Tehran soccer giants Persepolis named former national handler Croat Branko Ivankovic as head coach on Tuesday, after firing Hamid Derakshan due to a string of poor results.

Runners-up last season, Persepolis currently languish in ninth in the 16-team Iranian league, 23 games into the season.

Ivankovic's first game in charge will be against Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr in the Asian Champions League on Wednesday.

The 61-year-old signed an 18-month contract, and previously led Iran's national team to the Germany World Cup finals in 2006 after a memorable three year spell in charge.

Ivankovic first cut his teeth as assistant coach of Croatia when they ran to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup in France.

"I'm happy to be back in Iran, we're going to try to make the majority of Persepolis fans happy," the Croat said.