Radomir Antić ( sr-Cyrl, Радомир Антић, ; 22 November 1948 – 6 April 2020) was a Serbian professional
football manager
''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...
and
player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...
.
Following a 17-year playing career as a
defender, most of which he spent playing at
Partizan, with whom he won the
Yugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...
, Antić moved into coaching.
He was one of only two men to have managed both Barcelona and Real Madrid,
long-time bitter rivals (the other one is
Enrique Fernández Viola). With
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...
, Antić won the double, conquering both
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
and the
Copa del Rey
The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...
in the
1995–96 season. He is the only man to have coached Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid.
Early life
Antić was born in
Žitište
Žitište ( sr-Cyrl, Житиште, ; ; ) is a town and municipality located in the Central Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022 census, the town itself has a population of 2,550, while Žitište municipali ...
to a
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...
family (father Jovo Antić from the area near
Šipovo
Šipovo ( sr-cyrl, Шипово) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the southern part of the Bosanska Krajina region. As of 2013, it has a population of 10,293 inhabitants, while the town of � ...
and mother Milka Brkić from the
Grmeč region) that had settled in the small
Banat
Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...
town shortly before his birth.
Born as the second son in the family, Radomir had an older brother Dragomir, two years his senior.
The newborn was named after his maternal uncle , a notable
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Partisan
Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to:
Military
* Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line
** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII
** Ital ...
guerrilla fighter who was awarded the
Order of the People's Hero
The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; , ), was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav gallantry medal, the ...
gallantry medal for the engagement.
When young Radomir was six years old, the family moved to
Titovo Užice, a city where Antić grew up and considered to be his hometown.
After the family's arrival to Titovo Užice, another child, daughter Mira, was born.
Playing career
Antić started his playing career with
Sloboda Titovo Užice (1967–1970) and then moved to the club where he would play most of his career,
Partizan (1970–1977). With Partizan, he won the national Championship in 1976.
In the summer of 1977, Antić signed for
Fenerbahçe in Turkey. He spent one season in
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
before moving to the Spanish
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
, where he played for
Real Zaragoza
Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...
.
In 1980, Antić moved on to
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...
, a team in England's
Second Division (which was then the second tier). Known in England as "Raddy", he helped Luton to the Second Division title in 1982, and stayed with the club for two seasons in the
top division before leaving in 1984. At the end of the
1982–83 season, he played a key role in saving Luton from relegation, scoring a winning goal four minutes from time in the final League match of the season, away against
Manchester City
Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
. City, the home team, were themselves relegated as a result. At full-time, Luton manager
David Pleat
David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English association football, football player turned manager (association football), manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He ...
ran across the pitch, hopping and waving his arms wildly in celebration.
Already in his 30s when he arrived at Luton, Antić already looked to coaching as a career option once his playing days are finished. While an active player in England, he enrolled in and completed the coaching college in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
, Viša trenerska škola. In that regard, he often cites Pleat as an influence on his later coaching style.
After helping save Luton's First Division status, Antić spent
one more season at
Kenilworth Road
Kenilworth Road, known affectionately as The Kenny, is a association football, football stadium in the area of Bury Park, Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town F.C., Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The sta ...
before retiring at age 36.
Antić made one appearance for the
Yugoslavia national team, appearing as a substitute in the 80th minute for injured
Franjo Vladić (who himself came on as a sub for
Vladimir Petrović Pižon some 18 minutes prior) in a friendly against
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
on 26 September 1973 in Belgrade.
Managerial career
Early career
After finishing his playing career at age 36, Antić started a career in coaching as an assistant with Partizan (1985–87), working under head coach
Nenad Bjeković
Nenad Bjeković (, ; born 5 November 1947) is a Serbian football administrator and former player and manager.
Club career
Born in Lazarevo, a village near Zrenjanin, Bjeković started out at his local club Zadrugar Lazarevo, before switching t ...
. Partizan won the
1985–86 league title amid a match-fixing controversy. They also won the
1986–87 league.
In early July 1987,
Fahrudin Jusufi
Fahrudin Jusufi ( sr-Cyrl, Фахрудин Јусуфи, ; 8 December 1939 – 9 August 2019) was a Yugoslav footballer who most notably played for Partizan, Eintracht Frankfurt and the Yugoslavia national team.
Playing career Club career
Ju ...
was brought in as the new head coach and initially Antić continued his assistant role. For the pre-season training ahead of the 1987–88 season, the team went abroad where Jusufi and Antić got into a row over player personnel issues that resulted in Antić being essentially demoted to the position of Partizan under-16 youth team (cadet squad) coach.
Real Zaragoza
Antić's first head coaching position was with Real Zaragoza. In addition to formerly playing for the club, his appointment owed a lot to being recommended for the job by countryman
Vujadin Boškov
Vujadin Boškov ( sr-cyr, Вујадин Бошков, ; 16 May 1931 – 27 April 2014) was a Serbian association football, football player and manager (association football), manager.
A midfielder, he played 57 matches for the Yugoslavia nation ...
, who had been successfully leading the Italian side
Sampdoria at the time while also enjoying a lot of clout in Spain having led Zaragoza (coached Antić there for two years) and other La Liga clubs during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The squad was a fairly modest one without any really big names; the most notable players being the aging Spanish international midfielder
Juan Señor and forward
Miguel Pardeza who came up through
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
's youth system as part of ''
La Quinta del Buitre'' generation. The biggest summer signing was twenty-six-year-old striker
Nasko Sirakov
Nasko Petkov Sirakov (; born 26 April 1962) is a Bulgarian retired professional Association football, footballer who played mainly as a forward (association football), striker. He is the major shareholder of PFC Levski Sofia, Levski Sofia.
Par ...
from
Levski Sofia
PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...
who had joined shortly before Antić's arrival. The club also had some young assets: a pair of twenty-two-year-olds
Francisco Villarroya and
Juan Vizcaíno who were well on their way to becoming future Spanish internationals as well as eccentric Paraguayan goalie
José Luis Chilavert who came to the club from Argentina's
San Lorenzo the same summer Antić did. Antić's made his La Liga coaching debut on 4 September 1988 against
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, a 0–0 draw. The initial period was rough, with the club hovering in and around the relegation zone, followed by a period of slight improvement, but still stuck in the lower half of the table. The sudden and somewhat unexpected breakthrough came during last eight league matches of the season as Antić's Zaragoza started posting win after win in a rapid climb up the table, finishing the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
in fifth place, thus qualifying for the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
.
He ended up spending two full seasons (1988–1990) managing a club he also turned out for as a player.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid came calling in late March 1991 and Antić took over from club legend
Alfredo Di Stéfano
Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé (; 4 July 1926 – 7 July 2014) was an Argentine professional footballer and coach who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Nicknamed "Saeta Rubia" ("Blond A ...
following ''los Merengues elimination from the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...
by
Oleg Romantsev
Oleg Ivanovich Romantsev (; born 4 January 1954) is a Soviet Union, Soviet/Russian former international Association football, footballer and Coach (sport), coach who is currently an advisor for FC Pari Nizhny Novgorod. Romantsev was acclaimed fo ...
's
Spartak Moscow at the quarter-final stage. Di Stéfano had been on thin ice since the 1–0 league defeat in mid-March away to mid-table
Logroñés (Real Madrid's third league loss in a row), but it was the
1–3 return leg quarter-final European Cup home loss against the Russians at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...
on 20 March 1991 that served as the last straw that prompted Di Stéfano's removal. In La Liga, at the time, after 26 matches, the club occupied the seventh position in the standings.
Used to winning major trophies, the royal club was in turmoil with Antić coming in as their third head coach of the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
after
John Toshack
John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager.
He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...
and Di Stéfano.
1990–91: Stopping the bleeding
After Di Stefano's sacking,
Ramón Grosso took over the head coaching reigns on an interim basis for a few days while the club negotiated terms with Antić. Grosso ended up leading the team in only one match, the league contest at home versus against
Real Oviedo
Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system.
The club plays at ...
on 24 March 1991 that ended in a somewhat disappointing 1–1 draw considering Oviedo played with ten men since the 68th minute.
With
Emilio Butragueño,
Míchel,
Fernando Hierro,
Manolo Sanchís,
Gheorghe Hagi
Gheorghe Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in ...
, and the aging
Hugo Sánchez
Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who played as a Forward (association football), forward. A prolific goalscorer known for ...
as the club's established stars, Antić's debut took place on 31 March 1991 at the Bernabéu with a 0–1 home loss to mid-table
Real Burgos, a disappointing way to start his tenure at the club. The rest of the squad Antić found at his disposal included compatriot
Predrag Spasić in central defence, defensive stalwart
Chendo, central defender
Jesús Solana, defensive midfielder
Rafael Gordillo, midfielder
Francisco Villarroya whom Antić had previously coached at Zaragoza, etc. Still, the league situation would get downright critical the week after as Madrid was beaten 3–1 away at
Luis Aragonés' relegation-battling
Espanyol by conceding two late goals, dropping ''los Merengues'' to the 10th spot in La Liga. After only two league matches, Antić was feeling the full pressure of the Real hotseat.
Things finally started clicking with a 4–0 home win versus Valencia on 14 April 1991, which started a five-match winning streak. The 3–3 away draw at Osasuna ended the streak, but the team quickly put together another three-match winning run to end the season. On 8 June 1991, the season ended on a high note with a 1–0 home win against champions-elect
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
in ''
El Clásico''. In total, Antić led Real in the final 11 league matches (8 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses) of the
1990–91 season, improving Real's standing to third in the league, and qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
1991–92: Success and sacking
During the 1991 summer transfer window, Antić brought in
Robert Prosinečki, prominent member of the
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 ...
's
1991
It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
European Cup-winning side, as well as promising 21-year-old
Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player. He is the manager of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain.
A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playin ...
from
Sporting de Gijón
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...
.
Antić's
team
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...
began the season in furious fashion with five straight
league wins, grabbing the La Liga top spot ahead of ''El Clásico'' on 19 October 1991. Playing
Johan Cruyff
Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...
's ''Barça'' "dream team" at home at the Bernabéu, Real went ahead via a Prosinečki first half free-kick, one shining moment in the highly rated signing's otherwise disastrous season, before
Ronald Koeman
Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Koeman scor ...
equalized courtesy of a second half penalty shot. Real's winning streak in the league had thus been broken, however, with the very next league match, a 3–0 home win over Logroñés, ''los Merengues'' commenced another winning streak, this time recording seven straight league wins as they tangibly separated themselves from the pack of chasers atop the La Liga standings.
One player especially excelled under Antić: twenty-three-year-old Hierro, normally a defender, was moved up further into midfield and responded by scoring in numbers, eventually ending the season on 21 league goals, the greatest single-season offensive output of his career. The second winning streak in the league ended with a draw away at Zaragoza in mid-December 1991. This was followed by a slight dip in form as Real recorded another draw the following week at home against Oviedo, before experiencing its first league loss of the season away at cross-town rivals
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...
, though still retaining top league spot by a comfortable margin. During this three-match period without a league win, club president
Ramón Mendoza opted to bring
Leo Beenhakker into the organization in a vaguely defined sporting director role, though Antić remained the team's head coach. The three-match winless streak ended with an emphatic 5–2 win at home versus
Osasuna
Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish ...
, but was followed by the second league loss of the season when
Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...
's Valencia managed to overturn Real's 0–1 lead with two late goals and record a famous home win over the league leaders. Although Antić's team quickly got back on winning track with a 2–1 home win against
Tenerife
Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...
on 26 January 1992, the forty-three-year-old coach was terminated. At the time of Antić's termination, 19 league matches into the season, Madrid was holding the top spot in La Liga by a seven-point margin and was also smoothly through to the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
quarter-finals
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
, having eliminated
Slovan Bratislava,
Utrecht
Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
, and
Neuchâtel Xamax in the previous rounds. Information leaked to the club-adjacent media cited the team's play under Antić supposedly not being sufficiently attractive as the reason for the sack.
Led by Beenhakker, Real Madrid squandered its seven-point lead, losing the title to bitter rivals Barcelona on the last matchday of the season. Madrid was also eliminated from UEFA Cup by
Torino
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
in the semi-finals.
In an interview two decades later, Antić revealed that Real's club president Mendoza later privately apologized to the coach for "running me out of the club with the accompanying media campaign of accusations of playing 'ugly football'".
Real Oviedo
Antić was hired to coach Real Oviedo when the club's brass fired previous longtime coach
Javier Irureta after matchday 19 of the
1992–93 season with the club dangerously close to the relegation zone in 16th spot and a one match stint of caretaker Julio Marigil Marín. Antić took over from matchday 21 and completed the season with the club, managing to avoid relegation by finishing two spots above the relegation zone. He remained at the club for two additional seasons.
During the 1993 summer transfer window, Antić signed
Slaviša Jokanović from Partizan, whose midfield presence greatly helped the squad. The expectations at Oviedo were obviously much more modest compared to Real Madrid, with mere top league survival being the main goal. It was therefore no small surprise that a very low budget Antić-led Oviedo team finished the
1993–94 league season in ninth place.
Antić's most notable signing at Oviedo came before the start of
1994–95 season when he brought often injured Robert Prosinečki from Real Madrid, thus reuniting with a player he first signed to Madrid. Oviedo again finished the La Liga season in respectable ninth position, missing a European spot by mere points.
Atlético Madrid
Antić's greatest coaching successes are tied to Atlético Madrid, a club he ended up coaching in three separate stints.
His achievements with transforming Oviedo's fortunes led to offers from bigger Spanish clubs. Despite having been in final stages of the negotiations with Valencia with even a pre-contract signed, Antić opted to take the offer by Atlético club president
Jesús Gil, leading to the Serb's first engagement with the club that ended up lasting three seasons (1995–98). The squad he took over during summer 1995 was a talented one featuring the quality core of
José Luis Caminero,
Kiko Narváez and
Diego Simeone, but with a reputation of continuous underachievement. In the
season prior to his arrival, the club finished one point above relegation zone by earning a 2–2 draw versus
Sevilla
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Seville ...
on the
last matchday of the season.
1995–96: Double title
Out of the 35-player squad he inherited, Antić quickly identified 20 players he was counting on for the
upcoming season before setting about adding five to six more players during the transfer window. That meant the end of Atlético days for a slew of players including aging goalie
Abel Resino, embattled Colombian striker
Adolfo Valencia, Brazilian
Iván Rocha, Polish striker
Roman Kosecki, and Russian winger
Igor Dobrovolski, among others.
However, Antić would experience difficulty getting the players he's interested in to sign for Atlético for a variety of reasons. First on his wish list was defender
Viktor Onopko
Viktor Savelyevich Onopko (; born 14 October 1969) is a former Russian Association football, football Defender (association football), defender. He is the assistant manager of both FC Rostov in the Russian Premier League and the Russia national ...
from
Spartak Moscow: Atlético and the player agreed terms, however, Oviedo management—who were also after the twenty-six-year-old Russian's signature—protested and the case ended up before a
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
arbitration commission, which ruled in Oviedo's favour. Antić then tried to sign
Fernando Morientes
Fernando Morientes Sánchez (; born 5 April 1976) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker.
He played for a number of clubs during his career, including Real Madri ...
from
Albacete
Albacete ( , , ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete.
Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the area around the city is known as Los Llan ...
, but the talented nineteen-year-old striker instead ended up signing with Zaragoza. Antić was also after Robert Prosinečki—the talented twenty-six-year-old midfield creator he had brought to Real Madrid four year earlier in 1991 and had just coached in Oviedo where also Antić brought him on loan from Real—with the player receptive to joining ''los Colchoneros'' and Atlético even reaching an agreement with Real whom Prosinečki was still contracted to. However,
Johan Cruyff
Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...
's
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...
stepped in and presented Prosinečki's agent Zoran Vekić with a three-year plus two years optional €3 million offer, which Prosinečki accepted thus rejecting Atlético.
Out of the players Antić did manage to sign, the biggest find turned out to be unheralded winger
Milinko Pantić, whom Antić plucked from obscurity in
Panionios for very little money. The move initially raised eyebrows with many questioning the usefulness of a complete unknown who is about to turn 29 years of age, however over the coming season, Pantić would prove himself to be the missing piece this team needed with key goals and assists. Another key acquisition was the twenty-nine-year-old Bulgarian tall centre forward
Luboslav Penev, brought in from Valencia despite questions about his health due to a recent bout with
testicular cancer
Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility.
Risk factors include an c ...
. Other incoming transfers included goalkeeper
José Francisco Molina and central defender
Santi Denia from Albacete, midfielder
Roberto Fresnedoso from Espanyol and young Argentine striker
Leo Biagini from
Newell's Old Boys
Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football.
A ...
, who starred at the
1995 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1995 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 10th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held in Qatar from 13 to 28 April 1995. The tournament t ...
.
Playing in
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
that had just expanded from 20 to 22 teams along with a new points system with three points awarded for a win, under Antić's command, the Atlético squad featuring Molina in goal,
Delfí Geli and Santi Denia in central defence,
Roberto Solozábal and
Toni
Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name used in several European countries as well as among individuals with ancestry from these countries outside Europe.
In Spanish language, Spanish, Italian language, Italian, Croatian language, Croatian an ...
on right and left back respectively,
Juan Vizcaíno (whom Antić previously coached at Zaragoza) and Caminero in centre midfield, Simeone and Pantić on right and left wing respectively, and finally Penev and Kiko upfront gelled together masterfully en route to a historic
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
/
Copa del Rey
The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...
double in the
1995–96 season. Other players that didn't start as often, but nevertheless contributed significantly throughout the season were
Roberto Fresnedoso,
Juan Manuel López, Biagini,
Pirri Mori, etc.
Antić's Atlético began the league campaign in furious fashion with four impressive wins. Once they took the top league spot after week 2, ''los Colchoneros'' gave it up only once (after the week 5 scoreless draw at Sevilla), before reclaiming it the very next week and impressively continuing on top until the end with Penev scoring 16 league goals, Simeone 12, Kiko 11, Pantić 10, and Caminero 9. Atlético also featured a stingy defence that allowed 32 goals – less than any other team in the league. Still, the title wasn't secure until the very last week of fixtures, as
Luis Aragonés'
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
led by the Yugoslav striker
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 ...
stayed in close pursuit until the end. Going into the last round of matches on Saturday 25 May 1996, Atlético was on 84 points with Alabacete to play at home while Valencia had 82 and Celta away. The victory was never in doubt as Simeone and Kiko scored in the first half sparking off jubilant scenes at the
Vicente Calderón Stadium.
Month and a half earlier Antić already claimed his first trophy of the season, beating
Johan Cruyff
Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...
's Barça in the
Copa del Rey
The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
in
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
after extra time on a goal by Pantić.
Winning the double endeared Antić to Atlético faithful and more importantly to club's controversial president
Jesús Gil. Notorious for quickly and impulsively going through coaches, Gil kept Antić at the helm of his team for two more seasons (three consecutive seasons in total) – a record of sorts considering Gil's trigger-happy nature when it came to gaffers.
1996–97: Champions League participation
During the 1996 summer transfer window, the squad upgrade was in order ahead of the 1996–97 season that saw Atlético compete in the
Champions League in addition to
defending the La Liga title.
As replacement for aging Luboslav Penev who was impressive during the double title season despite simultaneously recovering and also as general statement of intent for the coming season, Atlético was in the market for a marquee forward. Antić wanted to bring in promising 19-year-old Brazilian striker
Ronaldo from
PSV and pushed hard within the club hierarchy for that to be done. However, he ultimately got overruled by higher instances and Ronaldo signed with Barcelona about a month later. Instead, Atlético acquired 23-year-old Argentine striker
Juan Esnáider from Real Madrid. Another big acquisition was 24-year-old Czech defensive midfielder
Radek Bejbl from
Slavia Prague
Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in t ...
, who was coming off a great showing at
UEFA Euro 1996
The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...
where Czechs finished runners-up. The arrival of Bejbl meant that 30-year-old Vizcaíno lost his starting spot in defensive midfield.
Simultaneously playing on two difficult fronts proved to be much more demanding and the team quickly started lagging behind Real and Barcelona in La Liga, while in the Champions League they progressed to the quarter-finals on top of the group featuring
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...
,
Widzew Łódź
RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-wh ...
and
Steaua București. In the second part of the league campaign, Atlético somewhat steadied its form but was unable to make up the minus from early part of the season. Back in the Champions League knockout stage, the
quarter-final clash against
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...
turned into an epic battle with tensions often spilling outside the pitch like when Jesús Gil publicly referred to Ajax as "FC Congo" due to the large number of black players of African and Surinamese origin on their team. Atlético achieved a great 1–1 result away as Esnáider scored a header after fine work from Delfí Geli on the right. The return leg in Madrid was a tense affair that saw ''los Colchoneros'' go up through Kiko in the first half before
Ronald de Boer equalized just after halftime. With the score tied at one a piece and the match heading into extra-time, Antić decided to put Biagini on instead of Esnáider who was not pleased about the substitution and got into a vicious shouting match with the coach as he exited the pitch. Ten minutes into the extra period, Ajax's Portuguese forward
Dani scored on a beautiful effort for 1–2, which meant that due to away-goals, Atlético would now have to score twice more to go through. Within five minutes they got a penalty, which Pantić converted, but couldn't manage one more goal despite attacking in waves for the remaining fifteen minutes. Due to Atlético's all out attack, Ajax even scored a third goal on the quick counter-attack through
Tijani Babangida
Tijani Babangida (; born 25 September 1973) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a winger. Known for his pace, his playing style was sometimes compared to that of Marc Overmars. Babangida spent the majority of his playing ...
.
1997–98: Heavy spending
Ahead of the
1997–98 season, Gil invested heavily into the
team
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...
, bringing twenty-four-year-old Italian superstar striker
Christian Vieri
Christian Vieri (; born 12 July 1973), commonly known as Bobo Vieri, is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning ...
fresh from winning the
Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
title
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...
and reaching
Champions League final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
with
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
. He also bought crafty twenty-five-year-old Brazilian
Juninho Juninho, Portuguese for "little Junior", is a common nickname in Brazil for those whose full name includes Júnior. It is often combined with an epithet, sometimes a demonym (a word derived from their place of origin). The following association foo ...
from
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
for
£12 million. In order to somewhat offset the costs, inspirational midfielder Diego Simeone was sold to
Internazionale. Naturally the expectations were high, with spotlight especially focused on expensive new signings. Though both struggled with injuries causing them to miss significant chunk of the season, Vieri still managed to produce excellent form when fit to play with 24 goals in 24 league appearances, while Juninho struggled to make similar impact with only 6 goals in 23 league appearances. When Atletico started sputtering in La Liga, the rumblings about Antić's possible dismissal were heard for the first time. When Atlético got eliminated by
Lazio
Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
at the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
semi-final stage, Gil launched into an obscenity-laced tirade against Spanish television for reporting he has lined up an Italian coach to replace Antić.
In the end, that is exactly what happened as he was let go at season's end during the summer of 1998 to make way for
Arrigo Sacchi.
Return to Atlético
Antić, however, would not be away from Atlético for long, as Sacchi got sacked midway through 1998–99 season after matchday 22, and following a five-match stint of caretaker coach
Carlos Sánchez Aguiar, the Serb returned for a second spell that lasted from matchday 28 until the end of the season (11 league matches). With Atlético clinging to lowly 13th spot in league standings when Antić returned, the repeat of league success proved elusive as the team recorded three wins, four losses and four draws under his command to finish the season in the same 13th place. Antić, however, managed to inspire the team all the way to
1999 Copa del Rey final at the freshly opened
La Cartuja Stadium in
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
, where they lost heavily to
Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Serie A club AS Roma, Roma but will leave on 30 June 2025, followin ...
's Valencia, 0–3.
Antić was again let go at season's end, and eventually replaced with Ranieri.
Third time at Atlético
Antić's third stint at the club began in February 2000 during the latter part of
1999–2000 season under difficult circumstances. Following Ranieri's dismissal after league matchday 26 with the club in administration due to accumulated debts, Antić took over a squad already in a tailspin, sitting in 17th league spot barely hovering above relegation zone.
Antić's third arrival to the club ahead of matchday 27 did little to change matters as Atlético lost on his return, falling back into the relegation zone and never coming out of it until the end of the season. Despite the goalscoring exploits of
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Jerrel Floyd "Jimmy" Hasselbaink ( ; born 27 March 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player.
Born in Suriname, he and his family would later move to the Dutch city of Zaandam where he first played football, initially a ...
, they were eliminated from
1999–2000 UEFA Cup
The 1999–2000 UEFA Cup season was the 29th edition of the UEFA Cup competition. The final took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and was won by Galatasaray, who defeated Arsenal in the final. The game was scoreless through the first ninet ...
at the eight-final stage by
Lens
A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...
, but
relegation from La Liga several months later came as the most painful blow of all. Antić was terminated after matchday 37 after Atlético was already relegated with one league match left in the season; for the final match, the team was coached by
Fernando Zambrano.
Making the Copa del Rey final for the second consecutive season came as one bright spot in an otherwise disastrous season, but even that was not to be as they were beaten to the trophy by Espanyol.
Return to Real Oviedo
Antić returned to Real Oviedo in the summer of 2000. His team suffered their first relegation for 13 years, and he was sacked on 6 July 2001.
FC Barcelona
After taking a year-and-a-half-long break from coaching, Antić took over Barcelona mid-season in late January 2003 on club president
Joan Gaspart's initiative following the sacking of
Louis van Gaal
Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former association football, football player and former manager who currently serves as an advisor for AFC Ajax, Ajax. At club level, he served as manager of AFC Ajax, Aj ...
. Antić took the reins with the team occupying the
15th spot in La Liga standings with only 23 points from 20 league matches (six wins, five draws and nine losses), but well placed in the Champions League
second phase with two wins from as many matches. The club's league position was so weak that mere top-flight survival was put forth as Antić's immediate goal. On the other hand, in Champions League, the expectations were substantial. Some press outlets reported that his six-month €600,000 contract with ''Barça'' was incentive-based, stipulating an automatic one-year extension at the end of the season if the club qualifies for the following season's Champions League based on the domestic league finish (top-four).
Antić immediately brought in
Juan Pablo Sorín from Lazio. He also started giving regular first team appearances to young goalkeeper
Víctor Valdés as well as throwing another youngster,
Andrés Iniesta, into the first team. Additionally, Antić moved
Xavi Xavi () is a Catalan given name, usually used as a nickname for Xavier. Notable people with the name include:
Football
* Xavi Hernández (born 1980), Spanish football manager and former player
* Xavi Andorrà (born 1985), Andorran footballe ...
further up the field, just behind the line of forwards, thus freeing him up from the defensive duties he had under Van Gaal, which allowed the diminutive midfielder to fully showcase his creativity.
Antić managed to stabilize the squad and lead it to a sixth-place Liga finish, ensuring UEFA Cup qualification. His record with the club in the season since taking over was nine wins, six draws and three losses. In the Champions League, under Antić, ''Barça'' dominated their group in the
Second Group Stage throughout February and early March, which gave the team a much needed confidence boost for the rest of the season on all fronts. In fact, just his third match in charge of ''Barça'' was an important Champions League clash at home versus
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 Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...
that the Catalans ended up winning 3–0, thus marking the coach's return to the Champions League after six years and also extending the team's win streak to 11 consecutive Champions League matches, breaking the previous record by
A.C. Milan
(), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...
. Antić's Barcelona, however, lost in extra time of the
quarter-final to
Marcello Lippi
Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
He was appoin ...
's
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
.
On 23 June 2003, it was announced by new club president
Joan Laporta
Joan Laporta i Estruch (; born 29 June 1962) is a Spanish businessman, politician, and current president of FC Barcelona.
Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has a nu ...
that the optional second year in Antić's contract would not be activated, and
Frank Rijkaard
Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard (; born 30 September 1962) is a Dutch former footballer and former manager who played as a defensive midfielder. Regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in footballing history, Rijkaard was described by British broa ...
was appointed in his place.
Celta de Vigo
On 29 January 2004, Antić succeeded
Miguel Ángel Lotina at an
RC Celta de Vigo
Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...
side one point and one place above the relegation places. He lost 1–0 away to
Real Betis
Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...
on his debut. Following this match in which he felt Celta deserved a more positive result, Antić identified overturning the loss of self-confidence among some of his players due to club's weak league position as his biggest challenge.
Exactly two months after his hiring, Antić quit Celta, who were now second from bottom. He took seven points from his nine league games, and was eliminated from the Champions League last 16 by
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
.
Serbia national team
On 19 August 2008, following reported two-day contract negotiations with the
Serbian Football Association (FSS), Antić was announced as the new
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
head coach, six days before being officially presented at the FSS headquarters on 25 August. The appointment marked fifty-nine-year-old Antić's return to coaching after four years and, according to both Antić and FSS president
Tomislav Karadžić, the negotiations concluded quickly after Antić's main request of bringing in his own coaching staff led by long-time assistant
Rešad Kunovac was accepted. Along with a €500,000 bonus incentive tied to the
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...
qualification, Antić's annual salary was reported to be in the €305,000—325,000 range; less than the €360,000 per year salary
Javier Clemente
Javier Clemente Lázaro (; born 12 March 1950) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.
Forced to retire from playing in his early 20s through injury, he embarked on a coaching career with his first managerial ...
commanded during his 2006-2007 tenure when the team
failed to qualify for
Euro 2008. Furthermore, Antić's appointment came amid turmoil within the FSS as previous seven-month head coach
Miroslav Đukić was being released following the disastrous
2008 Olympic appearance and Đukić's public feuding with the FSS president Karadžić.
2010 World Cup qualifying
Hired barely two weeks before the start of the 2010 World Cup
qualifying, Antić's bench debut took place on 6 September 2008 in a
home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...
qualifier against the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
in front of fewer than 10,000 spectators. Antić introduced some fresh talent from the domestic league such as midfielders
Nenad Milijaš and
Zoran Tošić
Zoran Tošić ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Тошић, ; born 28 April 1987) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a winger. He built a reputation as a free-kick specialist and a tricky dribbler.
Tošić began his career with his l ...
as well as defender
Ivan Obradović in addition to bringing back skillful
CSKA Moscow
CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...
attacking midfielder
Miloš Krasić who had been ignored by Đukić.
With an unconvincing 2–0 win,
the focus shifted to the away match at group-favourites
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
in
Saint Denis four days later. Though returning to fielding tried and tested players, Antić still caused a surprise by starting nineteen-year-old
Miralem Sulejmani
Miralem Sulejmani ( sr-Cyrl, Миралем Сулејмани, ; born 5 December 1988) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger.
When he signed for AFC Ajax, Ajax in 2008, h ...
on the left wing as well as leaving out tall target forward
Nikola Žigić
Nikola Žigić ( sr-cyr, Никола Жигић, ; born 25 September 1980) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward.
Žigić was born in Bačka Topola, in what was then SFR Yugoslavia. He began playing footbal ...
in favour of starting with only one striker,
Marko Pantelić, in 4–5–1 formation. While Serbia lost 2–1 to somewhat wounded France that had just days earlier shockingly lost to
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, the Serbian press still took some positives from the match at
Stade de France
Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...
such as a brave attacking approach with a lot of running from the wings.
In October 2008, Serbia faced in-form
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
that was coming off defeating
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
and Austria without allowing a goal. Contrary to expectations, Antić's team made easy work of the Lithuanians in front of 20,000 home fans by scoring twice early, and adding one more towards the end for a 3–0 final score. Four days later, the team was away in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
to face Austria and again it put in an assured performance, scoring three goals within a ten-minute span during first half as shellshocked Austrians never managed to recover.
At the qualifying winter break, Serbia was sitting atop the group tied on points with Lithuania, but ahead on goal difference. Simultaneously, on the player personnel front, Antić was involved in a battle to secure the national team loyalty of two young, up-and-coming players who grew up outside of the country: twenty-year-old defender
Neven Subotić
Neven Subotić (Serbian Cyrillic: Heвeн Cубoтић, ; born 10 December 1988) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as a centre-back.
Subotić made his professional debut in 2007 for 1. FSV Mainz 05. In the fo ...
and eighteen-year-old striker
Bojan Krkić. Subotić ended up choosing Serbia over the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
in December 2008 while Bojan chose to represent
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
despite Antić's numerous approaches.
As the qualifying restarted, in late March 2009, Antić's Serbia faced Romania in chilly conditions on a hard surface away at
Constanța
Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...
. In its toughest test of the entire campaign, Serbia came through again with a 2–3 win. Antić's resolve to continue playing attacking football (with two strikers Žigić and Pantelić upfront as well as two offensively minded wingers Krasić and
Milan Jovanović just behind them) paid off again as Serbia all but eliminated Romania from the running for top two spots.
In his first qualifying campaign managing Serbia, Antić led the team to first place in their group thus qualifying directly for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
In the wake of the successful qualification, amid Serbian press reports of icy relations between Antić and FSS president Karadžić, press reports appeared that Antić and the FSS had agreed a new contract. Over the coming weeks, Antić's new base salary became subject of rife press speculation putting the new annual sum anywhere from €528,000 to €1.2 million. Since the contract was not formally signed and announced by mid-December 2009, despite assurances to the contrary by Antić's agent
Miško Ražnatović
Miodrag "Miško" Ražnatović ( sr-cyr, Миодраг Мишко Ражнатовић; born September 16, 1966) is a Serbian lawyer and Sports agent#European basketball, sports agent and former professional basketball player. He is the chairman, ...
, the reports of Antić–Karadžić feud reignited, including irritated Antić flippantly claiming he did not know anything about a new contract. Eventually, on 18 December 2009, Antić's new contract was announced, extending his term to 2012.
During the early part of 2010, in addition to his regular assistants, Antić added experienced globetrotting Serbian coach
Bora Milutinović
Velibor "Bora" Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager.
He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record al ...
in an adviser role. Milutinović in turn brought along his long-time assistant, Chilean
Julio César Moreno. Antić mostly relied on them for opponent scouting.
In the run-up to the World Cup, out of the players Antić used in qualifying and subsequent friendlies, only the ageing defender
Ivica Dragutinović and midfielder
Boško Janković
Boško Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Бошко Јанковић; born 1 March 1984) is a Serbian former footballer who played as a winger for the Serbia national football team. He is an attacking minded player, with the tendency to take long shots and ...
were ruled out through injury. Antić announced his 24-man squad in mid-May 2010 with no major surprises and an understanding that one player would be cut on 1 June.
Training camp and friendlies
The World Cup training camp began with a gathering in
Kovilovo on 24 May 2010 with all but one player showing up: captain
Dejan Stanković
Dejan Stanković ( sr-Cyrl, Дејан Станковић, , born 11 September 1978) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He captained the Serbia national team from 2007 until 2011, when he announced his retirement from ...
was allowed to join the team in Austria directly due to playing the Champions League
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
for Inter two days prior. After one light training session on the day of the gathering, the team left for
Leogang
Leogang is a municipality in the district of Zell am See (district), Zell am See (Pinzgau region), in the state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg in Austria. It is a famous winter sports and summer mountain hiking resort.
Population
Sights
:Mining ...
the next morning. Nikola Žigić was not on the plane to Austria due to being permitted to fly out to England on 26 May 2010 to sign with
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...
. The absence of two starters were not the only issues at the beginning of the camp for Antić, as Luković missed the first training session in Austria due to high fever and Krasić had to train separately due to muscle pain ("primicač"). During the training in Austria,
Branislav Ivanović
Branislav Ivanović ( sr-Cyrl, Бранислав Ивановић, ; born 22 February 1984) is a Serbian former professional Association football, footballer. A versatile defender, Ivanović played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back ...
was allowed to leave the squad for a short period in order to serve as best man at a wedding back in Serbia.
Despite missing two regulars—Ivanović and captain Stanković—for the first preparation friendly in
Klagenfurt against minnows
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, the 0–1 loss was still shocking as lethargic Serbia playing in a 4–4–2 formation created very little offensively, with Antić giving each one of the 18 available outfield players a runout. The next friendly—against
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
in
Kufstein
Kufstein (; ) is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 20,000 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The greatest landmark is Kufstein For ...
in torrential rain on a flooded pitch—also resulted in a surprising 0–0 scoreline, with Serbia missing a host of scoring chances (especially striker Pantelić). The final friendly before the World Cup, the so-called 'dress rehearsal', took place at home in Belgrade against
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
, and despite a 4–3 win, it came in nervous fashion as the Africans took the lead twice following lax Serbian defending. Throughout the three friendlies, Antić often rotated the squad giving everyone playing time.
2010 World Cup
For the
opening group match against
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, Antić came out with a 4–4–2 formation that he had often been using in qualifying. In the lacklustre first half, neither team created much—with midfield motor Krasić, as well as Jovanović, completely taken out of the match by the Ghanaian pressure tactics of double-teaming the Serbian wingers in order to cut off the supply from the flanks. Since Milijaš and Stanković also achieved little through the middle, Serbia was quickly reduced to launching long balls from the back thus bypassing its own midfield that was completely disrupted by quick and physical Ghanaians playing in the 3–6–1 formation set up by their Serbian head coach
Milovan Rajevac
Milovan Rajevac (Serbian: Милован Рајевац; born 2 January 1954) is a Serbian Manager (association football), football manager and former professional player.
Playing career
Born in Čajetina, Rajevac played as a Defender (associat ...
. Hoping to inject some energy in the second half, Antić took out invisible Milijaš and brought on
Zdravko Kuzmanović. While some openings were finally created (Žigić latching onto Pantelić's cross and mishitting the ball away from goal in 59th minute), the match was still mostly a sedated and disjointed affair. Swapping forward for forward, Antić took off misfiring Žigić and inserted Danko Lazović. As the match seemed headed for a drab goalless draw, central defender Luković pulled down a Ghana player in the 74th minute and got sent off for a second bookable offence. As a result of going down to ten men, Antić was forced to patch a hole in central defense by bringing on Subotić instead of largely ineffective Jovanović. Surprisingly, Serbia started playing much better, creating two excellent scoring opportunities in quick succession. However, in the 85th minute, following a harmless-looking Ghana cross, Kuzmanović handled in his own penalty area thus gifting Ghanaians the penalty and a 1–0 lead. Forced to chase the result for the remaining 5+ minutes, ten-man Serbia pushed forward in numbers in a desperate attempt of coming up with an equalizer thus leaving itself vulnerable to counterattack from quick Ghanaians and was extremely lucky not to go 0–2 down as Ghana hit the post in a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Stojković.
Getting no points from the opening match meant that Serbia faced a must-win situation
against its next opponent, powerhouse
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
that had destroyed
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
in their first match. Antić decided to switch the tactical formation to 4-3-3, which, when needed, adapted to more defensive 4-5-1 with young Subotić replacing suspended Luković in central defense, the three-man midfield had Ninković, Kuzmanović, and Stanković while upfront tall target-man Žigić got joined by wingers Krasić and Jovanović. After cautious opening, German forward
Miroslav Klose
Miroslav Josef Klose (, ; born Mirosław Marian Klose; 9 June 1978) is a German professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who currently serves as head coach of 1. FC Nürnberg. A Forward (as ...
got a second yellow card on 37 minutes. Only a minute later, Krasić stormed down the right flank, overrunning
Holger Badstuber in the process and looping a high ball into the middle where tall Žigić headed it down for Jovanović who blasted it past
Manuel Neuer
Manuel Peter Neuer (; born 27 March 1986) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for and captain (association football), captains club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munic ...
from close range. Despite being down a man, Germany managed to create some chances in the remaining minutes of the first half with
Sami Khedira
Sami Khedira (; ; born 4 April 1987) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a central midfielder.
He began his career at VfB Stuttgart, winning the Bundesliga in 2007, before moving to Real Madrid CF, Re ...
hitting the crossbar. The first fifteen minutes of the second half featured a complete onslaught by undermanned Germany. With chances coming one after another, confused and disorganized Serbia was completely pushed back despite having an extra player on the pitch. The German offensive culminated in the 60th minute when Vidić needlessly handled the ball in the Serbian penalty area leading to the penalty shot being awarded to Germany. However,
Lukas Podolski
Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , 4 June 1985) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or attacking midfielder for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. He is kno ...
's low shot was parried by Stojković while Subotić then provided a key clearance to deny
Mesut Özil
Mesut Özil (, ; born 15 October 1988) is a German former professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Known for his ball control, technical skills, creativity, passing skills, and vision, he is widely re ...
a chance to get a shot away off the rebound. The penalty save provided an injection of confidence for Antić's team as it finally began to play in the second half. Even then, 10-man Germany still had the initiative but Serbia created a few good chances as well such as Žigić's header bouncing off the crossbar. Serbia eventually won the match 1–0, brought back hopes of progressing from the group.
In the final group game against
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, Serbia only needed a single point to reach the knockout stages and named an unchanged line up from the 1–0 win over Germany. They were defeated by Australia 2–1 in an entertaining match where Serbia's dominance in the first half and in periods of the second half would have made it look like a Serbia victory. Their failure to convert many chances again proved costly with Australia scoring 2 goals in the second half through Tim Cahill and Brett Holman. A late Marko Pantelić goal served only as a consolation. They finished last in the group, missing out by a point.
Euro 2012 qualifiers and sacking
After the failed world up campaign, Serbia lost to Greece 1–0 at home in a friendly putting pressure on Radomir Antić. He started the campaign strongly with a 3–0 away win over the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
. A frustrating 1–1 draw with
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
at home resulted in the sacking of Radomir Antić. He left the post with disappointment and sued the Serbian FA not long after.
Shandong Luneng Taishan
On 25 December 2012, it was announced that Antić signed a two-year contract with
Chinese Super League
The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...
side
Shandong Luneng Taishan. with
Aleksandar Rogic as his assistant. Although leading Shandong Luneng (which had finished in 12th position in the 2012 season) to second place in the league, he was released by Shandong on 21 December 2013.
Hebei Zhongji
On 27 January 2015, he signed a three-year contract with
China League One
The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...
side
Hebei Zhongji. He was sacked on 18 August after not leading the club into the promotion zone.
Personal life
Antić was married to Vera, with whom he had two children: a daughter Ana (married to basketball player
Nikola Lončar) and a son Dušan (who is married to Mirjana). Antić had four grandchildren: two grandsons (Marko and Radomir) and two granddaughters (Ivan and Petra).
Antić lived in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
and
Marbella
Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the re ...
in Spain.
Defamation suit
During the 1995–96 double title season in Spain, Antić had a notable public spat with the Spanish political columnist
Hermann Tertsch of ''
El País
(; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' daily. In an interview with journalist
Carmen Rigalt, published on 10 September 1995 in ''
El Mundo'', Antić took issue with the views expressed by Tertsch. Seeing Tertsch's views and coverage of the
Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
as
anti-Serbian, Antić referred to the columnist as a "Nazi". Tertsch in turn sued Antić for
slander
Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making wikt:asserti ...
and received a court ruling in his favour in the amount of
ESP2 million. Following appeals, the case even went before the
Spanish Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. The court has original jurisdiction over cases against high-ranking officials of the Kingdom and over cases regarding the legalization of political parties. It also has u ...
that confirmed in mid-November 2003 the original ruling in Tertsch's favour, thus ordering Antić to pay the
euro
The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
equivalent of the originally awarded amount, approximately €12,000.
Death and legacy
He died on 6 April 2020 in Madrid, aged 71, with COVID-19 after having struggled for several years with
pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large organ behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and a number of hormone
A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "se ...
.
On 12 August 2021, the name of the
FK Sloboda Užice stadium was officially changed to the
Radomir Antić Stadium.
Managerial statistics
Honours
Player
Partizan
*
Yugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...
:
1975–76
Fenerbahçe
*
1. Lig:
1977–78
Luton Town
*
Second Division:
1981–82
Manager
Atlético Madrid
*
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
:
1995–96
*
Copa del Rey
The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...
:
1995–96
Individual
*
Don Balón Award: Best Coach 1995–96
*
Serbian Coach of the Year: 2009
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antic, Radomir
1948 births
2020 deaths
People from Žitište
Footballers from Central Banat District
Serbian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent
Immigrants to Spain
Naturalised citizens of Spain
Men's association football defenders
Yugoslav men's footballers
Yugoslavia men's international footballers
GFK Sloboda Užice players
FK Partizan players
Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers
Real Zaragoza players
Luton Town F.C. players
Yugoslav First League players
Süper Lig players
La Liga players
English Football League players
Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey
Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Expatriate men's footballers in Spain
Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate men's footballers in England
Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in England
Yugoslav football managers
FK Partizan non-playing staff
Real Zaragoza managers
Real Madrid CF managers
Serbia and Montenegro football managers
Real Oviedo managers
Atlético Madrid managers
FC Barcelona managers
RC Celta de Vigo managers
Serbian football managers
Serbia national football team managers
Shandong Taishan F.C. managers
Hebei F.C. managers
La Liga managers
Chinese Super League managers
China League One managers
2010 FIFA World Cup managers
Yugoslav expatriate football managers
Expatriate football managers in Spain
Serbia and Montenegro expatriate football managers
Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Serbian expatriate football managers
Expatriate football managers in China
Serbian expatriate sportspeople in China
Deaths from pancreatitis
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain