an intern for Olivais e Moscavide. He was 34 when he secured his first trophy as an assistant coach, winning the Liga Intercalar with Varzim. And at 40, he became a head coach for the first time in his career, returning to Portugal after four years abroad and taking the reins at third-tier Sertanense between April and June 2014.
As a football manager, Popović has had to adapt to the extreme heat of the United Arab Emirates as well as the frigid temperatures of Canada, but there was nothing that could have prepared him for the transition from assistant coach to head to coach.
“I had been an assistant coach for a long time, but becoming a head coach, everything is different,” said Popović in an exclusive interview with RG. “The responsibilities are different, the actions are different, the overview is different, the way that you speak is different, the way that you send the message is different. You are the one who is going to establish an idea, a culture, an identity, a methodology…it’s all on you to do this. My time with Sertanense was a short experience, but it was very good for me to undertake these types of tasks.”
He decided to return to the Middle East and join the Aspire Academy, which was founded in 2004 by emiri decree as an independent government-funded agency with the objective of developing Qatari athletes and providing them with secondary school education. It’s certainly paid off – in 2014, a team composed solely of Aspire Academy student-athletes won the 38th edition of the AFC U-19 Championship for the first time in Qatar’s history. Five years later, Qatar would go on to win their first-ever AFC Asian Cup in 2019, whilst they would successfully retain their title in February 2024 after edging Jordan 3-1 in the final.
Globetrotting From Asia to America
Another team that has landed a healthy return on their investment in their academy is Benfica. The Portuguese giants launched the Benfica Campus in 2006, which is used by the first team, reserves and youth teams like the U-19s, and which boasts two gyms, three physiotherapy rooms, 28 locker rooms, two cafeterias, two auditoriums, swimming pools, jacuzzis, sauna, and an 86-room hotel to host academy players.
And whilst it cost a total of €15 million, it’s proven to be a bargain for the Águias. Benfica have established a reputation as one of the most youth development centers in Europe, molding future Portugal internationals like Gonçalo Ramos (€65m), João Neves (€60m) and João Félix (€126m) before shipping them off for hefty transfer fees.
After spending one year in Qatar, Popović made the move to Benfica B as an assistant coach to Hélder Cristóvão, where he came across various future Portugal stars like Rúben Dias and Renato Sanches.
“Right away, you could feel he was going to be a leader,” said Popović of Dias, who has since won the Premier League and Champions League after joining Manchester City for an initial €68 million.
He considers Dias and Sanches to be the best players that he has coached alongside Red Star Belgrade’s Montenegrin midfielder Mirko Ivanić.
“Ivanić is a fantastic player, every moment of the game, he’s going to be your difference-maker,” said Popović
Head Coaching Opportunities
Once again, Popović didn’t stay long in Portugal and left Lisbon after just a few months. For the first time in his life, he headed across the Atlantic Ocean and packed his bags for Kansas. He served as an assistant coach to Marc Dos Santos at Swope Park Rangers, Sporting Kansas City’s affiliate club in the United Soccer League, who finished fourth in the Western Conference with a 14–10–6 record and became the second team in league history to reach the USL Cup Final in its inaugural season, where they lost 5-1 to New York Red Bulls II.
“There’s a regular season and the playoffs, but what was very difficult is the traveling,” said Popović of his time in the States. “The country is so big…having to take so many flights is exhausting. When you have to go to New York and then head to Washington DC and then Philadelphia and then Los Angeles and then Arizona, it wears you out. It makes it very difficult to manage the roster when you have to adjust to the changes in time and altitude.”
Popović was given his second head coaching job after Dos Santos departed for the newly founded NASL Club San Francisco Deltas, and this time, he lasted more than a couple of months. He guided them to a 17-8-7 record, another fourth-place finish, and another conference championship, but, just when it seemed like he might be on his way to a first-ever trophy as a head coach, Cameron Lancaster scored in the 88th minute to secure a 1-0 victory for Louisville City in the 2017 USL Cup Final.
He resigned after their heartbreaking defeat in Kentucky and packed his bags for a new USL club, heading to the Canadian capital and becoming the new manager of Ottawa Fury.
“If you can adapt to all of these conditions and start understanding how it works, you can grow a lot as a coach,” said Popović. “The work I did there was very good, and I’m very happy with what was accomplished in the USA.”
It didn’t take long before he started to effectuate his tactics on his players, including Maxime Crépeau, who has gone on to achieve a successful career in MLS and become Canada’s starting goalkeeper. And whilst he often had to hold his training sessions indoors due to Ontario’s unforgiving cold weather, he managed to get his entire team beating to the same drum.
Combining style and substance, Popović predicated his set-up around retaining possession and pressing high up the pitch and steered Ottawa to an unforgettable campaign. They scored the most goals in club history and qualified for the USL playoffs for the first time ever, whilst they also reached the semifinals of the Canadian Cup.
A Return to Europe
However, all good things come to an end, and in November 2019, Ottawa was disbanded as a soccer club and sold its USL franchise rights to Miami FC. After spending the past four years in North America, it was time for Popović to return to Europe. He reunited with Cristóvão at FC DAC 1904 – who had finished as runners-up in Slovakia’s top-flight the previous season – but the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic would cut his time short after just a few months.
After spending more than a year out of management, he received a proposal that seemed too good to be true: an assistant role at Red Star Belgrade. Nearly a half-century after leaving Belgrade as a young child, Popović was going to be returning to his original home and working at the most successful club in Southeastern Europe and the entire Balkan region. Even better, he was going to be an auxiliary to Dejan Stanković, one of the greatest players in Serbia’s history.
Red Star Belgrade enjoyed a stellar 2021/22 campaign, winning the league title and Serbian Cup and finishing atop their UEFA Europa League group before losing to eventual runners-up Rangers in the Round of 16. They would follow that up with another domestic double, upon which Popović elected to head back to Lisbon, taking charge of Atlético Clube de Portugal for the 2024/25 season.
So far, so good: with four games left in the regular season, Atlético sit atop Group B with 24 points from a potential 42, whilst they nearly pulled off a shock elimination against top-flight side Rio Ave in the Taça de Portugal, only to lose 3-1 in extra time. There are 10 teams apiece in Group A and Group B, with each team playing each other home and away, and the top two teams in each group advance to the promotion playoffs and challenge for a place in Portugal’s second tier.
“I have a very good project on my hands and I believe we’re creating the right core values and culture here. You’re always going to have growing pains with a new coaching staff, but you can feel the passion and energy at the stadium,” said Popović. “It’s not even football, it’s about the culture. When I go to a club, I’m going to bring my culture and establish core values that will create behaviors to lead the team to success. These values are non-negotiable. I’m very passionate about football, and I want this passion to be contagious between the players and supporters in the stands.”
As long as Atlético keep winning, that passion is only going to continue growing in the 4,000-capacity Estádio da Tapadinha. After spending the past eight years in the regional leagues, Nikola Popović has Atlético-CP fans dreaming of a return to the Portuguese second division.
Zach Lowy is a freelance football journalist who has written for leading outlets like FotMob, BetUS, Apuestas Deportivas, and who has appeared as a radio and television guest for BBC, SiriusXMFC, and various other platforms. After pursuing a global sports journalism degree at George Washington University, Zach has been able to tap into his multilingual background and interview major footballing figures in Spanish and Portuguese as well as operate the weekly podcast 'Zach Lowy's European Football Show' on BET Central.
