Magnus Johansson replaced by Dragan Djukic as CSM coach

For the ninth time in four and a half years, CSM Bucuresti have replaced their coach, after a string of disappointing results.

Magnus Johansson, who was appointed by the team’s management in July, has been sacked after two consecutive defeats last week.

It puts an early end to Johansson’s first coaching job outside Scandinavia. He had coached men’s and women’s teams in his native Sweden and Norway before, including Ikast/Bording and IK Sävehof.

"New coach will be named in the upcoming weeks"

“After a thorough analysis of the start of the season that featured both games in the domestic competitions and in the Women’s EHF Champions League, CSM Bucuresti and Magnus Karl Johansson decided to part ways,” CSM said in a press release.

After two rounds, CSM Bucuresti are ranked second in the group with two points, trailing leaders SG BBM Bietighiem by one point.

Djukic takes the reigns

It took just one day before the new coach was named. Johansson’s place was taken by Dragan Djukic, a 56-year old Serbian coach, who takes over a women’s team for the first time in his career.

Djukic, the current Montenegrin men’s national team coach, will lead the Romanian side for the first time on Saturday, when CSM face Vipers Kristiansand.

“It is a challenge for me and I want my players to find the pleasure of playing handball. It is not the time to speak, rather we need to act quickly to steady the ship,” Djukic told CSM’s official club website.

A powerhouse in Romania, CSM have already lost twice this season to SCM Ramnicu Valcea, in August for the Super Cup and last week in a domestic league game, jeopardising the club’s dominant position in Romania.

But the defining moment of Johansson’s tenure at CSM was Sunday’s 30:28 defeat against Bietigheim.

No coach has held the coveted CSM position more than nine months in the past four years, with Kim Rasmussen leading the Romanian side to the Women’s EHF Champions League title in May 2016, before leaving the team to take over the Hungarian national women’s team.

A well-seasoned coach, Djukic has led the national teams of Montenegro, Israel, Great Britain, Switzerland, FYR Macedonia and Jordan, as well as club sides MOL-Pick Szeged and HC Vardar. The Serbian coach has also plied his trade in the Romanian League in 2017, when he oversaw HC Odorhei, a former Men’s EHF Challenge Cup winner in 2015.