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Bora Milutinovic, one of two men to coach four different teams at the World Cup, may get a chance with a fifth -- China.
Despite the sport's wide popularity in China, the country has never qualified for the World Cup. Milutinovic, A Yugoslav who managed Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), the United States (1994) and Nigeria (1998) at the World Cup, would follow two other foreigners as coach of China, German Klaus Schlappner and Briton Bobby Houghton.
Carlos Alberto Parreira is the only other man to coach four teams at the World Cup: Kuwait (1982), United Arab Emirates (1990), Brazil (1994) and Saudi Arabia (1998). Milutinovic is the only man to take all four teams to the second round.
Milutinovic is known throughout the world as a soccer mercenary able to take a team on short notive and achieve immediate success. He led Mexico to the quarterfinals at the 1986 World Cup, its highest finish.
He took over Costa Rica just before the 1990 World Cup and stunned many by getting it into the second round. He was introduced by then U.S. Soccer Federation president Alan Rothenberg in 1991 as a "miracle worker" and proceeded to qualify the United States for the second round in 1994.
He left his post with the U.S. national team in 1995, saying he was fired for not taking a larger role in player development.
He had qualified Mexico for the 1998 World Cup in 1997 before being fired, landing with Nigeria for France '98. Once again, he took that team into the second round before it was eliminated by Denmark.
Milutinovic previously coached the MetroStars in U.S. Major League Soccer, but resigned after one complete year with the club in which it had the worst single-season record in league history (4-3-25).
Milutinovic in August turned down an offer to coach the Paraguayan national team, before accepting his position with China.
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