Dejan Antonić (, ; born 22 January 1969) is a Serbian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player. He is the father of Stefan Antonić, who plays football professionally in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Club career

In Europe

Antonić started his professional football career at

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. In 1987, he was called up to the

1987 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Chile from 10 to 25 October 1987. The 1987 championship was the 6th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship and won for the first time by Yugoslavia. Remarkably, in the course of the tourn ...

in Chile alongside the likes of

Robert Jarni Robert Jarni (born 26 October 1968) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a left winger or wingback. Jarni started his professional career with Hajduk Split in 1986, and went on to spend 10 years playing for various clubs ...

Igor Štimac Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and also played for Cádiz in Spain, and for Derby County and West Ham Un ...

Zvonimir Boban Zvonimir Boban (; born 8 October 1968) is a Croatian former professional footballer who works at UEFA as the Chief of Football. A midfielder, Boban played most of his career for Italian club AC Milan with whom he won four Serie A titles and one ...

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Born in West Germany, he internationally represented Yugoslavia and later Croatia. He is the current manager of the Mont ...

Predrag Mijatović Predrag Mijatović ( sr-cyrl, Предраг Мијатовић; born 19 January 1969) is a Montenegrin Association football, football administrator and former player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. At club level, Mijato ...

and

Davor Šuker Davor Šuker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian Association football, football administrator and former professional player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He served as the president of the Croatian Football Federatio ...

. After Yugoslavia won on penalties over East Germany, he returned to Red Star, but made no league appearances and left for Spartak Subotica in 1989.Yugoslav First and Second League stats
at

B92 RTV B92, or simply B92 (stylized as b92, formerly BΞ92 and B 92), is a Serbian news station and broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade. Founded in 1989 as radio station, it was a rare outlet for Western news and informati ...

Then, he played for

FK Napredak Kruševac Fudbalski klub Napredak Kruševac (), commonly known as Napredak Kruševac, is a Serbian professional football club based in the city of Kruševac. The word ''Napredak'' means "progress" in Serbian. The club's nickname is the Čarapani which ...

in the

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

, as well as Belgian side

Beveren Beveren () is a former municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') ...

Indonesia and Hong Kong

After leaving Europe in 1995, Antonić spent three years with three Indonesian clubs. He went to Hong Kong in 1998 to join Instant-Dict FC, became a well-known figure among fans and would then play for

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Sun Hei Sun Hei Sports Club () is a Hong Kong professional football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Second Division. The club has a long history in playing in the top flight, but decided to self-relegate in the 2013–14 season after de ...

and

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won 12 List of Hong Kong football champion ...

before retiring in 2005. He also played at the 2003 Lunar New Year Cup, scoring a penalty against the Denmark League XI.

Coaching career

Antonić, a

UEFA Pro License The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of managers/ coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for football in Europe mandates several licences, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro ...

holder, was appointed by

as head coach immediately after his retirement in 2005 and successfully led the team to two trophies in the league on his first year of duty, winning the

Hong Kong League Cup Hong Kong Football Association League Cup () was an annual football competition contested by clubs in the top-tier Hong Kong domestic football league. The cup was relaunched for the 2014–15 season after being discontinued in the 2012–13 seaso ...

and

Hong Kong Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only teams that play in the Hong K ...

Cup. He led the team to defend their

in 2006, during his second year of duty. Kitchee also qualified for the

2008 AFC Cup The 2008 AFC Cup was the fifth edition of the AFC Cup, played by clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. Qualified teams 20 Football team, clubs competed, including champions of the :National association football ...

. Antonić was elected as the 2006 Hong Kong Coach of The Year and also appointed to be a coach of

Hong Kong League XI The Hong Kong League XI, also known as the Hong Kong XI or Hong Kong League Selection, is a football team which represents the Hong Kong First Division League in exhibition matches, mainly the Lunar New Year Cup. The team is selected from the ...

for the annual Carlsberg Cup.

Achievements with Kitchee FC

* Winner of Hong Kong League Cup 2005-2006 * Winner of the Senior Shield Cup 2005-2006 * Winner of Hong Kong League Cup 2006-2007 * Kitchee qualify for 2008 AFC Cup * Elected as Hong Kong "Coach of the Year 2005-2006“ * Won the 2nd Place of Hong Kong League 2006-2007 * Won the 2nd Place of Senior Shield Cup 2007-2008 Antonić was appointed to coach the

Hong Kong national football team The Hong Kong national football team (; recognised as Hong Kong, China by FIFA) represents Hong Kong in international association football, football and is controlled by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, the governing body for foot ...

in preparation for the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers. And with Hong Kong National Team, he won the 31st Guangdong Cup 2008. He has been nominated as a consultant of the Hong Kong Law Society Football Team. He left his post as head coach of

Tuen Mun Tuen Mun () or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the mo ...

in the middle of the 2011–12 Hong Kong First Division League season and joined

Arema FC Arema Football Club is an Indonesian professional association football, football club based in Malang Regency, Malang, East Java. The club competes in the Liga 1 (Indonesia), Liga 1, the top flight of Football in Indonesia, Indonesian Footba ...

as their manager. Coaching Arema FC for only 6 months and he was voted by the soccer news website, Goal.com, as "The Best Coach 2011–2012" of the

Indonesian Premier League Indonesian Premier League (IPL; Indonesian: ''Liga Prima Indonesia'') was the highest level competition for football clubs in Indonesia from 2011 to 2013. This competition was managed by ''PT Liga Prima Indonesia Sportindo'', under supervision ...

as he brought Arema FC to go through to the quarter-final of AFC Cup 2012 and make the country proud.

Achievements with Arema Indonesia FC

* Voted as “The Best Coach of Indonesian Premier League 2011-2012” (http://www.goal.com/id-ID/news/2980/indonesian-premier-league/2012/07/28/3269769/spesial-pelatih-pemain-terbaik-indonesian-premier-league) * Voted as “Coach of The Month” (May 2012) by the AFC

Achievements with Pro Duta FC

* Champion of the Indonesian Premier League 2012-2013 * Champion of the Indonesian Premier League Super Cup 2012-2013 * Voted as “Indonesian Coach of the Year” 2012-2013 On 9 September 2014, he got his contract extended until 2016.

Achievements with Pelita Bandung Raya FC

* Voted as “The Coach of the Month” in February 2014 * Voted as “The Coach of the Month” in August 2014 * Voted as “The Coach of the Month” in October 2014 * Voted as “Coach of the Year”, Indonesian Super League 2014-2015 by PSSI * Voted as “Coach of the Year”, Indonesian Super League by Goal.com * Voted as “Coach of the Year”, Indonesian Super League by ESPN * Pelita Bandung Raya FC was voted as “Team of the Year, Indonesian Super League 2014-2015” * Pelita Bandung Raya FC won the Runner-up in Bali Island Cup 2014-2015

Achievements with Persib Bandung FC

* Won the 2nd Place of Bhayangkara Cup 2016 Antonić returned to management on 31 October 2016, signing a 1.5 year contract at

South China South China ( zh, s=, p=Huá'nán, j=jyut6 naam4) is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is ...

as manager. The club managed to finish 4th in the league and reached the finals of the 2016-17 Hong Kong FA Cup. Following South China's decision to voluntarily relegate, the contracts of the entire coaching staff were terminated. On 4 July 2017,

Hong Kong Rangers Hong Kong Rangers Football Club (), often abbreviated to Rangers, currently known as Biu Chun Rangers due to sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong professional football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. They have won ...

Director Philip Lee announced that Antonić would be the club's new manager. On 28 March 2018,

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

announced that Antonić would be the club's new head coach after sacked their previous head coach

Personal life

Antonić married an Indonesian woman, Venna Tikoalu, on 3 July 1999. Their son Stefan was born on 6 February 2001 in Hong Kong. Antonić has a daughter who is living in Serbia.

Career statistics

Managerial

Games of Hong Kong team coached by Dejan Antonić and Goran Paulić

International games of Hong Kong

Non-international games of Hong Kong

Honours

Player

Sun Hei *

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. T ...

: 2002–03 *

: 2002–03 Yugoslavia U-20 *

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

Manager

Kitchee *

: 2005–06 *

: 2005–06, 2006–07 PSS Sleman * Menpora Cup third place:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...