SINGAPORE - Less than two months after he was unveiled as Home United coach on July 2, Raddy Avramovic has stepped down to return to Serbia to seek medical treatment.

The 69-year-old is understood to have been diagnosed with second-stage lung cancer.

Home United general manager Badri Ghent said on Sunday (Aug 18): "We are shocked by this unexpected news and everyone at the club wishes him a speedy recovery.

"We are honoured that someone of his stature has led the club, despite the short tenure. He has definitely made a positive impact on everyone at Home United during his time with us."

Avramovic took over the Protectors when they were sixth out of nine teams in the Singapore Premier League. After engineering four wins and one draw in eight games, he helped them improve to fifth.

But Avramovic is better known as Singapore's most successful national coach, leading the Republic to three Asean titles in 2005, 2007 and 2012 during his tenure, which ran from 2003 to 2012.

Home United announced that assistant coach Noh Rahman will take over as the interim head coach while they look for Avramovic's replacement.

Noh said: "Raddy has made his mark with the national team and we were confident he would with Home United too.

"We are sad to hear the news but some things, such as health, are more important than football and knowing the fighter that he is, we believe he will make a full and speedy recovery and we hope to work with him again.

"We want to carry on his good work for the rest of the season and end strong to thank and encourage him."