Bologna coach Mihajlovic announces he has leukemia

BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic says he has leukemia and will continue working while undergoing treatment.

The 50-year-old Mihajlovic announced the news at a press conference on Saturday.

An emotional Mihajlovic said: “When they told me, it was a huge shock. I spent two days in my room crying … they are not tears of fear, I know I will win.”

Mihajlovic said that he has regular tests as his father died of cancer. The leukemia was discovered shortly before pre-season training.

He added: “It’s a treatable form, you can recover. And I will beat it.”

Bologna team doctor Gianni Nanni said Mihajlovic has “acute leukemia” and that the Serbian coach will start treatment on Tuesday.

Mihajlovic replaced Filippo Inzaghi as Bologna coach in January and steered it from the Serie A relegation zone to a 10th-place finish.

Mihajlovic, who had a previous spell in charge at Bologna in 2008-09 for his managerial debut in Serie A, has also coached Catania, Fiorentina, Serbia’s national team, Sampdoria, AC Milan and Torino.

Messages of support have been flooding in from other soccer clubs and players on social media.