ARTICLES – The Brilliance of Radomir Antic by Djuradj “George” Vujcic, Canadian writer and translator.
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Urban Book Circle® (UBC)
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The Brilliance of Radomir Antic
Beginnings
Radomir Antic was born on November 22, 1948 in Zitiste, Serbia, Yugoslavia to a Serb family from Bosnia (his father Jovo was from Janj near Sipovo and his mother Milka (née Brkic) from the Grmec region) that settled in the small town of Banat shortly before his birth. The family then moved to Uzice (then known as Titovo Uzice) when Radomir was six years old. Antic started his playing career with Sloboda Titovo Uzice (1967–1968).
Antic was 23 when he married and was playing for Sloboda. He graduated from a higher mechanical school and worked parallelly as a mechanical engineer. He applied for a position in the Raketa bus company but was rejected as he had a salary as a Sloboda player.
"And if they had accepted me, I would never have been what I am now", Antic once said.
Antic then moved to the club where he would play most of his career – Partizan (1968–1976). With Partizan, he won the national Championship in 1976. He went on to make a name for himself abroad, playing for Fenerbahce, Real Zaragoza and Luton Town.
"Turkey was a great experience for me to live abroad. But the overall political situation forced me to go to Spain before the end of the contract. There were riots in Turkey that preceded the coup, so I signed the contract with Zaragoza in a hurry, on a napkin in a restaurant in Pirot where they were preparing! Spain won me over with respect for tradition, cheerfulness, laughter at every step, and England with serious and dedicated work..."
Curiously, he capped only once for the Yugoslav national team, appearing as a substitute in the 80th minute for injured Franjo Vladic in a friendly against Hungary on September 26, 1973, in Belgrade.
When Antic joined Real Zaragoza, he admitted to having prejudices because he was coming from a communist country to Francoist Spain. He said he quickly became embarrassed with his opinion when he saw happy people in the streets and realized that a government and the people it governs are two different things.
He found his true calling however as a coach.
After finishing his playing career at age 36, Antic started his coaching career as an assistant with his hometown club Partizan in 1985 working under head coach Nenad Bjekovic (his former teammate). Partizan went on to win the 1985–86 and 1986–87 league titles. In early July 1987, Fahrudin Jusufi was brought in as the new head coach and initially Antic continued as assistant coach. For the pre-season training ahead of the 1987–88 season, the team went abroad where Jusufi and Antic came into disagreement over player personnel issues that resulted in Antic being essentially demoted to the position of Partizan under-16 youth team (cadet squad) coach.
In 1988 he went to Spain where he gained fame coaching Real Zaragoza, Real Madrid, Real Oviedo, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Celta Vigo. His biggest statistical success came in the 1995–96 season when he won the double with Atletico Madrid, popularly nicknamed Los Colchoneros (The Mattress Makers).
But it was Antic’s qualities as a person that made him memorable and brilliant and for the author of this article who was born in 1992, it was Antic’s tenure as head coach of the Serbian national team that was most memorable.
Antic was 23 when he married and was playing for Sloboda. He graduated from a higher mechanical school and worked parallelly as a mechanical engineer. He applied for a position in the Raketa bus company but was rejected as he had a salary as a Sloboda player.
"And if they had accepted me, I would never have been what I am now", Antic once said.
Antic then moved to the club where he would play most of his career – Partizan (1968–1976). With Partizan, he won the national Championship in 1976. He went on to make a name for himself abroad, playing for Fenerbahce, Real Zaragoza and Luton Town.
"Turkey was a great experience for me to live abroad. But the overall political situation forced me to go to Spain before the end of the contract. There were riots in Turkey that preceded the coup, so I signed the contract with Zaragoza in a hurry, on a napkin in a restaurant in Pirot where they were preparing! Spain won me over with respect for tradition, cheerfulness, laughter at every step, and England with serious and dedicated work..."
Curiously, he capped only once for the Yugoslav national team, appearing as a substitute in the 80th minute for injured Franjo Vladic in a friendly against Hungary on September 26, 1973, in Belgrade.
When Antic joined Real Zaragoza, he admitted to having prejudices because he was coming from a communist country to Francoist Spain. He said he quickly became embarrassed with his opinion when he saw happy people in the streets and realized that a government and the people it governs are two different things.
He found his true calling however as a coach.
After finishing his playing career at age 36, Antic started his coaching career as an assistant with his hometown club Partizan in 1985 working under head coach Nenad Bjekovic (his former teammate). Partizan went on to win the 1985–86 and 1986–87 league titles. In early July 1987, Fahrudin Jusufi was brought in as the new head coach and initially Antic continued as assistant coach. For the pre-season training ahead of the 1987–88 season, the team went abroad where Jusufi and Antic came into disagreement over player personnel issues that resulted in Antic being essentially demoted to the position of Partizan under-16 youth team (cadet squad) coach.
In 1988 he went to Spain where he gained fame coaching Real Zaragoza, Real Madrid, Real Oviedo, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Celta Vigo. His biggest statistical success came in the 1995–96 season when he won the double with Atletico Madrid, popularly nicknamed Los Colchoneros (The Mattress Makers).
But it was Antic’s qualities as a person that made him memorable and brilliant and for the author of this article who was born in 1992, it was Antic’s tenure as head coach of the Serbian national team that was most memorable.
Spain
Antic began his first ever head coaching tenure in 1988 with Real Zaragoza (having played for them during his playing career). Years later, he would thank Vujadin Boskov for having opened that part of Europe to Serbian coaches.
Antic felt at home at Spain and came to love the Spanish culture – listing paella as his favourite food. The Spaniards loved him back as well. In a 1991 issue of Tempo, Antic talked about how when he was a footballer, he looked at food as fuel. “Food is a way of living here”, Antic said. “It took me some time to get used to the numerous-course meals.” Antic left a big mark in Spain. Antic’s personal qualities were of note. He spread positive energy and a good atmosphere. When he left Real Madrid in 1992, the then-Real player, the famous Michel, stated that he and the players cried.
Antic even coached rival club FC Barcelona in 2003. His tenure did not last long (from February until June) but he stayed enough to do a number of things that would transform the club in the years to come. Antic immediately brought in Juan Pablo Sorin from Lazio. More notably, he put Carles Puyol at centre-back, started giving regular first team appearances to young goalkeeper Victor Valdes and threw in another youngster named Andres Iniesta into the first team. Antic also moved Xavi further up the field, just behind the line of forwards, freeing him up from the defensive duties he had under previous head coach Louis van Gaal. This allowed Xavi to fully showcase his creativity and Xavi himself now says that Antic was one of the first coaches to give him importance. These moves set the pace for Barcelona’s later success in the 2000s, and this is Antic’s legacy at the club.
Antic felt at home at Spain and came to love the Spanish culture – listing paella as his favourite food. The Spaniards loved him back as well. In a 1991 issue of Tempo, Antic talked about how when he was a footballer, he looked at food as fuel. “Food is a way of living here”, Antic said. “It took me some time to get used to the numerous-course meals.” Antic left a big mark in Spain. Antic’s personal qualities were of note. He spread positive energy and a good atmosphere. When he left Real Madrid in 1992, the then-Real player, the famous Michel, stated that he and the players cried.
Antic even coached rival club FC Barcelona in 2003. His tenure did not last long (from February until June) but he stayed enough to do a number of things that would transform the club in the years to come. Antic immediately brought in Juan Pablo Sorin from Lazio. More notably, he put Carles Puyol at centre-back, started giving regular first team appearances to young goalkeeper Victor Valdes and threw in another youngster named Andres Iniesta into the first team. Antic also moved Xavi further up the field, just behind the line of forwards, freeing him up from the defensive duties he had under previous head coach Louis van Gaal. This allowed Xavi to fully showcase his creativity and Xavi himself now says that Antic was one of the first coaches to give him importance. These moves set the pace for Barcelona’s later success in the 2000s, and this is Antic’s legacy at the club.
Serbia
His tenure at the helm of the national team deserves a deep dive in its own right. Having said that – and taking into consideration that the author of these words was born in 1992 – this article will be focusing primarily on his role as Serbia national team manager.
It was August 19, 2008 when the 59-year-old Radomir Antic said the fateful “yes” to the Football Association of Serbia and it was August 20, 2008 when he officially was presented (along with his coach staff consisting of his former team-mate Resad Kunovac, Aleksandar Rogic and goalkeeper coach Rade Zalad) as the head coach of the Serbian national team. Their job was to return a positive reputation to a team that, along with failing to qualify for Euro 2008, did not know what a victory is that whole year – up until his arrival.
Antic (the national team’s 49th head coach) was taking over a team whose Euro 2008 qualifying campaign led by Javier Clemente was a spectacular failure culminating in Serbia playing against Poland at home in November 2007 – with there being more Poles than Serbs in the stadium. That more or less sums up the atmosphere surrounding the team at that time. Antic took over from Miroslav Djukic who did not find a rapport with management and did not manage to mesh the various types of personalities found in the national team – eventually getting the boot after a disappointing 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Djukic blamed Football Association president Tomislav Karadzic for his departure.
Antic immediately showed that he has the knowledge and will to change things for the better.
As head coach, one of Antic’s first moves was leaving out previous call-ups Milan Smiljanic, Nenad Kovacevic, Pavle Ninkov, Igor Duljaj and Marjan Markovic. Antic also did not call up Mateja Kezman who left on bad terms after the 2006 FIFA World Cup which would prove to be the end of Kezman’s national team career. Antic also re-called Milos Krasic who would prove to be a key addition. Krasic was left out of the national team by previous coach Miroslav Djukic who explained the move by saying, “Krasic isn’t a player who runs in both directions.” Antic proved that this could easily be remedied.
Antic was called up with very little time to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers. He started off on September 6, 2008 in front of just 9,615 people at Red Star Stadium against the Faroe Islands. Antic led with a 4-4-2 formation and debuting for Serbia were the young Ivan Obradovic from Partizan and Nenad Milijas from Red Star Belgrade who were both in the starting line-up. The match ended with an unconvincing 2-0 win thanks to an own goal by Faroese defender Jon Roi Jacobsen in the 30th minute and an 88th minute goal by Nikola Zigic
Serbia continued on to play at France featuring an aging Mladen Krstajic and an agile Bosko Jankovic. France took the win 2-1 but Serbia showed promise.
On October 6, 2008, Antic called up Standard Liege forward Milan Jovanovic to replace the injured Stefan Babovic. Antic made a decision which would put the rest of the qualifiers on a different path, stating, “We know him as a centre-forward but I count on him more on the flank but that doesn’t mean he can’t answer to other needs as well.” Antic (or Mister as the players began calling him) must have got a good sleep that night because putting Jovanovic on the flanks proved to be a crucial move.
Serbia’s next match was at home against Lithuania on October 11, 2008. Serbian opera singer Oliver Njego sang the national anthem and his baritone voice set the tone for the game. Left out of the team due to injuries and not playing in their clubs were Miralem Sulejmani, Gojko Kacar, Ivan Ergic, Dusko Tosic and Sasa Ilic. Milan Jovanovic was put in the starting line-up and this was the first time a tandem was crystalized with Milan Jovanovic on the left flank and Milos Krasic on the right flank. Goals by Branislav Ivanovic in the sixth minute, Milos Krasic in the 34th minute and Nikola Zigic in the 82nd minute gave Serbia a convincing 3-0 win.
Next up was Austria in Vienna. Out of the 47,998 spectators at Ernst-Happel-Stadion, a whopping 15,000 were Serbs – making the atmosphere seem as if it were at home in Belgrade. Antic made only one change since the Lithuania match, re-calling Udinese defender Aleksandar Lukovic instead of the injured Ivica Dragutinovic. Mladen Krstajic was also left out of the squad due to an injury the night before the match.
In late 2008, when the winter break began, many fans complained that the Serbian team will lose momentum and that a wonderful series of wins had been broken.
In the spring of 2009 however, that winning series continued.
Next up was a key match against Romania in Constanța in March 2009 with the Serbian media billing it the match of the decade. Romania – led by Adrian Mutu – had recently played well at Euro 2008. This would be the first time twenty-year-old Neven Subotic would feature in the Serbian squad after choosing to represent Serbia (turning down offers from Germany, the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina) in late 2008. The fact that Subotic chose Serbia was largely thanks to Antic and Serbia’s success up to that point (Antic had tried to convince Bojan Krkic to play for Serbia in August 2008 but Krkic chose Spain). Subotic was able to play in a number of defensive positions and Antic compared him to Fernando Hierro – someone who Antic coached during his time at Real Madrid.
With Serbia up 3-1, Antic decided to strengthen the defence and substitute Marko Pantelic with Neven Subotic in the 66th minute – giving Subotic his debut. The young Subotic appeared nervous and pulled down a Romanian player just outside of the 16-yard-box in the 73rd minute resulting in a yellow card and a free kick which Romania then scored from. Serbia held on and won 3-2. After the match, Antic proved a worthy pedagogue and showed his knack for psychology. When asked by journalists what he thought of Subotic’s performance, Antic called him the Man of the Match.
After this match, things were looking good. Fans were delighted: out of five matches, Serbia won four, scored twelve goals, conceded only five and the only loss was against France. Antic said that “the most important thing is that we are getting people to get excited about football again, for their national team. The first objective that I set for myself when I took over the team is for the people to re-identify with their colours and the best formula to do so was with a winning team, with character. The atmosphere is almost euphoric. I think that is what these people lacked to be happy after Serbian football went through a bad time for many things and for many reasons.”
An April friendly at home versus Sweden (featuring an aged Henrk Larsson) resulted in an easy 2-0 victory for Serbia. This game would be remembered as the debut of Milos Ninkovic who would play an important role in Antic's team.
In Serbia’s largest stadium, against their northeast neighbours Romania, a dream of a nation was fulfilled – Serbia qualified for its first ever FIFA World Cup (under that name). A true footballing rhapsody as Romania was dismantled 5-0 and Serbia was headed to the first ever FIFA World Cup held in the continent of Africa.
With the World Cup in their back pocket, up next was a match against Lithuania on a cold October night in Marijampole. Serbia played for the win but ended up losing 2-1 with both Lithuanian goals questionably coming from the penalty spot.
The prelude to the World Cup was not without its issues however.
Backup goalkeeper Vladimir Disljenkovic – seemingly unhappy with his lack of playing time – gained Ukrainian citizenship and gave up his Serbian citizenship in the process. Bosko Jankovic, who had an important role throughout the qualifiers coming in as a “joker” from the bench as is known in that part of Europe, was ruled out of the World Cup in March due to a knee injury. Antic now needed to find a replacement for Jankovic who was known for his speedy runs on the wing during counter-attacks. In April, Ivica Dragutinovic – who played six out of the ten qualifiers – suffered an Achilles tendon injury while training for Sevilla and was also ruled out of the World Cup.
In late 2018, I had the opportunity to speak with Miodrag Jesic who played with Antic at Partizan Belgrade.
“Antic is the real deal. Antara (as we called him at Partizan) was Partizan captain when Ante ‘Bice’ Mladinic called me up from the juniors to the first team at the pre-season preliminaries in Rovinj. I remember – because Bice called me up late – I arrived in Rovinj but I didn’t bring my passport as I didn’t know that we were going to Trieste for shopping on our day off. So everyone went to Trieste but only I stayed in the Eden Hotel in Rovinj. When we were all together again at dinner, Antara (as captain) presented me with a beautiful watch that they bought me in Trieste as a gift and souvenir for my first pre-season with the Partizan first team. That was a long time ago but I will never forget that. That was something special that I will always remember. Antara is a great man firstly and a great player and expert.”
Then came the most famous match against the renowned Germany.
Having been benched in the match against Ghana, Ninkovic was in Serbia’s starting XI against Germany and Australia. This was a psychological move and Ninkovic admitted it gave him the confidence needed to play against Germany.
A Miroslav Klose yellow card (awarded in the 12th minute by Spanish referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco) led to a second yellow in the 37th minute. With Germany now down to ten men, Serbia had a chance to capitalize on the opportunity.
Of course, I immediately remember his phenomenal goal to Germany, in June five years ago (which is the first goal of the Serbian national team at the World Cups ever). Probably many of you remember that magical, victorious (rare) moment of Serbian football.
The six-foot-eight Zigic lowered the ball with his head from five metres out and Milan Jovanovic, in the fall, acrobatically and skillfully achieved that Serbian debut, which made us so happy in 2010 in South Africa, in Port Elizabeth.
And we all still remember his jump over the sponsorship ads in indescribable joy after that goal, when he simply fell into a deep ditch between the fans and the field. Fortunately, he soon emerged unharmed and continued to rejoice, together with all of us, in this unexpected, but, as it turned out, "Pyrrhic victory" (we dropped out after painful failures after Ghana and Australia in the same qualifications).
Vladimir Stojkovic was Man of the Match as he saved Lukas Podolski's penalty kick which proved to be crucial.
In the 75th minute, Antic subbed in 21-year-old Radosav Petrovic – a widely criticized call-up – for Zdravko Kuzmanovic. Petrovic played with confidence and showed why he was called up.
Antic showed his disdain for the treatment he and his players were receiving, going as far as labelling critics as "Quislings."
Antic said that he was delighted with China and that he felt he was reliving his youth. He helped inject energy into the Shandong squad as well. He brought Shandong to second place – after the club was fighting to avoid relegation the year before.
One of the only surprise changes in the national team was the call-up of goalkeeper Andjelko Djuricic instead of the expected Zeljko Brkic. Antic explained that Brkic is young and his time awaits. I contacted Djuricic to hear his thoughts on Antic and World Cup 2010. “I was glad to hear that you’re writing an article because a man and coach like Antic deserved that. It was an honour to play for him and at a FIFA World Cup no less”, said Djuricic.
I had the opportunity to speak with Aleksandar Rogic who was in Antic's coaching staff during his tenure as national team manager.
“Being in Radomir Antic’s coaching staff was a privilege because you could learn a lot about soccer and about life from him on a daily basis. His daily routines, habits, organization of life and dedication and passion towards soccer were for me – then a young coach – always a true example and direction of how to work in this profession.”
“It pains me a lot when I see what is happening in Serbian football which is always viewed with some type of suspicion. In my time, the national team had a full Marakana, over 5000 people at practices, there were so many people at the France game. We went among the people – visited factories, people on the street. We had just returned the national team’s cult following and then someone destroyed all that.” – Antic
One word is most often repeated: the kult reprezentacije (the cult of the national team).
One of Antic’s first moves was holding press conferences at the Kuca fudbala (House of Football) in Kovilovo instead of the Hyatt Hotel or the Intercontinental Hotel saying that “psychology is extremely important, as is double communication.” This is where the players would stay as well and they were allowed to roam the town for as long as needed. This is not to say that Antic was without authority however. Well-known Serbian sports commentator Aleksandar Stojanovic once commented that at team lunches, players would first wait for Antic to finish eating and leave his seat before they would which showed both discipline and a mutual respect.
When asked what type of play he is looking for from his players, Antic said: "The one that is in line with the mentality of the Serbs. This means that there is nothing without a great fight, speed and respect for all agreements. And no distinction must be made between foreign and domestic terrain. Our game must be the same in all conditions. Of course, in order to accept this idea, it is necessary to acquire this habit through work. And habit is second nature. That rhythm of the game must be maintained at the same level for all ninety minutes."
He had to be someone who is a great authority, he is number one in Serbia. He went through everything as a player, the whole world, with charm, character, he made the situation that the players trust him. He set up a system to play attacking, more goals "We waited so long, and when was the last time we played with two strikers? When was the last time we were so attractive?" Jovanovic wondered. On the wings, and in the attack were Nikola Zigic and Marko Pantelic. Antic showed integrity by calling up Marko Pantelic even when he was without a club which Pantelic would later credit for giving him much needed confidence up front.
"Well, yes ... That was the last time," Lane himself couldn't believe it.
Antic’s sacking resulted in a long drought for Serbia. And for what? What ensued were three missed tournaments (EURO 2012, the 2014 World Cup, and the colossal failure of missing out on EURO 2016) and years of agony up until qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
Antic's tenure as national team manager will be remembered – from beginning to end. After the first few matches, fans noticed a different Serbia as Antic brought in order, a work ethic, discipline but also a friendly family atmosphere – with Antic calling his players his children. Antic was a father figure who evoked both respect and authority. He found every member of the team a perfect spot, maximally emphasizing the personal qualities of each individual player and putting him in the service of the team. Antic favoured an attacking strategy and played with two forwards up front – something Serbia had not done in years.
On August 12, 2021, Antic was honoured as the name of the FK Sloboda Uzice stadium was officially re-named the Radomir Antic Stadium.
It was August 19, 2008 when the 59-year-old Radomir Antic said the fateful “yes” to the Football Association of Serbia and it was August 20, 2008 when he officially was presented (along with his coach staff consisting of his former team-mate Resad Kunovac, Aleksandar Rogic and goalkeeper coach Rade Zalad) as the head coach of the Serbian national team. Their job was to return a positive reputation to a team that, along with failing to qualify for Euro 2008, did not know what a victory is that whole year – up until his arrival.
Antic (the national team’s 49th head coach) was taking over a team whose Euro 2008 qualifying campaign led by Javier Clemente was a spectacular failure culminating in Serbia playing against Poland at home in November 2007 – with there being more Poles than Serbs in the stadium. That more or less sums up the atmosphere surrounding the team at that time. Antic took over from Miroslav Djukic who did not find a rapport with management and did not manage to mesh the various types of personalities found in the national team – eventually getting the boot after a disappointing 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Djukic blamed Football Association president Tomislav Karadzic for his departure.
Antic immediately showed that he has the knowledge and will to change things for the better.
As head coach, one of Antic’s first moves was leaving out previous call-ups Milan Smiljanic, Nenad Kovacevic, Pavle Ninkov, Igor Duljaj and Marjan Markovic. Antic also did not call up Mateja Kezman who left on bad terms after the 2006 FIFA World Cup which would prove to be the end of Kezman’s national team career. Antic also re-called Milos Krasic who would prove to be a key addition. Krasic was left out of the national team by previous coach Miroslav Djukic who explained the move by saying, “Krasic isn’t a player who runs in both directions.” Antic proved that this could easily be remedied.
Antic was called up with very little time to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers. He started off on September 6, 2008 in front of just 9,615 people at Red Star Stadium against the Faroe Islands. Antic led with a 4-4-2 formation and debuting for Serbia were the young Ivan Obradovic from Partizan and Nenad Milijas from Red Star Belgrade who were both in the starting line-up. The match ended with an unconvincing 2-0 win thanks to an own goal by Faroese defender Jon Roi Jacobsen in the 30th minute and an 88th minute goal by Nikola Zigic
Serbia continued on to play at France featuring an aging Mladen Krstajic and an agile Bosko Jankovic. France took the win 2-1 but Serbia showed promise.
On October 6, 2008, Antic called up Standard Liege forward Milan Jovanovic to replace the injured Stefan Babovic. Antic made a decision which would put the rest of the qualifiers on a different path, stating, “We know him as a centre-forward but I count on him more on the flank but that doesn’t mean he can’t answer to other needs as well.” Antic (or Mister as the players began calling him) must have got a good sleep that night because putting Jovanovic on the flanks proved to be a crucial move.
Serbia’s next match was at home against Lithuania on October 11, 2008. Serbian opera singer Oliver Njego sang the national anthem and his baritone voice set the tone for the game. Left out of the team due to injuries and not playing in their clubs were Miralem Sulejmani, Gojko Kacar, Ivan Ergic, Dusko Tosic and Sasa Ilic. Milan Jovanovic was put in the starting line-up and this was the first time a tandem was crystalized with Milan Jovanovic on the left flank and Milos Krasic on the right flank. Goals by Branislav Ivanovic in the sixth minute, Milos Krasic in the 34th minute and Nikola Zigic in the 82nd minute gave Serbia a convincing 3-0 win.
Next up was Austria in Vienna. Out of the 47,998 spectators at Ernst-Happel-Stadion, a whopping 15,000 were Serbs – making the atmosphere seem as if it were at home in Belgrade. Antic made only one change since the Lithuania match, re-calling Udinese defender Aleksandar Lukovic instead of the injured Ivica Dragutinovic. Mladen Krstajic was also left out of the squad due to an injury the night before the match.
In late 2008, when the winter break began, many fans complained that the Serbian team will lose momentum and that a wonderful series of wins had been broken.
In the spring of 2009 however, that winning series continued.
Next up was a key match against Romania in Constanța in March 2009 with the Serbian media billing it the match of the decade. Romania – led by Adrian Mutu – had recently played well at Euro 2008. This would be the first time twenty-year-old Neven Subotic would feature in the Serbian squad after choosing to represent Serbia (turning down offers from Germany, the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina) in late 2008. The fact that Subotic chose Serbia was largely thanks to Antic and Serbia’s success up to that point (Antic had tried to convince Bojan Krkic to play for Serbia in August 2008 but Krkic chose Spain). Subotic was able to play in a number of defensive positions and Antic compared him to Fernando Hierro – someone who Antic coached during his time at Real Madrid.
With Serbia up 3-1, Antic decided to strengthen the defence and substitute Marko Pantelic with Neven Subotic in the 66th minute – giving Subotic his debut. The young Subotic appeared nervous and pulled down a Romanian player just outside of the 16-yard-box in the 73rd minute resulting in a yellow card and a free kick which Romania then scored from. Serbia held on and won 3-2. After the match, Antic proved a worthy pedagogue and showed his knack for psychology. When asked by journalists what he thought of Subotic’s performance, Antic called him the Man of the Match.
After this match, things were looking good. Fans were delighted: out of five matches, Serbia won four, scored twelve goals, conceded only five and the only loss was against France. Antic said that “the most important thing is that we are getting people to get excited about football again, for their national team. The first objective that I set for myself when I took over the team is for the people to re-identify with their colours and the best formula to do so was with a winning team, with character. The atmosphere is almost euphoric. I think that is what these people lacked to be happy after Serbian football went through a bad time for many things and for many reasons.”
An April friendly at home versus Sweden (featuring an aged Henrk Larsson) resulted in an easy 2-0 victory for Serbia. This game would be remembered as the debut of Milos Ninkovic who would play an important role in Antic's team.
In Serbia’s largest stadium, against their northeast neighbours Romania, a dream of a nation was fulfilled – Serbia qualified for its first ever FIFA World Cup (under that name). A true footballing rhapsody as Romania was dismantled 5-0 and Serbia was headed to the first ever FIFA World Cup held in the continent of Africa.
With the World Cup in their back pocket, up next was a match against Lithuania on a cold October night in Marijampole. Serbia played for the win but ended up losing 2-1 with both Lithuanian goals questionably coming from the penalty spot.
The prelude to the World Cup was not without its issues however.
Backup goalkeeper Vladimir Disljenkovic – seemingly unhappy with his lack of playing time – gained Ukrainian citizenship and gave up his Serbian citizenship in the process. Bosko Jankovic, who had an important role throughout the qualifiers coming in as a “joker” from the bench as is known in that part of Europe, was ruled out of the World Cup in March due to a knee injury. Antic now needed to find a replacement for Jankovic who was known for his speedy runs on the wing during counter-attacks. In April, Ivica Dragutinovic – who played six out of the ten qualifiers – suffered an Achilles tendon injury while training for Sevilla and was also ruled out of the World Cup.
In late 2018, I had the opportunity to speak with Miodrag Jesic who played with Antic at Partizan Belgrade.
“Antic is the real deal. Antara (as we called him at Partizan) was Partizan captain when Ante ‘Bice’ Mladinic called me up from the juniors to the first team at the pre-season preliminaries in Rovinj. I remember – because Bice called me up late – I arrived in Rovinj but I didn’t bring my passport as I didn’t know that we were going to Trieste for shopping on our day off. So everyone went to Trieste but only I stayed in the Eden Hotel in Rovinj. When we were all together again at dinner, Antara (as captain) presented me with a beautiful watch that they bought me in Trieste as a gift and souvenir for my first pre-season with the Partizan first team. That was a long time ago but I will never forget that. That was something special that I will always remember. Antara is a great man firstly and a great player and expert.”
Then came the most famous match against the renowned Germany.
Having been benched in the match against Ghana, Ninkovic was in Serbia’s starting XI against Germany and Australia. This was a psychological move and Ninkovic admitted it gave him the confidence needed to play against Germany.
A Miroslav Klose yellow card (awarded in the 12th minute by Spanish referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco) led to a second yellow in the 37th minute. With Germany now down to ten men, Serbia had a chance to capitalize on the opportunity.
Of course, I immediately remember his phenomenal goal to Germany, in June five years ago (which is the first goal of the Serbian national team at the World Cups ever). Probably many of you remember that magical, victorious (rare) moment of Serbian football.
The six-foot-eight Zigic lowered the ball with his head from five metres out and Milan Jovanovic, in the fall, acrobatically and skillfully achieved that Serbian debut, which made us so happy in 2010 in South Africa, in Port Elizabeth.
And we all still remember his jump over the sponsorship ads in indescribable joy after that goal, when he simply fell into a deep ditch between the fans and the field. Fortunately, he soon emerged unharmed and continued to rejoice, together with all of us, in this unexpected, but, as it turned out, "Pyrrhic victory" (we dropped out after painful failures after Ghana and Australia in the same qualifications).
Vladimir Stojkovic was Man of the Match as he saved Lukas Podolski's penalty kick which proved to be crucial.
In the 75th minute, Antic subbed in 21-year-old Radosav Petrovic – a widely criticized call-up – for Zdravko Kuzmanovic. Petrovic played with confidence and showed why he was called up.
Antic showed his disdain for the treatment he and his players were receiving, going as far as labelling critics as "Quislings."
Antic said that he was delighted with China and that he felt he was reliving his youth. He helped inject energy into the Shandong squad as well. He brought Shandong to second place – after the club was fighting to avoid relegation the year before.
One of the only surprise changes in the national team was the call-up of goalkeeper Andjelko Djuricic instead of the expected Zeljko Brkic. Antic explained that Brkic is young and his time awaits. I contacted Djuricic to hear his thoughts on Antic and World Cup 2010. “I was glad to hear that you’re writing an article because a man and coach like Antic deserved that. It was an honour to play for him and at a FIFA World Cup no less”, said Djuricic.
I had the opportunity to speak with Aleksandar Rogic who was in Antic's coaching staff during his tenure as national team manager.
“Being in Radomir Antic’s coaching staff was a privilege because you could learn a lot about soccer and about life from him on a daily basis. His daily routines, habits, organization of life and dedication and passion towards soccer were for me – then a young coach – always a true example and direction of how to work in this profession.”
“It pains me a lot when I see what is happening in Serbian football which is always viewed with some type of suspicion. In my time, the national team had a full Marakana, over 5000 people at practices, there were so many people at the France game. We went among the people – visited factories, people on the street. We had just returned the national team’s cult following and then someone destroyed all that.” – Antic
One word is most often repeated: the kult reprezentacije (the cult of the national team).
One of Antic’s first moves was holding press conferences at the Kuca fudbala (House of Football) in Kovilovo instead of the Hyatt Hotel or the Intercontinental Hotel saying that “psychology is extremely important, as is double communication.” This is where the players would stay as well and they were allowed to roam the town for as long as needed. This is not to say that Antic was without authority however. Well-known Serbian sports commentator Aleksandar Stojanovic once commented that at team lunches, players would first wait for Antic to finish eating and leave his seat before they would which showed both discipline and a mutual respect.
When asked what type of play he is looking for from his players, Antic said: "The one that is in line with the mentality of the Serbs. This means that there is nothing without a great fight, speed and respect for all agreements. And no distinction must be made between foreign and domestic terrain. Our game must be the same in all conditions. Of course, in order to accept this idea, it is necessary to acquire this habit through work. And habit is second nature. That rhythm of the game must be maintained at the same level for all ninety minutes."
He had to be someone who is a great authority, he is number one in Serbia. He went through everything as a player, the whole world, with charm, character, he made the situation that the players trust him. He set up a system to play attacking, more goals "We waited so long, and when was the last time we played with two strikers? When was the last time we were so attractive?" Jovanovic wondered. On the wings, and in the attack were Nikola Zigic and Marko Pantelic. Antic showed integrity by calling up Marko Pantelic even when he was without a club which Pantelic would later credit for giving him much needed confidence up front.
"Well, yes ... That was the last time," Lane himself couldn't believe it.
Antic’s sacking resulted in a long drought for Serbia. And for what? What ensued were three missed tournaments (EURO 2012, the 2014 World Cup, and the colossal failure of missing out on EURO 2016) and years of agony up until qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
Antic's tenure as national team manager will be remembered – from beginning to end. After the first few matches, fans noticed a different Serbia as Antic brought in order, a work ethic, discipline but also a friendly family atmosphere – with Antic calling his players his children. Antic was a father figure who evoked both respect and authority. He found every member of the team a perfect spot, maximally emphasizing the personal qualities of each individual player and putting him in the service of the team. Antic favoured an attacking strategy and played with two forwards up front – something Serbia had not done in years.
On August 12, 2021, Antic was honoured as the name of the FK Sloboda Uzice stadium was officially re-named the Radomir Antic Stadium.
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Photos
courtesy of UBC archives. |
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The Brilliance of Radomir Antic
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Last updated on August 13, 2021.
Published by Urban Book Circle on October 23, 2018 Urban Book Circle® (UBC) |
· Edited by Djuradj “George” Vujcic, Danijela Kovacevic Mikic and Prvoslav “Pearse” Vujcic ·
· Design & Artwork by Prvoslav “Pearse” Vujcic and Djuradj “George” Vujcic ·
· Illustrated by Jefimija “Mia” Vujcic ·
All rights reserved. Copyright © Urban Book Circle®
· Design & Artwork by Prvoslav “Pearse” Vujcic and Djuradj “George” Vujcic ·
· Illustrated by Jefimija “Mia” Vujcic ·
All rights reserved. Copyright © Urban Book Circle®
