Globetrotting Nikola Popović guiding Atlético CP back to the big time? | OneFootball

He’s packed an awful lot into his 51 years thus far. And the best may yet be to come.

Portuguese-Serbian coach Nikola Popović has had a fascinating football journey taking in countries and continents all over the world.

In an extensive interview with Zach Lowy, Popović talks about his remarkable career, his tactical influences and bringing success to the historical Lisbon club Atlético Clube de Portugal.

On November 14, 2021, Portugal faced off against Serbia in a do-or-die World Cup qualifier. Serbia needed to win in order to book their ticket to Qatar, whilst Portugal needed to avoid defeat.

I was amongst the tens of thousands who attended the Estádio da Luz that night to view the match. I remember the overpowering elation of the Portuguese supporters who, upon seeing Renato Sanches open the scoring within two minutes, began to celebrate and fantasize about their upcoming trip to the Middle East for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. I remember the brisk Lisbon air and the pungent aromas of bifanas and bacalhau percolating through the stadium, and I remember the symphony of groans and jeers when Dušan Tadić equalized in the 33rd minute for Serbia. Above all, though, I remember Tadic receiving a short corner on the cusp of injury time, wriggling past an opponent on the edge of the box, and firing a teasing cross into the box for Aleksandar Mitrović to head home. Serbia had snatched a place in the World Cup from under the noses of Portugal – who would have to beat Turkey and North Macedonia in the playoffs in order to confirm their spot in the tournament.

Halfway across the continent, Nikola Popović was watching on with divided loyalties. Born in Belgrade, Popović left Yugoslavia at the age of three and headed for the Portuguese capital of Lisbon after his father switched jobs. “As a kid, I’d root for both Portugal and Yugoslavia, and whenever they played each other, I’d root for a draw,” says Popović in an RG interview.

Popović retains dual citizenship and speaks fluent English, Serbian and Portuguese, whilst he also boasts an intermediate understanding of French and Italian. At 51 years of age, he has worked as a head coach and an assistant coach in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, and has spent the past two decades studying the beautiful game. However, his relationship with football began long before that – Popović’s father, a journalist, would invite Yugoslavian footballers to their house and bring his son to Benfica matches at the Estádio da Luz. Out of all the Benfica matches that he attended as a kid, none were more memorable than the second leg of the 1989/90 UEFA European Cup semifinals, when Vata’s late equalizer allowed Benfica to escape elimination and hold on against Marseille before winning on penalties to confirm their spot in the final. Little did Popović know it, but he’d soon be plying his trade at Benfica.

Popović began his coaching journey in 2005 as an intern for Olivais e Moscavide in the Portuguese third tier before being eventually promoted to the coaching staff. In 2007, he left his homeland of Portugal for the first time in three decades, heading to Vihren Sandanski in the Bulgarian top-flight. It was a fleeting spell that saw him return after just a few months and land in northern Portugal with second-tier side Varzim, where he was able to win the first edition of the Liga Intercalar, or Reserves Championship, a competition that served to allow Portuguese teams to rotate less used players, juniors and players returning from injury, and which lasted from 2007 to 2011.

After three years at Varzim, Popović elected to try his luck in Africa as an assistant coach for Cape Verde. “When you coach a national team, it’s very different from a club,” said Popović. “The kind of work you do is really different because you aren’t with the players on a daily basis. You’re with them for a couple of weeks and then they go off and play with their clubs, sometimes for months on end. However, it was still another enriching experience for me as a coach.”

He then followed João de Deus to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the coast of North Africa which lies alongside the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Every single away match, Popović and his team would take the boat across the Mediterranean and head to Spain, before heading back to another continent. Despite these unconventional conditions, Popović was able to help Ceuta advance past Atlético Mancha Real, CD Guadalajara and Melilla before reaching the final phase of the 2010/11 Copa del Rey for the first time in Ceuta’s entire history, before being obliterated 7-0 across two legs against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.

From there, Popović would end up trying his luck one more time in Bulgaria with PSFC Chernomorets Burga, before adding a third continent to his CV and linking up with José Mourinho’s former assistant Baltemar Brito at Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates, where he won the Vice President Cup. Finally, Popović was able to land his first-ever head coach role, enjoying a brief spell with Sertanense in the Portuguese second tier, before heading back to the Middle East and working at Aspire Academy. After a year in Qatar, Popović was back in his hometown of Lisbon and working as an assistant to Hélder Cristóvão at Benfica B, where he managed the likes of Renato Sanches, Rúben Dias and Luka Jović.

However, after just a few months with the Águias, Popović decided to take his talents to the other side of the Atlantic and join Sporting Kansas City’s affiliate team Swope Park Rangers in the United Soccer League. Initially an assistant, Popović was given the reins for the 2017 season, where he was able to achieve instant success in his second head coaching opportunity, guiding them to the Western Conference Championship and a second-straight USL Cup Final. He then headed north for Canada and joined USL side Ottawa Fury, leading them to both the most goals scored in their entire history as well as a first-ever playoff berth, before moving back to Europe and reuniting with Cristóvão at Slovakian heavyweights FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda. However, the COVID-19 pandemic would bring this adventure to a premature end after just a few months, with Popović spending a year out of work before deciding to head back to his birthplace of Belgrade.

Working alongside Serbian legend Dejan Stanković at Red Star Belgrade, Popović helped to oversee two straight domestic doubles as well as their run to the 2021/22 UEFA Europa League Round of 16, before deciding to head back to Portugal. He took charge of Atlético Clube de Portugal for the 2024/25 season, and it hasn’t taken long for him to justify the club’s confidence: Atlético currently sit top of Group B in Liga 3 with 25 points from 14 matches, and with four regular season matches left, they are in prime position to qualify for the promotion playoffs, which features the top two teams from both Group A and Group B. Whilst there’s still a lot of work to be done, Popović has Atlético fans on course for a promotion push – after eight years in Portugal’s regional leagues, can they make it back to the promised land and earn promotion the second tier?