How incoming Hull City manager Sergej Jakirovic once made Champions League history

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Hull City diced with danger in 2024/25 and were close to being relegated on the final day, as a draw against Portsmouth was enough to keep them up.

It was a rapid drop-off from the 2023/24 campaign as Hull finished seventh in the Championship before Acun Ilicali sacked Liam Rosenior.

A sense of deja vu followed this time around as Ilicali dismissed Ruben Selles, despite saving the team from relegation after the disastrous Tim Walter tenure.

Selles has since been linked with the Huddersfield Town job, with the Spaniard looking for an instant route back into management, while Hull are closing in on the appointment of Sergej Jakirovic.

The Bosnian is currently in charge of Turkish Super Lig side Kayserispor, who are 12th in the table and face Samsunspor in their final fixture of the season this weekend.

• READ MORE: Who is Hull City’s new incoming manager Sergej Jakirovic? His Champions League experience and turnaround at Kayserispor

Sergej Jakirovic set an unwanted Champions League record at Dinamo Zagreb

With Jakirovic set to say his goodbyes to his current club on Sunday after agreeing a contract in principle with the Tigers, supporters will be hoping this left-field appointment can finally be the right one made by Ilicali.

The 48-year-old has enjoyed an extensive career in management so far, which includes stints at Maribor, Rijeka and most impressively, Dinamo Zagreb.

In the 2023/24 campaign, he successfully guided Zagreb through the qualifying rounds to reach the group stage of the Champions League.

Unfortunately, the Croatian giants endured a tough time in the group stage. In their opening match, they played against Bayern Munich and were thrashed 9-2.

This was the first time in the Champions League history that any team had conceded nine goals, and as a result, Jakirovic was sacked on September 19, 2024, just two days after this match was played.

Jakirovic has a difficult mission at Hull City

For the fourth year running, Hull are set to overhaul their squad, implementing new principles and changing their transfer strategy.

As revealed earlier this week, Hull can afford to spend big this summer, but finances aren’t the major issue; it’s how they’re spent.

The Tigers spent a whopping £24 million last summer, and the two standout players from that investment were Mohamed Belloumi, who suffered an ACL injury in November, and centre-back Charlie Hughes.

Liam Millar was also arguably a solid signing, too, but he also sustained an ACL injury that cut his campaign short.

The rest were mostly poor investments, including left-back Ryan Giles, who struggled on loan at Middlesbrough in the second half of the campaign.

It’s therefore Jakirovic’s mission to recruit the right players this summer, otherwise, it could be another chaotic campaign.