Soccer-Popovic signs up for three more years at Wanderers

SYDNEY, May 8 (Reuters) - Tony Popovic, the architect of Western Sydney Wanderers' remarkable rise to the pinnacle of Asian football in just two years, has signed a new deal to stay on as coach of the A-League club until the end of the 2017-18 season. The 41-year-old former Socceroos defender took Wanderers to the A-League championship final in their first two years of existence and last November they became the first Australian club to win the Asian Champions League (ACL). But the strain of competing in FIFA's World Club Cup, continental and domestic football has taken its toll and they finished second bottom in their third A-League season, while their ACL title defence ended in the group stage this week. Popovic's standing has not diminished dramatically, however, and he is regularly linked with vacant coaching jobs around the world. "I am immensely proud of the achievements of this team at our club to date but have no interest in resting with past glories," said Popovic. "Work for next season has already begun and our aim is to get back to the top where we belong. "This season we had some adversity and that can destroy you or make you stronger - everyone will see a stronger Wanderers next season." The club are clearly as ambitious as Popovic, who was named Asia's Coach of the Year in 2014, and multi-millionaire chairman Paul Lederer said he was the "only man" to take the club forward. "Tony Popovic has already brought this club a great deal of success, but we want more, a lot more," he said. "He makes no secret of his demands on his team and his incredibly hardworking football staff but these are no more than the demands he makes on himself. "Securing Tony is a huge step in the right direction to bringing more success and greater pride to the Wanderers and to western Sydney," added Lederer. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)