9 Serbia head coaches talk about Radomir Antic: Words of Zivadinovic and Krstajic will resonate

Telegraf's contribution to evoking the human and coaching greatness that has left us

The passing of the great Radomir Antic saddened everyone in Serbian football. We tried to keep testimonies about him forever, and for generations to come to read about him as the great man of Serbian and world football, the only man to ever coach the three biggest Spanish clubs - Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid.

He left an indelible mark on the Serbian football as the national team head coach from 2008 to 2010, when he took Serbia to the World Cup in South Africa and won the biggest footballing victory in our country's modern history, in a game against Germany.

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Testimonies of other head coaches speak to his greatness. Telegraf contacted the head coahces who led our national squad from the breakup of Yugoslavia, to the present, who are now united in their praise of Radomir Antic.

In chronological order, we have singled out the statements of nine head coaches who responded to the invitation of our editorial staff by the time this article is published, to make a contribution towards preventing the memory of Radomir Antic from fading away.

Milan Zivadinovic (Serbia head coach from 1998 to 1999)

- I played with him for Sloboda FC from Uzice, that is the famous generation of Pavlovic, Djoric, Krivokuca, Dogandzic, Zivadinovic... He was a very talented footballer, very soon he transferred his talent to Partizan FC, where he played really masterfully and became a national team member, who also gave much to Partizan. As a football coach, he was greatly assisted by Miljan Miljanic and Vujadin Boskov. I know he was recommended to Real Madrid, where he went and made a great career.

- Later, there were oscillations like in all of us, a bit of success, a bit of failure, but really, yesterday I was surprised to hear about this tragic news. All of us older people are sick, we have all had tough careers, no one's given us anything. Now you get gifted whatever you want, money and career and all sorts of things. He had a harmonious family, unfortunately, things like this happen, my condolences to his family.

Asked what kind of a loss this is for the Serbian football, the popular "bard Ziva" says:

- He was not present as in, being active. We can all help a great deal if they want to use us for some advice, to say where mistakes are being made. Unfortunately, these parvenu coaches don't want any advice, they think they know everything. Antic was three years younger than me. I know how his whole life went. He was a good and talented player, highly technical, but a very intelligent guy and that is why he succeeded as a football coach, especially in Spain, where he headed big teams. With the exception of Miljan Miljanic and Vujadin Boskov, I don't know of any (other Serbian) who was in charge of Real Madrid. All those who go to work abroad now, they go to African countries...

- But it's a great loss for the affirmation of our football. Because to be in such a place, when you were once a Real Madrid or a Barcelona coach, ​​you are asked for advice. Nobody asks here, everyone knows everything best, here gossip rules.

- This is what you young people need to stop doing, not have as your pedigree being in a reality show or a member of a party, but what you did in your career, and he was the first. The top! Among all of us. I, who worked in 15 countries and led 7 national teams, I say he was the top. I have the right to say that because I have some pedigree," Milan Zivadinovic told Telegraf, in his recognizable style.

Ilija Petkovic (Serbia head coach from 2000 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2006)

- Regardless of where he was and that we may not have been aware of his health problems, Radomir Antic was one of us, and it is hard to realize that he left us so suddenly. He represented, to be exact, he continued to, after Miljan Miljanic and Vujadin Boskov, promote the Yugoslav and the Serbian football school in the best possible way, with even greater achievements, and when such a man leaves us, it is an immeasurable loss.

- To head two of the biggest clubs in the world - Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and in addition, Atletico Madrid, with which he has been extremely successful, makes him special, unique and we can only be proud that he is one of us Serbians and that we had one like this, and that he came from among us. I didn't know that he was ill and I feel sorry from the bottom of my heart that this happened, because I belong to a generation to which Anatara (Antic's nickname) also belonged, we met on the pitch, and later worked together nicely.

- This is a big blow to our football and I think that we will become aware of what we have lost only later, because our Antara is no more, a great man of the people and a great coach. I feel sorry for his family, I sympathize with them from my heart and share the pain, as if one of my my loved ones left me," says Ilija Petkovic.

The first foreigner on the bench of the Serbian national team, Javier Clemente, who was the Eagles' head coach from 2006 to 2007, also shared with Telegraf his memories of Antic.

Milovan Djoric (Serbia head coach in 2001)

- Unfortunately, I was aware of his health problems, followed the situation and hoped he would pull through. He fought back, did our Antara, as he always had done in his life and on the pitch, but he lost. Since the beginning of 2020 everything got serious, the hospital, the coma, before that there was no hint of what was coming. He even watched Novak Djokovic's matches in Spain... A great pity, he achieved everything that could be achieved in football, above all all in his coaching work.

- To head three of the biggest Spanish clubs, two of which are the biggest clubs in the world - nobody but Radomir achieved this. He chose the right path, decided on Spain, where he built a name and reached the highest level he could, left an indelible mark. With us (Serbia) he was the head coach, he also brought energy that gathered the whole nation around the national team, but not only in Serbia, wherever he worked he was loved and respected. That was his stature and that is why the loss is enormous," Milovan Djoric made his feelings clear in his statement for Telegraf.

Miroslav Djukic (Serbia head coach from 2007 to 2008)

- A huge loss for the football family. A great man and a great expert has left us, certainly the greatest from our part of the world. All of us who knew him carry a great memory of him and his family, who were a part of him, a part of his career. He was Serbia's biggest ambassador in Spain with his deeds and his comportment. He coached three of the biggest clubs in Spain. I bow down low before "the mister," as a man, and as a coach. My sincerest condolences to his family," Djukic said in his statement for Telegraf.

Vladimir Petrovic Pizon (Serbia head coach from 2010 to 2011)

- We were great friends. That one game he played for the national team, we were in the team together. We also played in England, he went before me, I found him there. He was at Luton, I was at and then he called me to describe what it was like to play in England, for an English team. So we got even closer. We've seen each other many times on Mt. Zlatibor (in Serbia), so we were close friends. The last time we saw each other, I didn't notice that he had any problems, so I was terribly surprised to hear this.

- It was very difficult for me, we were very close, our families-wise. It doesn't matter if he played for Partizan, and I was a Red Star man, we rose above that, and those older generations did it normally. His kids and his wife, we were really on good terms. We saw each other before he left for Spain at the end of the summer. I was in Zlatibor at the time. I invited him to my daughter's wedding, he invited me to his son's wedding. We'd talk for a long time, in his home. Afterwards he went to Spain.

- He created remarkable careers both as a player and as a coach. He loved football a lot, we always talked about training sessions, players, in his company... he lived 100 percent for football. He showed that, too, when he was the national team head coach. He had one of his biggest successes by taking Serbia to the World Cup in South Africa.

- It was very difficult to take the job of the head coach after him and the success he had. Those players who played with him effectively played for me, too. I believed in his work, I didn't experiment much there afterwards," Vladimir Petrovic Pizon told Telegraf.

Radovan Curcic (Serbia head coach 2014-2016)

- I took Radomir Antic's passing terribly hard, I honestly didn't even know he had any health problems, so the shock is even greater. He helped me a lot in my career, above all by choosing me as the head coach of the then Superliga and opening all the doors for me. We had a really great relationship, full of respect and trust and it was not only football and business but also life experiences that he selflessly shared with me.

- This is a big blow for our football, because one of the greatest, if not the greatest coach from these regions is gone, because only one man in the world was the coach of the three biggest Spanish clubs - Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid - namely, a Serbian man, Radomir Antic. He was recognized both as a coach and as a man wherever he worked, he was praised and adored. A big loss, irreplaceable," stresssed Radovan Curcic.

Slavoljub Muslin (Serbia head coach from 2016 to 2017)

- The fact that he was at Real, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, the three largest Spanish clubs speaks about him the best... He was also the national team coach of Serbia and took us to the World Cup. A big loss for Serbian football and for global and European football. I am very saddened and express my condolences to his family and friends. We were rarely in touch, we didn't have many opportunities to do so, but his achievements always made me happy, as well as those of every other of our (football) experts.

- He is one of the best ones for me because he created success and the very fact that he was in these three of the biggest clubs is something that nobody else has ever managed. What else is there to say. I heard that he had been ill lately, I didn't know how accurate that information was, but it was a great shock that he left us so quickly. All my thoughts are with his wife and family. If we can somehow ease their grief with our testimonies about him... but that is very hard.

Mladen Krstajic

- Honestly, I am stunned, like everyone in Serbia, that a man who was both an athlete and a great coach of the three biggest clubs in Spain, of the national team of Serbia, has left us early at the age of 72. A big loss for his family, for the Serbian football. What Radomir has given us as a sports ambassador in Spain, Europe and the world is immeasurable. Big sorrow remains, life doesn't pick and choose, but surely, he has left a big mark on our football.

- Whenever something bad happens, when someone leaves us, only then do we appreciate them. While they are alive and working, there are always meddlers that are contagious and think otherwise, but we as a nation must overcome such things, as a society, so that such things do not happen in the future.

- I am truly sorry. I played for him while he was in charge of the Serbian national team. I can only praise him, every normal person is shaken by the news, Serbia and the Serbian public have lost a giant. Serbia should not forget the man who gave a lot to the Serbian football, but also to Europe and beyond.

- He was a man who had his own attitude, he built his personality through his footballing career and the coaching job. To describe him as a man is superfluous. Suffice it to say it was him that was in charge of Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid, the head coach of Serbia, he worked in various clubs in Europe and in the world, a man of the people. He had that charisma that attracted people. It is something that is innate, that cannot be learned, that you either have or don't have, that regular folk loves you for and regular folk loved him, which is the most important. I speak honestly, as from my point of view, he was a giant, Serbia has lost a lot.

Ljubisa Tumbakovic (current Serbia head coach, since 2019)

- Radomir or Antara, as I call him, I prefer to call him that, is a longtime friend of mine. We've been together since the 70s, and we spent a lot of time together during a time of the making of both our footballing and our coaching careers. Antara was a very charismatic man, a friend, a pal, he always had the right word for his friends and colleagues, for his associates. Our paths somehow led us forward very similarly. He was in Partizan, so I came to Partizan. He later went to Spain, I to China, so later he came to that club in China where I had been.

- A brilliant personality, a man who gathered people around him. In that charisma of his, there were some things that were characteristic even when he was the national head coach. The story goes that he brought the fans back to the stadium. He restored confidence in our fans who at that time started to come back to the stadium to watch the national team. We always say the best, also when it comes to his family, how he was kind to everyone, to friends, colleagues, co-workers... it's really a sad story. When in his later years he was supposed to enjoy life with his family, to enter some calm waters - the damned disease happened.

- I knew there were minor issues in the last month and a half, but I didn't know it was such a big problem. It really shocked me. Last night, we watched some TV show, and then you learn the news on the websites and it's really a shock. I first talked to Nenad (Bjekovic) and Zek (Zarko Zecevic). It's a point in time, Nenad and he played together a lot. I transferred from the Partizan youth team to the first team when Antic came from Sloboda to Partizan, we worked together that year. Nenad played many games together with him. It was a big shock to us all.

- It's always nice when you have some older coaches who have had a lot of experience, it's always nice to have those people by your side, just to be on the safe side, to talk with, and talk things over. Of course, the Serbian football has lost a lot. He is a coach and a national head coach who marked a serious period in the Serbian football," Ljubisa Tumbakovic concluded, in his statement for Telegraf.

Photo galleries in memory of Radomir Antic

His playing days:

As a coach in Spain, at the helm of Real, Atletico, and Barcelona

As Serbia's national squad head coach

(Dusan Ustevic/Zoran Ivkovic)