Antonio Rukavina (, ; born 26 January 1984) is a Serbian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Rukavina started out at his local club

Bežanija Bežanija ( sr-cyr, Бежанија, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Novi Beograd, in the Syrmia region. Location Bežanija is located west of the downtown Belgrade, across the Sa ...

, making his senior debuts in the 2002–03 season, as they won promotion to the

Second League of Serbia and Montenegro The Second League of Serbia and Montenegro was the second tier of the football league system in Serbia and Montenegro, one level below the First League of Serbia and Montenegro. History Formed in 1992 after the breakup of Yugoslavia, it consisted ...

. He also helped them win the

2005–06 Serbian First League The Serbian First League (Serbian: Прва лига Србије; ''Prva liga Srbije'') is the second-highest football league in Serbia (then Serbia and Montenegro). The league is operated by the Serbian FA. 20 teams competed in this league for t ...

, thus earning promotion to the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

. In December 2006, it was announced that

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

and Bežanija have agreed terms for the transfer of Rukavina and

Žarko Lazetić Žarko Lazetić (; born 22 February 1982) is a Serbian football manager and former player. Playing career In December 2006, it was announced that Lazetić agreed to join Partizan from Bežanija in the January transfer window, along with his tea ...

. Both players signed four-year deals in January 2007. Under newly appointed manager

Miroslav Đukić Miroslav Đukić ( sr-cyr, Мирослав Ђукић, ; born 19 February 1966) is a Serbian former footballer who played as a sweeper, and a manager. He spent 14 years of his professional career in Spain, notably at the service of Deportivo ...

, Rukavina immediately established himself as a first team regular, scoring three league goals from 15 appearances in the second half of the 2006–07 season. He was subsequently named the team's captain ahead of the 2007–08 campaign. In January 2008, Rukavina was transferred to German club

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

, penning a long-term contract. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

debut in February of the same year, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–3 away draw at

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was on ...

. In February 2009, Rukavina moved on loan to

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members of ...

until the end of the season. He was permanently transferred to 1860 Munich in June 2009, with

Sven Bender Sven Bender (; born 27 April 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a central defender and defensive midfielder. He was raised in Brannenburg and started his football career playing for TSV Brannenburg. Sven is the twin br ...

making the opposite move in lieu of a transfer fee. In July 2012, Rukavina moved to Spain and signed with

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

, on a three-year deal, thus joining his countryman and former manager Miroslav Đukić. He made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

debut in a 1–0 away win against

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

that August, playing the whole match. In his two seasons at José Zorrilla, Rukavina collected 71 appearances and scored twice in the top flight of Spanish football. On 8 July 2014, Rukavina signed a two-year contract for

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

. He collected 32 appearances in all competitions throughout his debut season with ''El Submarino Amarillo''. In the next 2015–16 campaign, Rukavina appeared in 31 games, including 10 appearances in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. In July 2018, Rukavina signed with Kazakh champions

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

on a free transfer. He helped them defend the league title in his first season. In August 2019, Rukavina extended his contract with the club until 2021. On 11 November 2021, Rukavina announced his retirement from football.

International career

Rukavina represented

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

at the

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 June 2007 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. Summary For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the Neth ...

. He was the team's first-choice right-back during the tournament, making four appearances in the process, as they finished as runners-up after losing 4–1 in the final to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the host nation. On 2 June 2007, Rukavina made his full international debut for

, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–0 win away at

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in a

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

. In June 2010, he was named in the final 23-man squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, but failed to make any appearances. In June 2018, Serbia manager

Mladen Krstajić Mladen Krstajić ( sr-cyr, Младен Крстајић, ; born 4 March 1974) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He represented Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. From Janua ...

included Rukavina in the final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He appeared in two games of the group stage, against Costa Rica and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, as Serbia finished in third place.

Personal life

Rukavina's paternal great-grandmother was from Croatia.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Bežanija *

Serbian First League The Serbian First League ( sr, Прва лига Србије / Prva liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Прва лига / Mozzart Bet Prva liga) for sponsorship reasons, is the name for the second ...

: 2005–06 *

Serbian League Belgrade Serbian League Belgrade (Serbian: Српска лига Београд / Srpska liga Beograd) is one of four sections of the Serbian League, the third national tier. The other three sections are Serbian League East, Serbian League Vojvodina and ...

: 2002–03 Borussia Dortmund * German Supercup:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: runner-up 2007–08 Astana *

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Kazakhstan Super Cup The Kazakhstan Super Cup ( kk, Қазақстан Суперкубогы, ''Qazaqstan Sýperkýbogy'') is a one-match football annual competition. The two participating clubs are the Kazakhstan Premier League champion and the Kazakhstan Cup winner ...

Serbia * UEFA Under-21 Championship: runner-up 2007

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rukavina, Antonio 2. Bundesliga players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Association football defenders Borussia Dortmund players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Expatriate footballers in Spain FC Astana players FK Bežanija players FK Partizan players Kazakhstan Premier League players La Liga players Real Valladolid players Serbia international footballers Serbia under-21 international footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbian footballers Serbian SuperLiga players Footballers from Belgrade TSV 1860 Munich players Villarreal CF players 1984 births Living people Serbian people of Croatian descent