F.C.Tokyo have a new manager, hiring Peter Cklamovski to replace Albert Puig for the second half of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League season.

Puig resigned as the international break began, stepping aside after a difficult first 17 matches of the campaign. F.C.Tokyo started the season quickly, but have been trending down since the opening weeks and haven’t been in the top half of the table for weeks.

Cklamovski last managed at Montedio Yamagata, where he took over while the club was facing relegation from J2 in 2021. He immediately led them into the top half of the table and then had the team in the promotion play-offs last season. He left Yamagata with a club record win percentage and points per game.

Cklamovski originally came to Japan with Ange Postegoclou, serving as his countryman’s assistant manager at Yokohama F·Marinos. They won the league together in 2019, culminating a successful partnership that began in Australia, where they worked together at Melbourne Victory and with the national team.

Now, Cklamovski will be charged with giving F.C.Tokyo a spark and helping lead the capital club back into the top half of the table, to begin with. That will have to begin with strengthening a defense that has been unreliable this season, but some improvement at the back combined with Diego Oliveira up front and Cklamovski could be leading the club to glory before long.