Antonio Milić (; born 10 March 1994) is a Croatian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defender for Polish club

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

Club career

Hajduk Split

A product of Hajduk Split academy,

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov ( bg, Красимир Генчев Балъков, ; born 29 March 1966) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who last served as the head coach of Bulgarian club CSKA 1948. A former attacking ...

handed Milić his first team minutes in the

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

match against Jadran Gunja but his first league appearance came off the bench on 26 November 2011, in a 2–1 win over

Šibenik Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...

, aged just 17 years, 8 months and 16 days. He made only one other league appearances that season, also off the bench, but he made another two Cup appearances against Zagreb also. After manager Balakov left Hajduk, new manager

Mišo Krstičević Mišo Krstičević () (born 19 February 1958) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of third-tier club Jadran LP. Club career Krstičević began his career in 1972 when he made a senior debu ...

came to the Hajduk bench. Since Krstičević managed the Hajduk U-19 team before he knew how to use Milić for the next season. In June 2012 Antonio won the Croatian U-19 championship. In the

2012–13 Prva HNL 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, he started as a first team regular. The team's manager,

, made Milić a much more stable member of the first team, often playing in the holding midfield role, but also playing as either a central defender or a central midfielder. He played a significant role in defeating

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

2–0 on

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

in the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Aren ...

. He showed great talent while playing in the Prva HNL, and many people consider him on becoming the leading Croatian defender. Antonio Milić and

Josip Radošević Josip Radošević (; born 3 April 1994) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF. Club career Hajduk Split Radošević started his career playing at youth level for his hom ...

together created the best double pivot couple in Prva HNL. During Hajduk's winter preparations, he suffered an injury, which kept him off the pitch for nearly two months but he returned and helped his team to reach the 2012–13 Croatian Cup final by scoring the equalizer goal in the away match against

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo ( en, Slaven Belupo Football Club), often referred to as NK Slaven Belupo, Slaven Belupo or simply Slaven, and known internationally as NK Slaven Koprivnica, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city ...

Poljud Gradski stadion u Poljudu ( en, City Stadium in Poljud), better known as Stadion Poljud ( en, Poljud Stadium) or simply Poljud, is a multi-use stadium in Split, Croatia, which has been the home ground of Hajduk Split football club since 1979. Th ...

. In May 2013 Antonio signed a new contract with Hajduk that would keep him with the club until 2015. In May 2013 he won the Croatian Cup. Under new manager

Igor Tudor Igor Tudor (born 16 April 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Ligue 1 club Marseille. Tudor spent most of his playing career at Juventus, winning several trophies during that time. He ...

, Antonio's role in the team changed and was somewhat reduced. He was deployed either at left back or at center back and made 22 appearances in all competitions.

Oostende

On 20 December 2014, it was announced that Milić will join the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

club

K.V. Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, an ...

for a fee of 500 thousand euros.

Anderlecht

After a great three-year display at Oostende, Milić was about to join

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

at the end of January 2018, but failed to sign with them as the transfer could not be completed due to the end of the transfer window. On 22 May 2018, it was announced that Milić has signed a three-year contract with Anderlecht, along with his teammate

Knowledge Musona Knowledge Musona (born 21 June 1990) is a Zimbabwean professional footballer who plays as a left winger or forward for Al-Tai in the Saudi Professional League, and captains the Zimbabwe national team. Previously, he has played senior football ...

Rayo Vallecano (loan)

On 30 August 2019, Milić joined Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

on a one-year loan deal.

Lech Poznań

On 10 January 2021, Milić was transferred from Anderlecht to Polish side

International career

He was called up to the senior

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

squad for the first time for a World Cup qualifier against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in October 2017. In August 2018 he was called up as a part of Croatia's

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

squad for matches against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. On 6 September 2018, Milić earned his first cap for Croatia in an international friendly against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Career statistics

International

Honours

Hajduk Split * Croatian U-19 championship: 2012 *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Lech Poznań *

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milic, Antonio 1994 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Association football defenders Association football midfielders Croatian footballers Croatia youth international footballers Croatia under-21 international footballers Croatia international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players K.V. Oostende players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Rayo Vallecano players Lech Poznań players Croatian Football League players Belgian Pro League players Segunda División players Ekstraklasa players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Spain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Poland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Poland