Dejan Antonić


Dejan Antonić is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of Super League club Semen Padang.
He is the father of Stefan Antonić, who plays football professionally in Hong Kong.

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.

Club career

In Europe

Antonić started his professional football career at Red Star Belgrade. In 1987, he was called up to the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile alongside the likes of Robert Jarni, Igor Štimac, Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinečki, Predrag Mijatović and Davor Šuker. 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. Then, he played for FK Napredak Kruševac in the Yugoslav Second League, as well as Belgian side Beveren.

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 FC|Rangers], Sun Hei and Kitchee before retiring in 2005. He also played at the 2003 [Lunar New Year Cup], scoring a penalty against the Denmark League XI.

Managerial career

Antonić, a UEFA Pro License holder, was appointed by Kitchee 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 and Hong Kong Senior Shield Cup. He led the team to defend their Hong Kong League Cup in 2006, during his second year of duty. Kitchee also qualified for the 2008 AFC Cup.
Antonić was elected as the 2006 Hong Kong Coach of The Year and also appointed to be a coach of Hong Kong League XI 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 in preparation for the 2011 [AFC Asian Cup qualification|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 in the middle of the 2011–12 [Hong Kong First Division League] season and joined Arema FC 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 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

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 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 Director Philip Lee announced that Antonić would be the club's new manager.
On 28 March 2018, Borneo announced that Antonić would be the club's new head coach after sacked their previous head coach

Honours

Player

Sun Hei
Yugoslavia U-20

Manager

Kitchee
PSS Sleman